About the project

The Neue Deutsche Biographie – NDB – NDB-online – Editorial office and departments – Project management – Copyright

The Deutsche Biographie (German Biography)

The Deutsche Biographie (German Biography) is the central historical-biographical information system for the German-speaking world. As a joint service of the Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (HiKo) (Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities) and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) (Bavarian State Library) financed by several grants from the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (German Research Foundation), it has been offering structured lexical expert knowledge with information more than 1,000,000 personalities (2022) of the German-speaking cultural area from the early Middle Ages to the present day free of charge since 2010.

The core content of the Deutsche Biographie is the retro-digitized full texts of around 50,000 articles from the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB, 56 volumes, 1875-1912) and the Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB, online 27 volumes so far, since 1953, “Aachen” to “Wettiner”). New articles from the NDB-online project have been added continuously since 2022 (see below). The articles reflect the political and cultural conditions and perspectives at the time they were written. Older NDB articles that are currently considered problematic or inadequate by the NDB editorial team will be successively written anew as part of the NDB-online project and also published in the German Biography. The older versions will remain accessible.

With the help of the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND) (common authority file) of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library), the Deutsche Biographie links to further scientifically informative offers on the persons mentioned, to articles from other biographical encyclopedias, to source and literature references in large library catalogues as well as to objects, works and portraits or their references.

As part of the successive expansion of the Deutsche Biographie, holdings from important partner institutions were integrated into the Deutsche Biographie: the estate database of archival estates and personal papers and image archive of the Bundesarchiv (Federal Archives), the holdings of the German Literature Archive in Marbach am Neckar, the object database of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the image holdings in the specialist portals operated by the Bildarchiv Foto Marburg (Image Archive Photo Marburg) and broadcasting records from the Deutsche Rundfunkarchiv (German Broadcasting Archive). Searches were now also possible using a map-based, greatly expanded search function. The new features also included new forms of presentation based on computer linguistic analyses, e.g. the graphical representation of first-person networks.

The HiKo and the BSB continued to systematically expand the Deutsche Biographie. As a result, further central partner services were integrated by 2016:

  • the persons in the Kalliope database of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library),
  • the Jahresberichte für deutsche Geschichte (Annual Bibliography on German History) of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities),
  • funeral sermons and Regesta Imperii of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz (Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz),
  • the index of names in the edition Acta Pacis Westphalicae of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste (North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Arts),
  • persons from LEO-BW, the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (State Archive of Baden-Württemberg),
  • persons (photographers and archival estates) from the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB) (Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library),
  • the digital edition of the register books 1809-1930 of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München (Academy of Fine Arts Munich), and
  • the film portal of the Deutsches Filminstitut (German Film Institute).

The research tools were also developed in parallel: since 2016, it has been possible to search geographically by place of birth, death and work, as well as by date of birth and death.

Literature:

Hans Günter Hockerts, Zertifiziertes biographisches Wissen im Netz. Die "Deutsche Biographie" auf dem Weg zum zentralen historisch-biographischen Informationssystem für den deutschsprachigen Raum, in: Akademie Aktuell 04/2012, p. 34f.

Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (New German Biography)

Since 1953, the Neue Deutsche Biographie, published by HiKo, has been providing information in concise, scientifically based encyclopaedia articles on deceased personalities whose achievements had a significant influence on political, economic, social, scientific, technical or artistic developments. For decades, the NDB has been regarded as the standard biographical encyclopaedia for the German-language and cultural area, with its original articles signed by experts.

NDB-online

The historical-biographical reference work NDB-online has been published by the HiKo since 2020 by Professor Dr. Peter Hoeres (Würzburg). In the tradition of the ADB and NDB, the lexicon continues these works digitally and, together with their approximately 50,000 articles, forms the basis of the Deutsche Biographie.

Objectives of NDB-online

NDB-online pays particular attention to women and men who have received little attention in older biographical encyclopaedias, such as leading representatives of sport, technology, management and administration as well as popular culture and the media. Each article in NDB-online is written as a named original contribution by proven experts and offers a balanced picture of the personality portrayed.

Articles on NDB-online

The articles in NDB-online follow a fixed system:

A header contains information on name variants and dates of life, the place of birth, death and burial, the confession of the respective personality and, if possible, a visual portrait of the person depicted.

A brief critical appraisal at the beginning of the article summarizes the historical significance and central achievements.

This is followed by a tabular presentation of the curriculum vitae and genealogy.

The biographical account deals with the life and work of the personality, outlines its continued influence and reception and concludes with an appreciative classification.

The articles are concluded by lists of honors and memberships, works, archival estates and other sources, secondary literature and portraits. Particular attention is paid to freely available online materials: the directories in NDB-online refer to digital works and editions, bibliographies, portraits and audiovisual media on the Internet.

The research tools offered in the Deutsche Biographie are fully applicable to the articles in NDB-online. All biographical personalities are recorded in the index of the Deutsche Biographie and linked to each other and to the entries in the ADB and NDB. Further online resources on the respective personalities can also be accessed via the index entry. In addition, persons and places mentioned in the articles are indexed by tagging and are thus linked to further information, also in the offers of other scientific and cultural institutions.

