Lübeck, Germany, Census, 1880

The Lubeck census records for 1880 are contained in this collection. Census records are very rare for Germany as the country’s nationwide censuses were to be conducted on a state-wide level, which became required nationally only after 1871, a few years previous to this collection. Additionally, all original census records under Eastern Germany were destroyed. This is the first time this particular collection of 74,000 records for the Free City of Lubeck has been digitized and made available online.

To achieve free city (also free imperial city) status, the Emperor had to publicly declare his direct rule over the city. In 1226 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, awarded Lübeck this status. In part due to its location, the city became the capital of the Hanseatic League, which was a trading monopoly comprised of cities and guilds along the northern coast of Europe from the 13th to 17th centuries. From 1817 to 1867 Lübeck became one of the 39 sovereign states in the German Confederation, created to serve as successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and in 1871 the Free City of Lübeck became part of the German Empire, one of the largest cities in the state of Schleswig-Holstein today with the largest German port on the Baltic Sea.

Originally structured like greeting cards, census forms have a cover sheet on the front that when opened would contain a list of present household members. On the back was a supplement (rotated 90 degrees), recording household members not present at the time of the census taking. These have since been folded open to lay flat, so that the front and back are together on the same page, and the household listing is on the reverse side.

Information in this index:

• Given name
• Surname
• Street address
• Head of household
• Occupation/status
• Marital status
• Members of the household and their relationship to the head
• Religion