May 8th 1959 in Limburg/Germany; 1978-86 university of Mainz, dept.s political economy, history and germanistics; 1986 Dr. phil. (dissertation: poor-relief in the duchy of Nassau 1806-66); 1988 academic membership: Historical Commission of Nassau; 1987-89 archival assessor; 1989-92 vice-director of Mannheim Municipal Archives; since 1992: director of Heidelberg Municipal Archives; lecturer (economic and social history) dept. of history, University of Mainz; 1998-2003 chairman of the study group of archivists in the Rhein-Neckar-Triangle; since 2000 member of the Association of German archivists (VdA); since 2000 member of the board of the Association of German Business Archivists (VdW – responsible for archival education and training); since 2004 member of the Steering Committee ICA-SAE; cooperation and guest performances connected with archival exhibitions in Argentina, Chile and China; archival guest speaker among others in Asia and Latin America; editorship of about 30 publications; own publications like “Living in Heidelberg” (1997), “Motorization in Heidelberg” (1998), "... being in love with Heidelberg" (2004), about 200 reviews in scientific journals; married, 4 children; hobbies: Russian mechanical watches, bullfight and Spanish cava (sparkling wine)

Abstract for "Educational Offers for Business Archivists - Means of Creating an Archival Profession"

The image of archivists to those “outside of the archival world” (at least in Germany) is influenced by several prejudices. People in general do not understand much about archives or archivists. They think of our work as being antiquated; that our job consists only in handling old and dusty documents. Archivists are seen therefore as academics both working and living in the past. Archives also exist in the corporate world, however, and are often staffed by only one or two archivists. Most of them have studied history, but without any archival education. There is a great need for archival training and education in the corporate setting. Corporate archivists often face the difficulty of needing to justify their existence when economic times are hard. They are asked to be at once competent archivists and skilled managers in areas outside the immediate archival context. The task of such archivists is to present themselves in a very professional way, thus improving the standing of archives and archivists in the company. In this way, it is clear that archival education must evolve. The archivist of today is no longer hidden behind closed doors; we are increasingly the focus of public attention. The more our communication with the people “outside of the archival world” succeeds, the better we do our job, and the more financial support our archives will receive. That’s why the courses developed by the Association of German Business Archivists contain modules in written and audiovisual communication, public speaking workshops, mock interviews taught by well-known sports journalists, public relations workshops led by professional trainers, speech practice and breathing exercises led by a theatre instructor as well as workshops by one of the “gurus” of the time-management field. The professionalization of archivists nowadays requires much more than the narrow training archivists received in the past. The process of becoming more professional starts in the head of each individual.