Standesamt
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A Standesamt (German, plural "Standesämter") is a German civil registration office, which was responsible for recording births, marriages and deaths. Before World War I, its district was the lowest level of organization in the Prussian society of the German Empire. A typical hierarchy was:
- Empire
- kingdom
- province
- administrative district (Regierungsbezirk)
- Kreis (circle or county)
- Standesamt district
When the German Empire was created in 1871 from the previous collection of German states (kingdoms, duchies, etc), a universal system of registration offices was established, taking effect in November, 1874. Within each Kreis, the area was divided into about a dozen smaller areas which were assigned to a specific Standesamt. These areas were small enough that someone could walk to the office and back in one day. Usually, the office was located in the local market town, where residents of the surrounding villages would go to conduct their business and to worship. Therefore, the areas within the jurisdiction of the Standesämter were natural groupings of communities, used for voting, census, taxation, etc.
In some cases, where the Standesamt was located in a larger town, it would be divided into two offices, on paper if not in practice, one for the town dwellers and another for the rural residents.
Today, Standesämter remain as civil registration offices and are part of the administration of every German town and village (in small communities, it is often incorporated with other offices of the administration). Since the release of the BGB in 1900, the German state holds the power to grant marriage in Germany. Therefore, every German marriage takes place before the local Standesamt-clerk (called Standesbeamter). Apart from that, every newborn German child has to be registered at a Standesamt (normally by its parents) and every death has to be registered, also.