Dear customers,

are you interested in a research or photo order in the Federal Archives? I would be happy to help you with military history questions from 1871 to the present day. You benefit from my expertise: Profound historical knowledge, 18 years of work experience with over 2500 orders processed, cooperation partners throughout Germany and a specially built archive. Here two examples for my work: An interview as an expert in the ARD production: “Emil searches-Emil following in the footsteps of the missing great great uncle”; research for the award-winning BBC documentary:  “A house through time: two cities at war”. All information about my contact, my vita, references, costs and offers, interesting links, the procedure, my cooperation partners and the impressum can be found hereinafter.  This is a temporary solution until my new website is finished.

I look forward to your inquiry!

Best regards, Your Benjamin Haas M.A.

Contact

Postal address:

Benjamin Haas M. A.
Lina-Kromer-Str. 26
79379 Müllheim near Freiburg

Email: haasbenjamin2@googlemail.com

Vita

I was born in a village nearby the Lake of Constance. Eight war deaths in my own family aroused my interest in the Second World War early on. Therefore, after graduating from high school, I decided to study modern history and political science at the universities of Freiburg and Salamanca. Here, too, I was particularly interested in contemporary history and the “Age of Extremes”. Parallel to my studies, I was an intern and working student at the Federal Military Archive in Freiburg, where I was able to deepen my knowledge of German military history. I finished my studies with the grade “very good”. In my master thesis, I wrote a biography of the Prussian Field Marhal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz.

Since December 2008 I have been working as a research service, mainly in the Federal Military Archive in Freiburg. My focus is on the processing of family histories in the Nazi era and research on military-historical topics from 1871 to today.

I currently live in Müllheim nearby Freiburg with my wife and my three children.

References

I have been working for 2500 different clients to various topics. Below you can find a selection of my clients

  • approx. 1600 researches for private clients to military topics, approx. 900 researches especially to family histories

  • TV channels and print media: Interview as an expert for the documentary of the ARD: “Following in the footsteps of the missing great-uncle Emil”; Research for the BBC documentary: A house through time: two cities at war, Public service broadcasting South West Germany (SWR) Podcast “Grandpa let them talk – a German story”;Protestant magazin „Chrismon“ article: “Find Haika” Interview for the Podcast „gesternistjetzt“ to the Military Archive Freiburg  http://gesternistjetzt.de/29-militaerarchiv-freiburg/; Public service broadcasting North Germany (NDR), Public service broadcasting Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), Austrian Public service broadcasting (ORF), Serbian Television (RTS), History Television Canada, History Channel, Swabian  Newspaper.

  • Institutions: e.g. Dutch Defense Ministry, Ministry of the environment Schleswig-Holstein – explosive ordnance clearing North Sea, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Regional Finance Office Lower Saxony – explosive ordnance clearing, Agency Schönberger Land, Local Community Rust

  • Museums: e.g. German Historical Museum Berlin, Museum of the German Army Dresden, Alliied Museum Berlin, German Cinemathek, Historical Technical Museum Peenemünde

  • Scientists of the following universities: e.g. German Universtiy of the Police, Georgetown University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Sussex, Flinders University, Universität Freiburg, University of Cyprus, Eidgenössisch-Technische Hochschule Zürich, University of Melbourne

  • Enterprises: e.g. Historical society of the Deutsche Bank, Saricon, T&A Survey, Pendragon Verlag, Foreningen/Eresgjeld, UXOIntelligence AB, Peter Kurze Verlag

Rating of my work by clients:

  • “I ordered two researchers for the work in the Federal Archive. Mainly Benjamin Haas in Freiburg, who is working fast and transparently (also in costs) and is searching extensively and who was giving me helpful advices.”

