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Another source for Ostpreussen research

By Dave Obee
The highway signs said I was heading to Verden, but they could have said Preussisch Eylau.
Verden - on the autobahn between Hannover and Bremen - turned out to have a vast amount of information on the old East Prussian kreis of Preussisch Eylau, which today is split between Poland and Russia's Kaliningrad oblast.
In Verden I found a bunch of people who were born in Preussisch Eylau before the Second World War - people who are eager to keep the tradition of their home alive.
The city hall keeps track of the deaths and marriages of former Preussisch Eylau residents. The library has a section for books on Preussisch Eylau. A reunion every fall attracts hundreds of people.
Verden, like many other cities in the old West Germany, "adopted" an area of East Prussia after the war. The idea was that people who had been forced out of their homes, possibly never to return, would have a new home, of sorts, in the west.
Virtually every bit of land that Germany lost in 1945 is covered by one of these adoptive organizations.
For genealogists, these host communities represent a great source of information - and one that is, unfortunately, little used.
That day in Verden, I bought four books on Preussisch Eylau history. Before then, I didn't know about one, let alone four. These books had maps, lists of inhabitants, church histories and more - all things I wouldn't have been able to get without the resources of Verden.
The Preussisch Eylau group in Verden was run by a man who also operated a bus tour company. In the previous year, he had made seven trips to his former home, taking with him dozens of other people who wanted one more chance to walk the land of their forefathers.
Of course, I didn't know this when I arrived in Verden, not sure what I would find. The museum staff referred me to a local travel agent, and the travel agent referred me to the bus company. I wasn't sure what I was getting into - until I walked in the door and saw a huge Preussisch Eylau map on the wall.
I had learned about Verden just the day before - when I visited the Verlag Degener office in Neustadt/Aisch in Bavaria. There, I bought the latest copy of what is commonly known as the AGOFF-Wegweiser. It's the essential guide for tracing German ancestors from East Germany and Eastern Europe.
I had the English copy at home, but a new edition of the German-language one was on the shelf, so I couldn't refuse. I discovered the entry for Verden that evening, and decided a trip there was a chance worth taking. Thank goodness I did. My researching become much easier that day.
The list of East Prussian areas, with the names of the communities that adopted them, wasn't in the English-language book. It pays to check all sources.
The book also lists similar ties for areas in West Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, East Brandenburg, and Posen.
For people whose ties to the ancestral areas are relatively recent - in the past 100 years or so - contacting these adoptive communities should be a top priority.
If your ancestors left those areas more than a century ago, there won't be as much value. It would still pay to make contact, though, just to ensure that a valuable source of local history is not overlooked.