Obtaining a Birth Certificate from Germany
How to obtain a birth certificate from Germany
To obtain a birth certificate from the Federal Republic of Germany, you must contact the competent German agency (i.e. the "Standesamt" or Registrar's Office). Your letter should be addressed to the Standesamt of the place (Village, Township, City) where you were born. You can find the contact information for your Standesamt by searching the World Wide Web for the key words: Standesamt+place where you were born.
The German phrase for asking for an international* birth certificate is:
"Ich bitte um Ausstellung einer internationalen Geburtsurkunde für ... (first name/middle name/last name), geboren am ... (date of birth) in ... (place of birth). Eltern: ... (name of father) geboren am ... (date of birth) in ... (place of birth) und ... (maiden name of mother) geboren am ... (date of birth) in ... (place of birth)."
Please indicate the month of your date of birth in letters and not with numbers, since doing so could lead to a mix-up (in Germany, the date 10/12/56 refers to December 10, 1956). Information about the fee will be sent to you with the certificate.
Please do not forget to mention your name and address!
*We recommend ordering the international version of the birth certificate. This version is already translated into several languages, including English and French, and will save you the expense of a translation.
Obtaining birth certificates from former eastern German territories
In order to obtain a German birth certificate from the former eastern territories of the German Reich and Prussia, please contact the registrar's office "Standesamt 1" in Berlin. The address is
Standesamt 1
Schönstedtstraße 5
13357 Berlin (Mitte)
Germany
e-Mail: urkundenstelle"at"labo.berlin.de.
If the relevant register is available at the Standesamt, a birth certificate will be issued. Otherwise (eg if registers have been destroyed during the war), you will receive written confirmation that the Standesamt is not in a position to issue a birth certificate in your case. When inquiring, please include a postal address, as birth certificates can not be sent via e-Mail.
