Date of death

[mel5]

When date of death is recorded, at times, there is another date, invariably written in pencil and almost invariably the date is a day or two earlier than the stamped/inked date. The pattern only became obvious to me after I encountered a number of examples of this. I have been adding this date as an additional entry (should I?). But I am discomforted by this: why is there a penciled date preceding the date of death? Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this as well. Thank you for considering my notes. Could it be a difference between when a person died and when their death was officially „registered“.

[routebleue]

Good morning!:
Yes, please enter both dates in verstorben/deceased.
Thanks for your support!

also see this discussion

? date of death – Werner HERTOG – dutch

Thank you for raising this topic. I can understand that you are unsure, because I am too. In many cases, it is not explicitly mentioned whether it is the date of death or the date of „abgesetzt“. To stay true to our golden rule, I would record both dates as deceased. If the second date was used for „abgesetzt“, it would be an interpretation, as the stamp says otherwise. Research in the archives is always helpful, no question, but we should not use the information obtained for interpretation. …

[mel5]

Thank you. Yes, I have been entering both dates now that I have noticed it, with the penciled date as the second date. Sorry for any speculation. When entering data, I generally don’t infer information and remember the instruction to just report what is written. Thanks for the quick replies and the advice- much appreciate the clarification. Best wishes.

[sellivodoert]

I handle it the same way - penciled dates as an addition.
But researching other documents I found out that the penciled earlier dates are usually the real dates of death.
You can look up as an example
Hirsch, Israel, born 19.11.1926
Signatur 01010503 001.189.026
There are more but that is one I found recently