This project is open to people who have a CONFIRMED Jewish ancestry from a town in present-day Germany, or former territories of Germany most of which are located in Poland today. Although we do not require permission before joining, you will be left as "unassigned" until either your information clearly identifies you as German-Jewish or until you have contacted an administrator with the following information: 1) Which group do you wish to join? You can join our Y-DNA Project, our MtDNA Project and/or our Family Finder Group. (However, at the present time, your results from the Family Finder Test do not appear on the public website. So if you are ONLY joining Family Finder, you may be disappointed as your name and results will only be visible to the administrators.  We will be sending out matrixes showing the degree of relatedness between members from time to time.) 2) Please tell us more about your German-Jewish background. We would like to know which of the following describes your Jewish background, so we can help you determine if our group is appropriate for you. .........I have a known Jewish history. .........I have an oral history of being Jewish, but no proof. .........I am joining just because I am curious whether or not I am Jewish. .........I am joining because I have many Jewish matches, but have no Jewish history. .........My ancestor was adopted, but I suspect that (s)he was Jewish because ........ .........Other 3) Please let us know where in Germany or her former territories your ancestor lived. This is not the group for you if either your direct Y-DNA or direct MtDNA ancestor didn't live in Germany. 4) Click on the "Plot Locations" in the tool bar on the left side of your "My FTDNA home page. It is very important to submit this information as we use this information in order to identify your results. 5)  Be sure to fill in the blanks on your earliest maternal and paternal ancestors with information on their names, towns or areas of origin and years or birth (approx. if unknown).  You will find the blanks by clicking on "User Preferences" and scrolling down to the bottom of the page.  This is important as it will place the data next to your results, so that the results can be meaningful.  Otherwise, there will just be a blank space.  6) Click on "Contact Information" located under "My Account" on the left side of your "My FTDNA home page. Make sure that you have filled in "Paternal Country of Origin" and "Maternal Country of Origin". If you report "Unknown" in this field you must let us know why you belong in our project. 6) Although not necessary to join our project, we encourage you to upload a gedcom with a pedigree chart. A gedcom is created with a genealogical software program. If you need help, contact an administrator. Once your results arrive, your matches will be able to click on your gedcom to see if there are any obvious connections. This will eliminate a lot of email from individuals who have no known connection. Those who do not qualify for this project are encouraged to visit JewishGen's Genealogy by Genetics website at http://www.jewishgen.org/dna/ for other Jewish DNA projects, or Family Tree DNA's main website for a comprehensive list of Family Tree DNA projects. Those with Jewish ancestors from the following areas are welcome to join our project! Present Day: Baden-Wuerttemburg,  Bavaria (Bayern),  Berlin,  Brandenburg,  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Hesse (Hessen),  Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen),  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,  North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz),  Saarland,  Saxony (Sachsen),  Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), Schleswig-Holstein,  and Thuringia (Thueringen).  Former Territories or Provinces: Alsace-Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen), East Prussia (Ostpreussen),  West Prussia (Westpreussen),  Posen Province (Provinz Posen),  Eastern Pomerania (Ostpommern / Hinterpommern),  Silesia (Schlesien), East Brandenburg (Ostbrandenburg), and some smaller regions as well.