German city directories - ancestry
 

Germany and Surrounding Areas, Address Books 1829-1974
(they have translated "Adressbücher" as "Address Books" although we would call them directories.)
Indexed using OCR, and some don't seem to have been indexed at all, so if you don't find someone by searching, try browsing instead.

This is the link to the whole "German Historical Directories" collection as they already had quite a few:
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/germandirs

Hmm, seems to cover mostly places beginning with A-M at the moment, so hopefully there is a part 2 to come soon.

This has just been updated, but is still missing the second half of the alphabet!

Lots of cities in the second half of the alphabet have been added at last! The date range is now shown as 1815-1974. I'm guessing there are more to come.

This has just been updated again.

And has been updated again.

Kate, are these street directories? If so, do they only name heads of household? My grandfather lived in Germany before WW1, supposedly attending a German University. I expect he was a lodger or boarder maybe but I know absolutely nothing else, not even a city.

OC

Yes, they are street directories, and they mostly name heads of household but I have come across some which list all adult members. I would think unlikely to include a student who was lodging or boarding.

Thankyou Kate, that's what I needed to know.

OC