Civil records began in 1793. Before this date, except in few places like Metz, only Catholic records exist
(christening, marriage, burial) in parochial files.
In order to fill this gap a by-law was created by the Moselle prefecture dated 13 Brumaire an XI
(4 november 1802) which states that in each commune will be created a file "déclaration de naissance des non catholiques antérieurement
au 1er janvier 1793". Everybody living in this commune at the date of creation where to be included, whether or not they were born
in the commune.
These files are kept in the communes with a copy to Moselle Archives. They are located within civil records,
with the birth records of an XI.
Unfortunately only a few communes created these files. They are helpful for Jewish genealogy: they give the age, birth
place and parents' identity.
We have found some of them and list them here (having deleted some non-Jewish names).
The importance of these files is variable. In some communes all the Jews living there in 1802 and born before 1793 were entered,
in other communes only children are noted. Furthermore, there are often blanks which were left to be completed at a later date but were
never done.
The records are listed in chronological order by default.
If you want a list sorted in alphabetic order, tick here:
