Institute of Contemporary History (IfZ)

The Institute of Contemporary History Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) located in Munich, Germany is a national research institution having the legal status of a publicly endowed foundation. Although independent of the university system, the Institute interacts significantly with the academic world, its own scholars sometimes holding appointments simultaneously at the universities Munich, Regensburg and Bonn. The Institute's specialized library contains more than 189,000 volumes. Its archives store unpublished works by politicians, scholars and journalists, as well as records of political parties and private associations. From the Nuremberg Trials there are records of court sessions, indictments and sentences of war criminals, as well as an extensive collection of printed media consisting of government documents, newspapers, press releases and leaflets. Transcripts of the records of the Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) (OMGUS) on microfiche can also be found in the Institute's archives.
Until the seventies the Institute's research dealt primarily with National Socialist dictatorship and its origins, the Weimar Republic, as well as the Allied period of occupation. Since then, new lines of study in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany and former East Germany have been found. With the opening of two extensions in Berlin the Institute responded to these new challenges. One extension, which was established in 1990, focuses its research on German international policy of the 1950s and 1960s and edits the Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. The other extension, established in 1994, continues with the research the Institute initiated as early as 1980 on former East Germany and the Soviet enterprise therein. The Institute, which was founded in 1949, has produced 263 titles in 388 volumes, as well as two microfiche editions. Since 1953, the Institute has published the world renown quarterly Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, abstracts of which can be found on the internet at www.ifz-muenchen.de. The Institute's publications are works either produced by the Institute's scholars, or works submitted from outside under the aegis or direct sponsorship of the Institute. The publications cover all themes of research current in contemporary history and are considered exemplary in the field of contemporary history throughout Germany.

Director: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Horst Moeller

Deputy Director: Prof. Dr. Udo Wengst

Institut für Zeitgeschichte
Leonrodstr. 46 B
80636 Muenchen
Germany
Tel.: (089) 126880
Fax:(089)12688191