...........when you follow some suggestions. Hi, I'm sure everyone has had experiences with research in Germany. I've been writing letters and making telephone calls since 1956. When Al Gore invented the internet, I jumped in with both feet. I confided with Germans in Germany about the proper approach. I met with several in Germany. I met in Dallas, Texas, with a gentleman from Germany. That's how I developed my website procedures, http://members.cox.net/hessen/hsstory.htm which leads to lots of other links. Since 1956 I have had one entity fail to respond and one respond by sending the response to my incorrect snail-mail mailing address. We worked around that, of course. I include address instructions at my website. I use E-Mail and the telephone to determine the appropriate entities in Germany to contact, whether church or civil archives. Sometimes it takes more than one E-Mail, more than one telephone call to nail it down. I rely heavily upon the German telephone directory, http://members.cox.net/hessen/telephones.htm (the only one with instructions) for addresses and telephone numbers of churches and municipal government. I use GOOGLE in an effort to acquire E-Mail addresses. All of my experiences have been incorporated into my website. If you have questions about contacting Germany, it is all there. While Germans are formal and direct in government, church staff are most cordial. I have the advantage of being able to speak, read, and write German. I offer my expertise to everyone through my website. Remember that the Germans don't conduct research for free. Government sets the fee schedule, and some churches follow it. Many churches accept simple donations. Read about it at the website. I'm older now and unable to devote full time and attention to German research. However, if you have a question that CANNOT BE ANSWERED at the website, contact me, dwats@cox.net for assistance, and the other E-Mail addy, dons-translations@cox.net for translations. Between 1956 and 2003 ALL of my services were free. Hundreds of letters, telephone calls, E-Mail messages, accurate translations. By 2003 the demand had become so great that I was spending more time at the computer than elsewhere. I began to charge for translations at that point. That resulted in a big drop in the number of inquiries, freeing up time for me to be with my wife, our children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren. Contact with German archives is possible and productive via letter, telephone, and E-Mail. Just don't do it in the English language with lots of extraneous information in your inquiry. Need a letter in German? They are free at my website. You can adjust the info as indicated there. Read carefully. Give the Germans the option to respond to you in English. An exception to that is the archives for the Evangelical Church in Hessen, at Kassel, where English-language inquiries are accepted, but that's not Baden-Wurttemberg. Don't send a Baden-Wurttemberg inquiry to Kassel! Thanks for readings........... :-) Don http://members.cox.net/hessen/donstrans.htm