Quote: https://chrismon.evangelisch.de/artikel/2012/was-machte-grossvater-der-nazizeit-eine-anleitung-zur-recherche-15479

Christine Holch, Copy Editor of the protestant magazine “Chrismon”

  • (…) “Parallel to his studies, he worked as a working student in the military archive in Freiburg, which is part of the Federal Archives – and wrote his master’s thesis there. That’s why he knows the archive very well and now knows exactly where to look for what. Benjamin Haas is one of the official private research services listed by the Federal Archives on its website.” Quoted from: http://gesternistjetzt.de/benjamin-haas/

The podcast for family history in National Socialism “gesternistjetzt”

  • „I needed to find the descendants of a teacher who had died during the Second World War, for the sake of a historical article I was writing. After much effort I had been able to reach his relatives in his home town, but they had lost all contact with the teachers family after the war. I had no idea how to exit the dead end. Then I requested the help of Mr. Haas. I asked him to locate documents in the Freiburg archives that may have been relevant to my search, and to see if he could locate the descendants of the teacher. There were no documents to be found in the Freiburg archives, but he was able to locate the descendants for me within just three weeks. I was amazed by his effectiveness. He is an excellent researcher, highly professional, courteous and prompt. He gets the job done. Truly magnificent!“

Stavros Theodorakis, Professor of the university Cyprus

  • “Mr. Haas actively supported me in researching an uncle who died in Romania in 1944. He is a very busy researcher, but as soon as he could take on my suggestion, I felt in the best of hands with him. Competent, with an eye for the big picture, but at the same time not neglecting details, of the relevance of which the ignorant layman has no idea, he gave me a lot of answers when answering the question about the last weeks of life and various whereabouts of my relative through active research in the military archives helped. I can warmly recommend Mr. Haas. “

Dr. Markus Engelhard, Munich

  • „Extremely likeable, fast, reliable and highly competent – that has always been my impression of Benjamin Haas in our conversation. Having completed my own researches in the BA/MA in Freiburg for my books „Die Moltkes“ and „Verdun 1916“ Mr. Haas quickly finished smaller but nontheless ambitious researches for me. Apart from the archivists working in the BA-MA I do not know anyone as outstandingly versed concerning the tectonic of this archive as Mr. Haas. I can recommend his services without any restriction.“

Dr. Olaf Jessen, Historian

  • „Even though I love to come to Freiburg it is good to have Benjamin Haas at the place. He does his researches thoroughly and fast, has his results clearly arranged and his invoices are transparent. There is only one alternative to doing your researches on your own: Benjamin Haas.“

Florian Weiß, Curator of the Allied Museum Berlin

  • In connection with the writing of my novel about the Second World War it has been a great pleasure, professionally as well as personally, to work with Mr. Benjamin Haas. He immediately understood the nature of the project and the tasks he was given. He works in a precise, structured and thorough manner. His commitment and enthusiasm was very inspiring and he contributed to my novel with elements that I could not have thought of myself. I can clearly recommend him!

June Bach Pedersen, Private client and author

  • I’ve hired Benjamin on several occassion to help me investigate the files in the Bundesarchiv that relate to the disappearance of my uncle and his crew during WW2. He works quickly and helpful. He’s also very reasonably priced. I would definitely recommmend him if you need help accessing and finding any files in your search for information.

Nicola Gaughan, Private client

  • “In my research into the history of my family during the time of National Socialism and their possible involvement in its crimes, I would have failed in the military careers of my father and his two brothers without the help of Mr. Haas: The information from the Wehrmacht information center was for one Laypeople like me completely incomprehensible. Fortunately, I was advised to turn to him. Not only did he research all three careers and make them understandable for me and the family. Patiently and attentively, he also answered my many questions about how the three soldiers fit into the events at that time and about the individual scope of action of the three soldiers in their respective operational situations, and made this understandable for me with additional source texts and historical literature. It was a very pleasant collaboration, and I can only recommend him for “family researchers” like me. ”

Henriette Berg, customer

Large projects with 5-10 cooperation partners under my leadership:

  • Schleswig-Holstein Ministry for Energy Transition, Agriculture and Rural Areas – Ordnance clearance in the North Sea see: https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/Fachinhalte/M/meerespolitik/munition_meer.html  (…) “As part of an order from the special unit“ Munitions in the Sea ”of today’s Ministry for Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment, Nature and Digitization of the State of Schleswig-Holstein, Mr. Benjamin Haas researched a whole range of data with his cooperation partners from the holdings of the Military Archives Department of the Federal Archives in Freiburg. The task at hand was to develop data on the pollution of the seas by fighting and munitions dumping. Mr. