Heritage Travel
Thousands of Americans travel to Germany every year in search of their roots. Are you among
them? Have you ever visited the places your ancestors left to emigrate to the US – or are you
planning to? Heritage travel is as much about learning about the past as it is about shaping the
present and the future. It’s about meeting people and places that are alive today, and enjoying
them together, and that’s what we want to help you do.
Did you visit people and places in Germany? How did you get there and what did you learn and
experience? What else did you do on your trip and are there things you want others to see and
experience? Please share with us your travel experience. Information on logistics belongs here
just as much as stories of personal encounters with family members you had never met before.
Share your experience, ask your questions, and make new friends along the way.
I am considering coming to Germany this summer to trace my family’s roots. We have traced them back to “Heinrich Dietz” born in 1670 in the Duchy of Zweibrucken, Pfaltz, Germany and died in 1730 in Eschweiler, Zweibrucken, Germany.
Can you give any assistance on where this is today in Germany and where I might be able to go to find where my ancestors lived, worked, etc.?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Dear Elwood,
please visit the website www.routes.de
I am sure they can help you…!
P.S. Eschweiler is near Aachen
I might be fortunate enough to be working on a contract in Amsterdam within the next couple months. If I get a couple of days off, I was thinking that I might come to Germany to find out more about my roots. It seems that my ancestors came from what was then the kingdom of Hanover, and that looks relatively close to the Netherlands on the map. My research shows that my immigrant ancestors were Heinrich Ernst Ludewig Voelker and Sophia Lenore Behrning. Heinrich was born in Estdorff in 1832 to Friedrich Hermann Christian Voelker and Dorthea Louise Banger. Sophia Lenore Behrning was born in 1832 in Landesbergen Dietrich Heinrich Berhning and Louise Thun. I can’t seem to find Estdorff or Landesbergen on any maps or find them on google. Do they still exist as cities? If so, are they easy to reach via rail from Amsterdam? Also, since this would be my first heritage travel, what should I look for when I get there? And what other research should I do in advance?
Thanks
Elwood, Did you make your trip to Zweibrucken? Where can I find your family tree? Did any of your Dietz families settle in Bangor, Pa.?
My grandfater is from the city Lusche. I have not been able to find it. Years ago I wrote the the German Embassy and they didn’t know. What I do have is, Lusche, Essen, Oldenburg. Then I remember him saying things about the Rhineland. Can any body help?
Hi Michele. Just saw your query. I am afraid, Lusche is not a city. Lüsche (Luesche) is a village near Essen in Oldenburg. It forms now part of the municipality Bakum, in the district of Vechta, Lower Saxony. And the Rhineland is about 3 hours drive from there. Some of my ancestors come from there too.