Hannover Stadtarchiv geöffnet

The Personenstandsgesetz (PStG) specifies the privacy protection periods for civil records in Germany, after which the records move to an archive where they become publicly available for anyone to access.

• 110 years after a birth
• 80 years after a marriage
• 30 years after a death

The Hannover Stadtarchiv closed in March of 2025 to move to a new building. The archive had gradually fallen behind: where requests in 2023 took about a week to receive a response, requests in 2024 routinely took several months.

I sent a request on the day the archive re-opened on November 3, and received a response today on November 10. The queue may grow as the archive resumes its normal operation, but the initial impression is much improved responsiveness.

Android Airtag Detection

I really do appreciate that recent Android releases notice and notify a user when an Airtag is accompanying them. Stalking via surreptitious Airtag is a real thing which happens.

One might think that the specific phrasing of "unknown Apple Airtag" implies the existence of a known Apple Airtag, but if such functionality exists I have not found it. I would really love to have a "it's ok, that one is mine" function to suppress repeated notifications about the Airtag in my luggage.