Archivmagazin: Regal-Ordnungssystem mit Archivboxen
Foto: © ZEGJ

Fedor Besseler

Werkstatt
für Geschichte

»The profession of historian is a beautiful profession. To be practiced properly, it requires a lot of work, a lot of different skills and a real intellectual power: curiosity, imagination, orderly thinking and, finally, the ability to express people's thoughts and feelings clearly and accurately.«
Marc Bloch

Main focus

  • Social, economic and cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries
  • Jewish history and culture in Germany and Europe
  • History of the middle classes and the working class in the German Empire (1871—1918)
  • History of National Socialism and its aftermath up to the present day
  • Biographical and family research
  • Frankfurt city history
Opening of the exhibition »Auf Leben. 75 years of the Jewish community in Frankfurt«
Opening of the exhibition »Auf Leben. 75 years of the Jewish community in Frankfurt«, Foto: © Peter Jülich
Museum of Jewish Antiquities at its former location on today's Konstablerwache, photomontage: © Institut für Gebrauchsgrafik
The Museum of Jewish Antiquities at its former location on today's Konstablerwache, photomontage: © Institut für Gebrauchsgrafik

Services

  • Archive research at home and abroad
  • Conception and realization of historical exhibitions
  • Text editing, e.g. commemorative publications, scientific essays, monographs
  • Creation of digital or analog topographies
  • Guided tours of cities and museums

Projects

  • 2024—26: Co-curator of the exhibition »Our own voice(s). 75 Years of the Central Council of Jews in Germany« on behalf of the Braunschweig Municipal Museum (Chief Curator: Dr. Peter Joch)
  • 2024: Conception and research of historical theme tours through Frankfurt's Ostend district for the platform on behalf of the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt (project management: Heike Drummer)
  • 2023—24: Creation of the commemorative publication 50 years of the Frankfurt Jewish community's retirement center
  • 2022—24: Together with Laura Schilling curator of the exhibition »Revive. 75 Years of the Jewish Community Frankfurt« on behalf of the Jewish Community
  • 2021—23: Co-curator of the exhibition »Metal & Society #WilhelmMerton« at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt (chief curator: Heike Drummer)
  • 2022: Research and database editing for the Shoah Memorial on behalf of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt
  • 2021: Research for the digital topography »Frankfurt and National Socialism« as part of the exhibition »A City Joins In. Frankfurt and Nazism«
  • 2017—2022: Museum and city tours on behalf of the Historisches Museum Frankfurt
Exhibition catalog »Revive. 75 Years of the Jewish Community of Frankfurt«
Exhibition catalog »Revive. 75 Years of the Jewish Community of Frankfurt«, © Michael Faust

I have written the following entries for the Frankfurter Personenlexikon:

Ceremony 50 years of the Frankfurt Jewish Community's Center for the Elderly, © Michael Faust
Ceremony 50 years of the Frankfurt Jewish Community's Center for the Elderly, © Michael Faust

About

I completed my Master of Arts (M.A.) in History at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, the Institut d'Études politiques in Lyon, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences sociales Paris (EHESS) and the Justus Liebig University Giessen. The seminars and lectures of Prof. Dr. Christian Wiese and Prof. Dr. Stefan Rohdewald were decisive for my specialization in German-Jewish history.
In addition to my passion for history, I enjoy cycling and playing basketball. I am a fan of the Fraport Skyliners.

Network

Commemorative publication »50 Years of the Frankfurt Jewish Community's Center for the Elderly«
Commemorative publication »50 Years of the Frankfurt Jewish Community's Center for the Elderly«, © Michael Faust