Completed research projects of the directorate

German Archival Policy - Living History - Twitter-Projekt@Mauerfall89 - Lindenstraße Memorial Site - Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989 - Integrated Urban History - Transnational Media Events- Witnesses - Authorities research - History of the VHD - Bookproject "Zeitenwende 1979"

Forschung

Projekte

Der Zeitzeuge in der Zeitgeschichte

Martin Sabrow

Completed Book project

The volume provides a critical reflection on eyewitnesses as a phenomenon of popular historical culture.

 

Study on the state of research into the federal ministries and supreme federal authorities with regard to the Nazi past

Completed research project

The study provides a summary survey of the research projects supported by the federal ministries and the supreme federal authorities on the history of their own institutions, which address not only the Nazi era but also the handling of this past during the post-war period. It provides suggestions for taking into account institutions previously not examined, where an analysis might prove to be particularly fruitful, and outlines possible perspectives for the further reappraisal of agencies.

Article about the Stalin notes in the Leipziger Volkszeitung, 1952. Photo: Deutsche Fotothek‎, Fotothek df roe-neg 0006265 023 Porträt von Margarete Däumichen mit der Leipzige, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

The USSR and the Two German States 1949–1953. Sources from German and Russian archives

Martin Sabrow

Completed associated Edition project

Funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the ZZF (2013–2018)

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Martin Sabrow

Researcher: Ole Kröning

Logo of the Association of German Historians.

History of the Verband der Historikerinnen und Historiker Deutschlands (Association of German Historians)

Martin Sabrow

Completed Research project

The Association of German Historians was founded in 1895 and has since worked to promote history as an academic discipline and to represent German historians vis-à-vis the national and international public. This collaborative project (Professor Olaf Blaschke, Trier; Professor Christoph Cornelißen, Düsseldorf; Professor Gabriele Lingelbach, Bamberg; Professor Martin Sabrow, Potsdam/Berlin) is based at the Humboldt University’s Department of History and aims to research and illustrate the association’s history from its foundation to the present time.

"Window of Remembrance" in memory of the victims at the Berlin Wall on the site of the Berlin Wall Memorial in Bernauer Strasse (Photo: Dajana Marquardt, 2015)

The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989

Completed Research project

Between 1961 and 1989, at least 140 people were killed at the Berlin Wall or died under circumstances directly connected with the East German border regime. This number includes 101 escapees who were shot dead, suffered fatal accidents or committed suicide during an attempt to cross the border, 30 individuals from East and West Germany and one Soviet soldier who were either shot or had a fatal accident with no intention of escaping, and eight further victims comprising GDR border soldiers killed in service by military deserters, fellow soldiers, an escapee, an escape agent and a West Berlin police officer.

Potsdam, Brauhausberg, Reichs Archive. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1993-0309-501 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

The Nazi Past of the ‘Reichsarchiv’ and it's Meaning for Domestic German Archival Policy after 1945

Martin Sabrow

Completed associated research project
in cooperation with the Bundesarchiv
Researcher: Peter-Ulrich Weiß

The aim of the project was, firstly, to investigate the involvement of the ‘Reichsarchiv’ and its employees in the Nazi system. And secondly, to examine how its successors in East and West Germany (‘Deutsches Zentralarchiv / Zentrales Staatsarchiv der DDR’ and ‘Bundesarchiv’, respectively) have handled their ‘brown heritage’.

Custody prison Lindenstraße, Photo by Hans-Hermann Hertle

Lindenstraße Memorial Site

Completed Research, Documentation and Exhibition Projects

Located at the heart of historic Potsdam, the Lindenstrasse Memorial Site is a unique place of memory. With its history under National Socialism as well as in the Soviet Occupation zone and the GDR, it is a symbol of the political persecution and violence practised during two different German dictatorships in the course of the twentieth century. At the same time, it stands for the efforts to overcome communist one-party rule, and the victory of democracy ushered in by the Peaceful Revolution of 1989-90.

