If your Bohemian or Moravian ancestors spoke German, your research has its own history and its own pitfalls. The records are in German and Latin, the villages have two names, and most of the German-speaking population of the Czech lands was expelled in 1945 and 1946. This guide explains who the Sudeten and German-Bohemian families were, how their records work, how the postwar history affects research and citizenship, and where emigrants went. We checked these details in October 2026, and archive holdings, statistics and online collections change, so confirm them before you rely on them.
Who they were
The term Sudeten Germans came into use in 1919 to group Germans from the various home regions of Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten Silesia, according to the Sudeten German Museum in Munich. By 1945, more than three million of them lived in Prague and the border regions, about 23 percent of Czechoslovakia’s inhabitants. Germans from the Czech lands who emigrated to the United States are usually identified as German Americans, or more specifically as Americans of German Bohemian descent, according to Wikipedia.
Records in German
- Language. Latin was common in church registers in earlier centuries, and German was prevalent in the Austro-Hungarian period, so registers in German-speaking areas are often in German. See our guide to reading Latin, German and Hungarian records.
- Handwriting. German registers may be in old German script such as Kurrent.
- Archives. The registers are in the Czech regional archives. The Western Bohemia portal, Porta fontium, has only a German-language version, according to one guide. See our Czech parish registers guide.
- Names. Villages have German and Czech names. Search both. See how to find the village of origin.
- The 1939 census. A census taken in 1939 exists only for the Sudeten region, according to My Czech Roots.
The history that shaped the records
- 30 September 1938. The Munich Agreement ceded the Sudetenland to Germany.
- 1938 to 1945. The northern part became the Reichsgau Sudetenland, and Czechs there had to accept German citizenship or were expelled.
- May to August 1945. Presidential decrees stripped persons of German and Hungarian nationality of citizenship, and in August 1945 a constitutional decree denied citizenship to those who had become German or Hungarian citizens during the war.
- 1946. The expulsion process, according to the Potsdam Conference, officially began on 25 January 1946 and continued until October 1946. About three million Sudeten Germans were expelled, mainly to Germany, Austria and the Soviet zone, though not all Germans left.
Citizenship
The Czech declaration route does not apply to people who lost Czechoslovak citizenship under the constitutional decree on persons of German and Hungarian nationality, according to a summary of the Czech Citizenship Act. If a parent or grandparent lost citizenship that way, that route is closed to you. Other routes may exist, and the rules change, so ask a Czech consulate. See the citizenship guide.
German-Bohemian emigration
According to the German-Bohemian Heritage Society, the primary emigration came in the mid-nineteenth century, and many emigrants came from the western rim of Bohemia, notably south of Domažlice (Taus). There was a German-Bohemian community in Buffalo, New York, and Wisconsin was a destination for both Czechs and German Bohemians. Because German Bohemians are classed as German Americans, search US records under German as well as Czech or Bohemian origins. See our emigration guide.
Postwar sources in Germany
Expelled families settled mainly in Germany and Austria, and the Sudeten German Museum in Munich, run by the Sudeten German Foundation under the patronage of the Free State of Bavaria, tells their story. A 1954 Sudeten German Atlas shows the Sudeten area before the expulsion. We did not verify which archives hold records created by expelled families after 1946, so ask the museum and German archives if you need them.
A research routine
- Confirm the language community of the family.
- Find the village in its German and Czech forms.
- Search the regional archive portal for the parish, and read the German or Latin register.
- Use the censuses to follow the household. See our guide to censuses.
- Search US records under German and Bohemian origins.
- Check the citizenship decree if you plan to claim citizenship.
Illustrative composite (not a real family): A reader’s grandfather was born in a German-speaking village near the Bavarian border. The parish register is in German, and the village has a German and a Czech name. His emigrant brother appears in US records as German, and the village’s 1939 census, which exists for the Sudeten region, shows the family still there.
Questions to ask your family
- Did the family speak German at home, and in which village?
- Do we know a German name for the village as well as a Czech one?
- Did anyone go to Germany or Austria in 1945 or 1946, or to America earlier?
- Is there a family Bible or prayer book in German script?
- Which relatives lived in the Sudeten region in 1939?
Societies and help
The German-Bohemian Heritage Society, whose president wrote a paper on German-Bohemian immigration to North America, is one of the groups that study these families, and the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International also covers German-Bohemian and Czech-German passenger studies. Joining a society puts you in touch with others who have worked through the same German script and village names.
Common mistakes
- Searching only the Czech name. The village had a German name.
- Searching US records only under Czech origin. German Bohemians are classed as German.
- Ignoring the 1945 decree. It matters for citizenship.
- Assuming records left with the expelled. The registers stayed in Czech archives.
- Skipping the German script. Learn Kurrent.
Continue with our regions guide and the complete tracing guide, and browse Regions, Borders & Emigration. Sources include Wikipedia on the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, Radio Free Europe on the Beneš decrees, a paper by the German-Bohemian Heritage Society on German-Bohemian immigration, a guide to the Sudeten German Museum and a Slovak law firm’s summary of Czech citizenship by descent.
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