As I've tried to locate my historic European (mostly German) ancestors, the shifting of political boundaries and the substitution of one place name for another (sometimes combining villages as the populations increased) become stumbling blocks. There's much one can do from a computer before travel, such as consult with the state archives and various maps. When you google towns use the umlauts of the original town names and contemporary town names, not the anglicized spellings that seem easy but are themselves absolute barriers to finding facts.
And btw, go to a library. Well educated Germans are librarians and speak English. You will ask for a research librarian only. They, along with archivists, are your most valuable research tools.