My cousins would like to find the birth certificate of their mother, who was born in 1946 in the DP Camp in Benzheim. Is there a special archive for DP camp records? Do they just write to the nearest German office of civil records? Thanks for any suggestions.

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Jessica Eber
WALDMAN, STERNBERG, MAJBERGER, FREUDENFELD, ALTHOLZ

Hello Jessica,

I did a quick German online-research and didn't find explicit information on responsibilities. I would suggest that the family members write to the Bensheim Standesamt (registry office) describing the situation/request, they will surely know.
They will need to prove their legitimation (direct descendance) via a scan of an ID.

E-Mail:
standesamt@...

Standesamt/Team Personenstandswesen
Kirchbergstraße 18
64625 Bensheim

Good luck!

Corinna Wöhrl (Hoisdorf, Germany)

Maybe on arolsen-archives.org?

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In the case I investigated, a child who was born while the parents were living in Föhrenwald DP in Wolfratshausen, (West) Germany, the mother actually traveled to Munich to give birth, and the birth was registered there, in the regular civil register, and cross-registered in Wolfratshausen. I would check the municipal register in the town where the camp was located, and/or the nearest city with a hospital.

Steve Stein
Highland Park, NJ

 

The DP camp records in the Arolsen Archives contain some birth certificates or other documentation of births.  If you do not find these documents on the Arolsen Archive's website I suggest your cousins submit a research request to them or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I agree with the suggestion that they contact the registry offices in Benzheim.

Best wishes,

Megan Lewis

I emailed the registrar of the town where the DP camp was located.  Did not go into any explanations.  Just that I was born in the town (did not even mention that it was a DP camp) and gave the date and requested a birth certificate.
It was emailed to me with a day and was followed with a hard copy.
Relly Coleman

Thank you all for your very useful suggestions! I was able to get some information on the Bad Arolsen site and will also submit a request of the local archives.

At 18:02 08/10/2020, Lewis, Megan wrote:

The DP camp records in the Arolsen Archives contain some birth certificates or other documentation of births.  If you do not find these documents on the Arolsen Archive's website I suggest your cousins submit a research request to them or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I agree with the suggestion that they contact the registry offices in Benzheim.

Best wishes,

Megan Lewis
_._,_._,_

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Google insists that the location is named benSheim

David Lewin
London

Although my recent experience is not for birth records but for evidence that my mother was in Kosciuszk(ow) dp camp, near Iserlohn. I was advised by the Iserlohn archives that because the camp was in the British Zone to try the British Archives. As it appears that the  Benzheim camp was in the American zone maybe that will point you in the right direction.
Hope that this helps.
Noreen Thorne (England)