jobpilot.de – 2000/06/16
Apprentices of Market Economies, by Guido Schneider
Summary
School and archives do not offer enough work opportunities for historians. Therefore they crowd in the private economy. For them the way into business had been rather exceptional so far. In summer 1999, Frank Drauschke, Beate Schreiber, and Joerg Rudolph took a brave decision and established the Historical Research Institute Facts & Files in Berlin. The historians go into archives on behalf of the companies. Their success shows that their decision was right: international organizations, for instance, that deal with restitution claims from the Nazi Period with regard to confiscated insurance policies apply to the young Berlin historians with the request for archival research. Other clients include lawyers, enterprises, and the Humboldt University, Berlin. Frank Drauschke, co-founder of the firm, knows why Facts & Files can be so successful: the Institute is quicker than the academics. The more so as many professors do not go into the archives any more and consequently do not know the sources.