The initial edition of Researching in Germany was printed in California on a single day from about 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. That day was September 11, 2001. Since then, lots of things in our world have changed. At first we feared that Americans would worry about the safety of international travel and thus fly to Europe in ever decreasing numbers. The rise in the value of the euro added to those fears. Nevertheless, we authors are so convinced of the value of a trip to the ancestral homeland that we have actually increased our frequency, logging about thirty trips between us in the last ten years.

For some time, we believed that a second edition of this book would not be needed, but the popularity of this volume has dispelled such thoughts. We have thoroughly reviewed our text and illustrations and anybody ambitious enough to compare the two editions will identify hundreds and hundreds of changes. Many innovations have improved conditions awaiting today’s travelers, such as better accommodations for lodging, modernized archival equipment and procedures, streamlined parish offices, GPS systems aiding rental car travel, and Internet connections that include Skype communications. All these improvements should encourage any reader who might still be hesitant about undertaking this grand adventure.