Help with german place names

[blamcca]

I have some naturalisation records of two brothers. Can anyone read what the places of birth say? Also further if you can find where they are in Germany/Prussia. One of their other brothers was born in Hamburg, if it helps.

[Malcolm33]

 Bigpond is playing up and not working here in Melbourne most of the time.   Pauten is in Czechoslovakia.   Will try again tomorrow.

[blamcca]

Thanks for that Malcolm, hmmm Czechoslovakian??? That is something I am sure a lot of the family didn't know

[IMBER]

The fact that Pauten is in the present day Czech Republic does not necessarily mean that your ancestor was Czech. I'm afraid it's all terribly complicated due to the boundary changes in Europe after both world wars and the ethnic tensions in that area over hundreds of years. Czechoslovakia itself was not founded until 1918. Pauten may have been in Bohemia which, I think, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The easternmost parts of that area were German speaking and had political ambitions. The area was later known as the Sudetanland and annexed by Hitler prior to WW2. Most German speakers, several million of them, were expelled after the German defeat. I'm not an expert but at least you can see that there were a lot of issues and may wish to pursue some of this yourself.

[Peonie]

The place of birth for August seems to be Hamma (population of ca 400) near Sangerhausen  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangerhausen.

Heinrich's birthplace looks like Kniegnitz. You have a choice of places:
Kniegnitz/Kreis Breslau (Schlesien)
Kniegnitz/Kreis Lüben (Schlesien)
Kniegnitz/Kreis Neumarkt (Schlesien)
Kniegnitz/Kreis Trebnitz (Schlesien)

Regards Peonie

[blamcca]

Yes Imber, I understand that they were probably not Czech but it is still interesting.
Thanks Peonie, they look right to me, now just to find out which one is my Kniegnitz. 

[Peonie]

Hi blamcca,

had another look and found Gross Hammer, also a small village, near Trebnitz. It's  possible Kniegnitz/Trebnitz is the one you are looking for. It's now Trzebnica/Poland.

Regards Peonie

[John915]

Good evening,

I think the first one is Hannover, if you look at the "Germany" under the place name you can see the same two letters, "er" at the end of the name. Hannover was in Prussia at that time.

John915

[blamcca]

Thanks Peonie that seems to make sense, but I can't find any of these towns anywhere. 
John if you look on the above post, Peonie has said it could be 'Gross Hammer' so that gives an 'er'. I, as well, first thought Hannover, but there is clearly no 'o' in there.