Historical Overview
1956 Directive to establish the Military History Research Agency on 1 January 1957.
1957 The Military History Research Agency is established in Langenau near Ulm. Colonel Dr. Hans Meier-Welcker, the head of the Military Research Branch in the Federal Ministry of Defense, is also appointed Director of the Research Agency.
1958 The History Research Agency is renamed 'Military History Research Institute' (MGFA). Colonel Dr. Hans Meier-Welcker is appointed Director of the MGFA. The institute is relocated to Freiburg im Breisgau
1964 Colonel Dr. Wolfgang von Groote is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1976 The first issues of the periodical Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen (MGM) are published.
1968 Professor Andreas Hillgruber is appointed the first Chief Historian of the MGFA.
1969 The Historic Museum in Rastatt is renamed 'Wehrgeschichtliches Museum der Bundeswehr' and comes under the control of the MGFA. Colonel Dr. Herbert Schottelius is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1970 Dr. Rainer Wohlfeil is appointed Chief Historian of the MGFA. In the same year he is succeeded by Dr. Manfred Messerschmidt.
1972 Navy Captain Dr. Friedrich Forstmeier is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1975 Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen is for the first time supplemented by the international bibliography War and Society Newsletter.
1976 Colonel Dr. Othmar Hackl is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1978 Establishment of the new division "Training, Information, Specialized Studies" (AIF Division)
1979 The first volume of the series Germany and the Second World War is published in German under the heading Reasons and Preconditions of German War Politics. This is the 150th publication of the Institute.
1984 Opening of the traveling exhibition 'Rebellion of Conscience' in the Federal Diet.
1985 Colonel Dr. Günter Roth is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1989 Dr. Wilhelm Deist is appointed Chief Historian of the MGFA.
1990 Visit of the director of the Soviet Military History Institute, Senior General Professor Dimitrij Wolkogonov. Visit of the former Commander-in-Chief of the Warsaw Pact Forces, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Victor Kulikov. The former Military History Institute (MGI) and the former Army Museum of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) are integrated into the technical chain of command of the MGFA, and the latter becomes the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr.
1991 The periodical Militärgeschichtliche Beihefte is for the first time published under the new name Militärgeschichte (Military History). First official visit of an MGFA delegation to the Military History Institute of the Polish Armed Forces in Warsaw.
1992 The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Bundeswehr, General Klaus Naumann, visits the MGFA and announces the relocation of the institute to Potsdam.
1994 Prof. Hans-Erich Volkmann succeeds Dr Deist and is appointed Director of Research. The Federal Minister of Defense, Dr Volker Rühe, introduces and presents the MGFA in ´Potsdam. The official residence of the MGFA is the 'Villa Ingenheim' in Zeppelinstrasse.
1995 The MGFA library is opened to the public. Navy Captain Dr. Werner Rahn is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1996 The Federal Minister of Defense, Dr. Volker Rühe, and the Vice-President of the Potsdam University, Professor Bärbel Kirsch, establish a chair for military history. Appointed to this chair is Professor Bernhard R. Kroener. Professor Daniel Proektor presents the Russian edition of the book World War II. Analyses, Characteristic Features, Research Results in the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Moscow.
Start of a comprehensive restoration project of all MGFA buildings the completion of which takes several years.
1997 Visit of the MGFA director, Navy Captain Dr. Werner Rahn, and of Dr. Bruno Thoss in Beijing. Colonel Friedhelm Klein is appointed Director of the MGFA.
1998 Opening of the exhibition 'Rebellion of Conscience' in St. Paul's Cathedral in Frankfurt am Main. Handover of the keys of the restored Villa Ingenheim. Working visit of the MGFA director, Colonel Friedhelm Klein, in Beijing, China.
1999 Dr. Klaus von Dohnanyi presents the conference paper compilation under the heading 'The Wehrmacht. Myth and Reality'. Working visit of the head of the Research Division, Professor Hans-Erich Volkmann, in the German Historic Institute (DHI) in Warsaw, Poland.
2001 Navy Captain Dr. Jörg Duppler, is appointed Director of the MGFA.
2003 Prof. Beatrice Heuser, formerly Professor of International and Strategic Studies at the Department of War Studies, King's College London, is appointed Director of Research.
2004 Oberst Hans Ehlert is appointed Director of the MGFA
Read more about this topic: German Armed Forces Military History Research Office
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