Flyercover - Leibniz Research Alliance "Crises in a globalised world"

Leibniz Research Alliance "Crises in a globalised world"

Frank Bösch

In the research network on Crises in a Globalised World, 24 Leibniz institutions join forces to enhance their understanding of the mechanisms of crises and their interdependencies.
Frank Bösch was deputy spokesman of this research network Project form 2013 to 2019.

‘Heute vor 25 Jahren’ - @Mauerfall89
(Twitter Project)

Completed Collaborative Project of the Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam (ZZF), The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (BStU) and Bild Deutschland

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Center for Contemporary History, Potsdam (ZZF), the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (BStU) and Bild initiated the joint Twitter project ‘Heute vor 25 Jahren - @ Mauerfall89’

Transnational Media Events from Early Modern Times to the Present

Frank Bösch

DFG-Graduiertenkolleg
Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch: Member of the Kolleg from April 2007 to October 2021; Speaker of the Kolleg: 2007-2011

The Graduiertenkolleg investigates forms and functions of media representations of key events from the invention of the printing press to the age of the world wide web.

Excerpt from the poster of the conference "History as an Experience: Performative Practices in Historical Culture", 3.-5. July 2014 at the ZZF Potsdam

Living History: Reenacted Prehistory between Research and Popular Performance

Frank Bösch

Completed Research project

This interdisciplinary project, financed by the Volkswagen Foundation, examines by means of ‘living history’ forms of physical appropriation of history.

Oberbaumbrücke with border installations, October 1989, Roehrensee - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Public and Private Sphere in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg
An Integrated Urban History

Hanno Hochmuth

Completed PhD project​

The two boroughs of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg were once known as Berlin’s ‘poor house’ on the East Side. They shared similar demographics and history, until the two boroughs found themselves separated by the political divide cutting across post-war Berlin. Thereafter, both followed very different paths during the Cold War under opposing political systems.

Completed research projects of the directorate

German Archival Policy - Living History - Twitter-Projekt@Mauerfall89 - Lindenstraße Memorial Site - Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989 - Integrated Urban History - Transnational Media Events- Witnesses - Authorities research - History of the VHD - Bookproject "Zeitenwende 1979"

Forschung

Projekte

Der Zeitzeuge in der Zeitgeschichte

Martin Sabrow

Completed Book project

The volume provides a critical reflection on eyewitnesses as a phenomenon of popular historical culture.

 

Study on the state of research into the federal ministries and supreme federal authorities with regard to the Nazi past

Completed research project

The study provides a summary survey of the research projects supported by the federal ministries and the supreme federal authorities on the history of their own institutions, which address not only the Nazi era but also the handling of this past during the post-war period. It provides suggestions for taking into account institutions previously not examined, where an analysis might prove to be particularly fruitful, and outlines possible perspectives for the further reappraisal of agencies.

Article about the Stalin notes in the Leipziger Volkszeitung, 1952. Photo: Deutsche Fotothek‎, Fotothek df roe-neg 0006265 023 Porträt von Margarete Däumichen mit der Leipzige, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

The USSR and the Two German States 1949–1953. Sources from German and Russian archives

Martin Sabrow

Completed associated Edition project

Funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the ZZF (2013–2018)

Project Management: Prof. Dr. Martin Sabrow

Researcher: Ole Kröning

Logo of the Association of German Historians.

History of the Verband der Historikerinnen und Historiker Deutschlands (Association of German Historians)

Martin Sabrow

Completed Research project

The Association of German Historians was founded in 1895 and has since worked to promote history as an academic discipline and to represent German historians vis-à-vis the national and international public. This collaborative project (Professor Olaf Blaschke, Trier; Professor Christoph Cornelißen, Düsseldorf; Professor Gabriele Lingelbach, Bamberg; Professor Martin Sabrow, Potsdam/Berlin) is based at the Humboldt University’s Department of History and aims to research and illustrate the association’s history from its foundation to the present time.

