Zentralarchiv der Evangelischen
Kirche in Hessen und Nassau
Ahastraße 5a
64285 Darmstadt / Germany
The "Zentralarchiv der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau (EKHN)" based in Darmstadt stores and makes accessible documents on the history of the EKHN and its predecessor churches in Hesse (-Darmstadt), Nassau, and Frankfort/Main from the Reformation to the present time. These documents are supplemented by estates, collections, and a service library. Apart from the typical core areas of archives, the task of the central archive is to maintain the archive and monitor the management of the church books and seal. The central archive is located in the Helmut-Hild-Haus.
The area of the Regional Church Hesse-Nassau includes Southern Hesse, the former administrative districts Rhenish Hesse and Montabaur of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate as well as a few parishes in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau currently comprises 25 deanships with a total of 1,075 parishes.
The church books of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau are usually kept in the parishes and not in the archive. The inventory of the central archive includes documents of the church synod, church leadership, church administration, and their predecessor institutions as well as the archive records of provostries and deanships, individual parishes, and other church or church-related institutions. The inventory is complemented by digitized church books as well as reference files and estates of significant church personalities.
Church books from more than 650 Protestant parishes in Hesse and Nassau are available online for your family research. This inventory is continuously being expanded.
If you need a church book for your family research that is not (yet) recorded online by Archion, there is the opportunity to view on site. Please find more information on the website of the archive: Beratung und Benutzung - Zentralarchiv der EKHN (helmut-hild-haus.de)
In the online finding aids of the Central Archive you will find further information about the church registers in the EKHN, their duration and the affiliation of branch parishes to the respective parishes:
The fonds Kirchenbuchverweise contains information on the church registers. The "Wegweiser" contains information on branch and denominational relationships.