[mickdeek86]

I just spent several weeks in Germany, one of my goals was family history (my father was born in Dusseldorf, his father in Berlin), that whole side is dead now, basically. I had a much easier time in the west (my grandma's birthplace) than in the east, much of which was apparently due to war damage. It also turns out that my naive notion of just walking into the national archives and putting my grimy American fingers all over their paper records was objectionable to the Germans. But at least I made contacts, the archivist basically takes a fee and get back to you in a few months' time.