Learn about German blocking periods for documents

Germany has quite strict data protection laws which include blocking periods for documents with personal data. I’m no lawyer so bear with me while I try to sum up the sometimes complicated German federal, state, municipal and church regulations and fees as far as I know about them.

Documents with sensitive data

… are typically blocked when the document is finished and closed, like personal or medical records.

• The documents are usually unblocked after a 30 years blocking period. If it’s a document with personal information the 30 year blocking period starts with the person’s death.
• If the death date can’t be identified, the blocking period ends 110 years after the person’s birth.
• Very often the documents then become available for inspection after the end of the respective year.

Blocking periods for church registers

Catholic archives

Church records are subject to similar blocking periods though the regulations may differ from federal laws. The following blocking periods apply to catholic archives (these are only examples, you need to check with the respective archives about details since their policies seem to differ).

• Births/baptisms:
  120 years after event (Bistum Augsburg)
  resp. (Bistum Münster)
• Marriages:
  70 years after event (Bistum Augsburg)
  resp. 100 years after event (Bistum Münster)
• Deaths/burials:
  30 years after event (Bistum Augsburg)
  resp. 100 years after event (Bistum Münster)
• Other German catholic diocese’s archives may have other regulations though! Please read “How and where to locate German church registers“.

Protestant archives

The following blocking periods apply to protestant archives (EKD-Archivgesetz):

• in general: 30 years after a document has been finished and closed.
• if the person’s death year is known: 10 years after death resp. after a document has been finished and closed.
• if the person’s death year is unknown but the birth year is known: 90 years after birth
• if a group of people is mentioned in the document: the above mentioned blocking periods refer to the birth resp. death of the last of this group
• if neither birth year nor death year are known: 60 years after the documents have been finished and closed.

Within those blocking times church archives usually don’t grant you any access to the documents. After the documents are unblocked they become available to the public. Then they can be accessed in a church archive, usually in the diocese’s archive.

Visiting German archives

• If you plan to visit German archives you ought to make an appointment with the respective archive to book a reading desk! Otherwise you run the risk of being rejected and losing precious time! Only very few archives have sufficient reading desks or staff members to provide help and advice for unanticipated guests!
• It is possible that your desired documents and/or books aren’t available in the particular archive, due to various reasons. Church registers might be still in the parish or documents are in high need for restauration resp. in a current digitization process for example. If the documents or books have been microfilmed or digitized already and the archive has microfilm readers or computers you will then probably get access to the copies.
• Check with the archive whether they’ll hand you the originals or the copies. If it’s the latter you might have online access to those from the States as well. Contact the archive before your visit and ask about this possibility.

What are your experiences with German archives so far? Do you have any advice for fellow reasearchers?