I have done quite a bit of research in Germany, both what was known as East Germany and also West Germany. This is the procedure I used in researching one of my German families. I hope it may be of some help to you who are having problems.
The first thing I needed to do was locate the church or churches in the area of interest. I did this through the library catalog of the LDS. If there were films available from the LDS, I then read these films, either by visiting the library in Salt Lake City or ordering the films to be read in a local LDS library.
While reading the films for a church in Dargun, Mecklenburg,Germany, [I determined this locality by earlier research of where the family lived in Germany] a marriage record specified where the groom was originally from. The town was Kampar in Swedish Pommerania. I located a map and found the little town in Pommern. Searching the LDS catalog I found there were no churches microfilmed of the area.
My next step was to subscribe to the Pommern Mailing List. On this list I asked if anyone knew where the people from Kampar went to church. I got several wonderful responses from the List. They gave me the name of the church where the records were kept, the address, pastors name and telephone #. I called Germany and spoke to the pastor who was willing to help but had very little time. I next asked the List if anyone could recommend a researcher for the area, and again received several responses. I contacted one of the researchers and decided to hire him to read the records for me. It was very successful. He was able to help me trace my family back another 3 generations in this locale.
This was the general procedure I used to trace my families in Germany. I hope it will be of some help. If I can help in any other way, please contact me and I will try to help.
Irma Franke
irmawf@comcast.net