Changes, updates and additions to the published NDB-online articles will only be made in justified individual cases after review by the editorial team.

NDB-online editorial office

The editor is supported by a scientific advisory board. The editorial team, based in Munich, consists of six academic staff members who are responsible for various specialist departments and cross-sectional tasks. On the basis of biographical editorial documentation compiled over decades, they decide together with the editor and external specialist advisors on the inclusion of new personalities in NDB-online, search for authors for the respective articles and accompany the completion of the article through to publication.

Editorial team and departments NDB/NDB-online

Editor NDB: Prof. Dr. Hans-Christof Kraus (Passau)

Editor NDB-online: Prof. Dr. Peter Hoeres (Würzburg)

Acting project leader Deutsche Biographie: Prof. Dr. Michaela Geierhos (Universität der Bundeswehr, München)

Editorial assistant: Kaie Heilander, 089-23031-1152, e-mail: kaie.heilander@ndb.badw.de

Departments:

Dr. Bernhard Ebneth, 089-23031-1155, e-mail: bernhard.ebneth@ndb.badw.de

  • Politics and military (early modern period)
  • Archaeology
  • Classical Studies
  • Classical Philology
  • Archive, library, information and documentation science
  • Cross-sectional tasks:
    • ◦ Genealogies
    • ◦ Biography Portal / Germany

Dr. Stefan Jordan, 089-23031-1199, e-mail: stefan.jordan@ndb.badw.de

  • Politics and military (19th century)
  • Literature
  • Modern philology and linguistics
  • Theology and church
  • Jewish religion
  • Philosophy
  • Pedagogy
  • Psychology
  • History
  • Sports

Dr. Maria Schimke, 089-23031-1200, e-mail: maria.schimke@ndb.badw.de

  • Politics and military (since 1945)
  • Economy and business
  • Economics and social sciences
  • Justice and jurisprudence
  • Women's movement
  • Printing and publishing (with an entrepreneurial focus)

Dr. Susan Splinter, 089-23031-1148, e-mail: susan.splinter@ndb.badw.de

  • Natural sciences
  • Medicine and pharmacy
  • Mathematics and computer science
  • Technical sciences
  • Agricultural and forestry sciences
  • Research travel and cartography

PD Dr. Werner Tschacher, 089-23031-1211, e-mail: werner.tschacher@ndb.badw.de

  • Politics and military (Middle Ages)
  • Visual and performing arts
  • Entertainment
  • Music and theater
  • Motion picture and
  • Design

Dr. Thomas Vordermayer, 089-23031-1205, e-mail: thomas.vordermayer@ndb.badw.de

  • Politics and military (1918-1945)
  • Journalism and communication studies
  • Printing and publishing (focus on journalism)
  • Ethnology and folklore
  • Cross-sectional task: Media editing

Project coordination

  • Professor Dr. Hans Günter Hockerts, Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, editor of Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) until 2013,
  • Professor Dr. Maximilian Lanzinner, Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, editor of Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) 2013/2014,
  • Professor Dr. Malte Rehbein (Passau), Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2014–2023.
  • Dr. Markus Brantl, head of department at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library)
  • Dr. Bernhard Ebneth (NDB)

Project staff

Historical Commission

  • Computational linguistic analyses: Sophia Stotz, Valentina Stuß
  • Research assistants: Maximilian Schrott (2014-16), Ingo Frank (2015), Sebastian Gassner (2015)

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Staff of the Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum/Digitale Bibliothek der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek für die Digitalisierung, GND-Erschließung und technische Realisierung (Munich Digitization Centre/Digital Library Department of the Bavarian State Library for digitization, GND indexing and technical implementation).

The prototype for the output of data in RDF was realized in 2011 with the support of the AKSW research group at the University of Leipzig (Martin Brümmer, Thomas Riechert) as part of the EU project LOD2.

The project was implemented with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Copyright

All texts appearing on the Deutsche Biographie website as well as the programming of the search function and the text layout are protected by copyright. All protected elements may only be used with the express permission of the Historische Kommission or the specified copyright holders.

You may download the material displayed on the website for academic and private, non-commercial use, provided you comply with all copyright and other proprietary notices relating to the material. You may not distribute, modify, transmit, reuse, republish or use any content of the website, including text, images, audio or video files, for public or commercial purposes without the written permission of the Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Exceptions to this apply since 1.9.2015 when “Deutsche Biographie” is mentioned under the following licenses:

  • - Articles of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie CC-BY-NC-SA,
  • - Articles of the Neue Deutsche Biographie CC-BY-NC-ND,
  • - Register data CC0.

If research results based on the data offered here are published, please send a link or a specimen copy to the editorial office of the NDB.

A link to this website, e.g. via the Beacon format, is expressly desired. The “Neue Deutsche Biographie” is also published in printed form and is available in bookshops. The publishing rights are held by the publisher Duncker und Humblot.

Questions and corrections

Please contact the NDB editorial team with any questions regarding content or correction notes.