How to become a member

Are you a (professional) genealogist and interested in becoming a member of our professional organization?

Your advantages

• Representation of the interests of professional genealogists to the general public.
• Promotion of a uniform professional image.
• Professional exchange, networking, and cooperation with colleagues.
• Contribution to the qualification of the members.
• Membership as a sign for high quality and qualification as well as fair behavior with respect to both clients and colleagues.
• Support of members in any conflicts of general interest with respect to the profession of genealogists.
• Own membership page on the association’s website, thereby creating an (additional) online presence.
• Increased coverage through the association’s press and publicity work as well as the association’s stand at the Deutscher Genealogentag (German Genealogists’ Congress).
• Forwarding of enquiries.
• Opportunity of participating in the annual members’ meeting held during the Deutscher Genealogentag.

Membership prerequisites

• You earn your income or part of your income working as a genealogist.
• You accept our binding professional principles  and uphold them.
• You send us a written example of your work.
• You undertake an oral examination (see below for examination procedure).
• You commit yourself to promoting the association’s interests.
• You pay a one-time admission fee (€100) and a yearly membership fee (at present: €100, payable on 01 January of each year by direct debit).

Procedure for the admission to the association

• You decide on which region(s) of the former German Empire for which you wish to be registered on our website.
• You send in a comprehensive written example of your work with your written application; i.e. a detailed research report that shows how you have used different sources and your specialist knowledge.
• You undertake an oral examination about your general knowledge (terminology, the reading of old manuscripts, familiarity with the most important sourcesand data banks, etc.) and your knowledge of the special features of your chosen region(s). Roughly 30 minutes are planned for each region being tested. The oral examination is undertaken by members of our Executive Board, though where necessary, additional experts may be called in for the chosen region(s). The oral examinations are undertaken during the Deutscher Genealogentag (www.genealogentag.de) on the Friday (mainly during the morning and early afternoon). Please note that the examination will be in German and that in order to become a member of the association it is necessary to be able to read German sources and correspond in German. All the relevant information about the exact contents of the examination is available in German language under the association’s examination regulations.
• Subsequently, the Executive Board will decide on the candidate’s admission to the association on the basis of his/her examination results.
• Application deadline: Until 6 weeks before the date of the annual Deutscher Genealogentag.

Resignation from the association can be undertaken to the end of the current year. A written resignation must be sent to the Executive Board by 30 June.

The association’s statutes can be found here.