Completed research projects of the directorate

Completed Twitter 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
Project management at ZZF: Hans-Hermann Hertle,
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the collaborative partner initiated the joint Twitter project ‘Heute vor 25 Jahren - @ Mauerfall89’. From 19 August to 12 November 2014, the tweets, wherever possible in real-time, told the breathtaking events on the road to the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Compleated DFG-Graduiertenkolleg
Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch: Member of the kolleg from April 2007 to October 2021; Speaker of the Kolleg: 2007-2011
The Graduiertenkolleg  investigated forms and functions of media representations of key events from the invention of the printing press to the age of the world wide web.

by the Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam, and the Berlin Wall Foundation
Project management: Hans-Hermann Hertle (Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam) / Maria Nooke (Berlin Wall Foundation)
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. Besides determining the number and identities of the individuals who died at the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989, the main objective of the project was to document their lives and deaths through historical and biographical research.

Compreted 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
The edition initiated by Jochen P. Laufer († 16.3.2016) presents new sources on the mutual foreign policy of the USSR, the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. It follows on chronologically from volume 4 of the edition "Die UdSSR und die deutsche Frage" edited by Jochen P. Laufer and Georgij P. Kynin and thus continues the documentation of Soviet German policy for the period up to Stalin's death. 

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’.

Research project in cooperation with IfZ
Direction: Professor Frank Bösch (ZZF) and  Professor Andreas Wirsching (IfZ)
Researcher at the ZZF: Martin Diebel, Franziska Kuschel, Stefanie Palm, Dominik Rigoll

Frank Bösch, Martin Sabrow and Andreas Wirsching 
(ed.)
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.

Completed research project 
of the Leibniz Research Alliance ‘Value of the Past"
The project investigated the historical origins of present-day historical tourism in Berlin since the 1980s and enquired after the importance of historical authenticity within the expectations of tourists.

This project explored the genuinely urban relationship between the public and the private sphere, which developed specific new dynamics and interactions during the years of separation in East and West. 

After National Socialism, the Federal Republic tried to act as a purified democratic state. At the same time, it interacted globally with numerous non-democratic states - be it politically, economically or culturally. The book project archived these practices and their repercussions on both sides. Frank Bösch published his book Deals mit Diktaturen. Eine andere Geschichte der Bundesrepublik on February 15, 2024.