Franco-German Institute
The Franco-German Institute (dfi) is a research and documentation center for present-day France and German-French relations sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office , the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science and the City of Ludwigsburg in Ludwigsburg (Baden-Württemberg).
history
The institute was founded in Ludwigsburg in 1948 with the aim of "promoting Franco-German understanding in all areas of intellectual and public life" (§ 1 of the statutes). The founding fathers of the institute were Carlo Schmid , Theodor Heuss and Fritz Schenk on the German side and Joseph Rovan and Alfred Grosser on the French side . The first director of the institute was Fritz Schenk from 1948 to 1972.
From 1972 to 2002 Robert Picht was director of the institute. In 1990 the France library of the dfi in Ludwigsburg was inaugurated. In 2002 the literary scholar Frank Baasner became director of the institute. In 2004 a branch office was opened in Paris.
organization
The institute has the legal form of a registered association. It is headed by a president. Since 2005, this has been the former Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel .
Today the dfi has around 25 employees, including five scientific staff.
Focus of work
The institute conducts practical research and advises on political, economic and social developments in contemporary France as well as on questions of Franco-German relations, especially in the fields of economic policy, social policy, European policy and "intercultural communication". This mainly takes place in the context of longer-term projects, for example by organizing specialist conferences and seminars, publications or background discussions with media representatives. The main idea here is the networking between science and practice. The projects are financed in whole or in part from third-party funds. Donors are charitable foundations and commercial enterprises.
The institute also organizes seminars and advanced training events for students, civil servants and journalists from France and Germany. The institute's academic staff teaches at universities in Germany and abroad.
The target group of the institute's work are decision-makers and multipliers from politics, business, education and the media, as well as the German and French public.
France library
In 1990 the France library of the dfi was founded. It is a publicly accessible, specialized scientific library with a focus on contemporary France and Franco-German relations . The library's holdings, which are predominantly sociological and contemporary, comprise around 42,000 volumes. There is also a press archive that has been systematically maintained since the 1970s with around 600,000 articles. The press archive has been online since summer 2009.
The dfi, represented by its France library, is a member of the specialist information network for international relations and regional studies , within the framework of which it participates in the maintenance and operation of the World Affairs Online (WAO) database . The library's entire inventory of literature (including individual articles from journals and compilations) is electronically indexed in this database and can be researched using the library's online catalog and other regional and national online catalogs. The France Library is an associated member of the Southwest German Library Network (SWB). It is a project partner of the Virtual Library of the Romanesque Culture Area (Vifarom).
The dfi offers a scholarship program to enable young researchers from Germany and abroad to spend longer research periods in Ludwigsburg.
literature
- Hans Manfred Bock (Ed.): Project Franco-German Understanding: The Role of Civil Society Using the Example of the Franco-German Institute in Ludwigsburg. Leske and Budrich , 1998, ISBN 3-8100-2031-1
- Franco-German Institute (Ed.): France Yearbook 2… . - Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2…, ISSN 0935-6649
- German-French Institute (Ed.): Dfi aktuell . - Ludwigsburg: dfi, 19.
Web links
Coordinates: 48 ° 53 '51.4 " N , 9 ° 11' 6.6" E