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High Purity Germanium Detectors have excellent energy resolution; the bestamong the technologies used in double beta decay. Since neutrino-less doublebeta decay hinges on the search for a rare peak upon a background continuum,this strength has enabled the technology to consistently provide leadingresults. The Ge crystals at the heart of these experiments are very pure; theyhave no measurable U or Th contamination. The added efforts to reduce thebackground associated with electronics, cryogenic cooling, and shielding havebeen very successful, leading to the longevity of productivity. The firstexperiment published in 1967 by the Milan group of Fiorini, established thebenchmark half-life limit $>3\times10^{20}$ yr. More recently, the \MJ\ andGERDA collaborations have developed new detector technologies that optimize thepulse waveform analysis. As a result, the GERDA collaboration refuted the claimof observation with a revolutionary approach to shielding by immersing thedetectors directly in radio-pure liquid argon. In 2018, the \MJ\ collaboration,using a classic vacuum cryostat and high-Z shielding, achieved a backgroundlevel near that of GERDA by developing very pure materials for use nearby thedetectors. Together, GERDA and \MJ\ have provided limits approaching $10^{26}$yr. In this article, we elaborate on the historical use of Ge detectors fordouble beta decay addressing the strengths and weaknesses. We also summarizethe status and future as many \MJ\ and GERDA collaborators have joined withscientists from other efforts to give birth to the LEGEND collaboration. LEGENDwill exploit the best features of both experiments to extend the half-lifelimit beyond $10^{28}$ yr with a ton-scale experiment.

Ge Detectors and $0\nu\beta\beta$: The Search for Double Beta Decay with Germanium Detectors: Past, Present and Future