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.