Familienbuch

Familienbuch, literally "family book," is a term used for a register or booklet that records the members of a family and their vital events. In civil administration, a Familienbuch may function as a concise record of a household’s lineage, listing names, dates and places of birth, marriages, and deaths, and indicating family relationships. Depending on the jurisdiction, it may be a standalone booklet or part of a larger civil registry, and it is commonly used in genealogy and archival contexts as a consolidated reference.

In modern Germany and other German-speaking areas, civil registers maintain family registers to document kinship for purposes such as inheritance, citizenship, name changes, and social benefits. In everyday practice, many individuals rely on individual vital records (birth, marriage, and death certificates), but a Familienbuch can serve as a practical consolidated source for family history or legal proofs of relationship. Some archives publish standardized Familienbücher or compiled volumes for regional families.

Historically, during the Nazi era, the regime instituted extensive bureaucratic controls over Jewish populations. In this context, some Jewish families were required to possess or produce a Familienbuch listing family members and vital data, which aided administrative surveillance and, ultimately, persecution. The existence and use of such documents are documented in Holocaust and genealogy sources and are understood as part of that period’s authoritarian apparatus.

Today the term appears primarily in genealogical and archival discussions and in descriptions of civil-status practice. The exact content and format of a Familienbuch vary by country, era, and institution.