"Window of Remembrance" in memory of the victims at the Berlin Wall on the site of the Berlin Wall Memorial in Bernauer Strasse (Photo: Dajana Marquardt, 2015)

The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989

Completed Research project

Between 1961 and 1989, at least 140 people were killed at the Berlin Wall or died under circumstances directly connected with the East German border regime. This number includes 101 escapees who were shot dead, suffered fatal accidents or committed suicide during an attempt to cross the border, 30 individuals from East and West Germany and one Soviet soldier who were either shot or had a fatal accident with no intention of escaping, and eight further victims comprising GDR border soldiers killed in service by military deserters, fellow soldiers, an escapee, an escape agent and a West Berlin police officer.

Potsdam, Brauhausberg, Reichs Archive. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1993-0309-501 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

The Nazi Past of the ‘Reichsarchiv’ and it's Meaning for Domestic German Archival Policy after 1945

Martin Sabrow

Completed associated research project
in cooperation with the Bundesarchiv
Researcher: Peter-Ulrich Weiß

The aim of the project was, firstly, to investigate the involvement of the ‘Reichsarchiv’ and its employees in the Nazi system. And secondly, to examine how its successors in East and West Germany (‘Deutsches Zentralarchiv / Zentrales Staatsarchiv der DDR’ and ‘Bundesarchiv’, respectively) have handled their ‘brown heritage’.

Custody prison Lindenstraße, Photo by Hans-Hermann Hertle

Lindenstraße Memorial Site

Completed Research, Documentation and Exhibition Projects

Located at the heart of historic Potsdam, the Lindenstrasse Memorial Site is a unique place of memory. With its history under National Socialism as well as in the Soviet Occupation zone and the GDR, it is a symbol of the political persecution and violence practised during two different German dictatorships in the course of the twentieth century. At the same time, it stands for the efforts to overcome communist one-party rule, and the victory of democracy ushered in by the Peaceful Revolution of 1989-90.

Flyercover - Leibniz Research Alliance "Crises in a globalised world"

Leibniz Research Alliance "Crises in a globalised world"

Frank Bösch

In the research network on Crises in a Globalised World, 24 Leibniz institutions join forces to enhance their understanding of the mechanisms of crises and their interdependencies.
Frank Bösch was deputy spokesman of this research network Project form 2013 to 2019.

‘Heute vor 25 Jahren’ - @Mauerfall89
(Twitter Project)

Completed Collaborative Project of the Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam (ZZF), The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (BStU) and Bild Deutschland

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Center for Contemporary History, Potsdam (ZZF), the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (BStU) and Bild initiated the joint Twitter project ‘Heute vor 25 Jahren - @ Mauerfall89’

Transnational Media Events from Early Modern Times to the Present

Frank Bösch

DFG-Graduiertenkolleg
Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch: Member of the Kolleg from April 2007 to October 2021; Speaker of the Kolleg: 2007-2011

The Graduiertenkolleg investigates forms and functions of media representations of key events from the invention of the printing press to the age of the world wide web.

Excerpt from the poster of the conference "History as an Experience: Performative Practices in Historical Culture", 3.-5. July 2014 at the ZZF Potsdam

Living History: Reenacted Prehistory between Research and Popular Performance

Frank Bösch

Completed Research project

This interdisciplinary project, financed by the Volkswagen Foundation, examines by means of ‘living history’ forms of physical appropriation of history.

Oberbaumbrücke with border installations, October 1989, Roehrensee - own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Public and Private Sphere in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg
An Integrated Urban History

Hanno Hochmuth

Completed PhD project​

The two boroughs of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg were once known as Berlin’s ‘poor house’ on the East Side. They shared similar demographics and history, until the two boroughs found themselves separated by the political divide cutting across post-war Berlin. Thereafter, both followed very different paths during the Cold War under opposing political systems.