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Albert Einstein (photo PD source Wikipedia)

In 1930, Albert Einstein, the famous theoretical physicist, was dividing his time between living in Berlin in a five-storey house at Schöneberg, Haberlandstrasse, 5, then located near Berlin’s zoological garden, and his summer house at Caputh to the south of Berlin.

The 1930 Berlin telephone directory lists him as: Einstein Albert Prof. Dr. Univ. -Prof., W30, Haberlandstr. 5. B6 Cornelius 2807.

This piece of information is supplied by Ancestry.com, the genealogy supplier, which has just released copies of the extensive archive of telephone directories held in the National German Library. It is estimated that the collection holds 35 million German names covering the period from 1915 to 1981 and covers the five main cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig.

Other famous Germans appearing in the directories include, Marlene Dietrich, actress, who appears in the same Berlin directory as Einstein, telephone number H1 Pfalzburg 2142.

Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Preußen, the German Kaiser at the start of the First World War is listed in the 1915 Berlin directory at his residence at Royal Castle Berlin, telephone number 482.

Eva Braun, mistress and later wife of Adolf Hitler. Is listed in the 1937 Munich directory at Wasserburger Strasse, telephone number 480844; and Rudolf Hess, later Deputy Fuhrer, is listed in the 1938 directory for Hamburg.

But it is not only famous Germans that can be found in the directories, for these now form an invaluable resource for researching your family tree if you have German ancestors. Ancestry estimate that 49 million Americans and 3 million British people can claim German ancestry.

As many records were destroyed during World War Two these directories will prove to be an important resource for helping to compile that family tree.

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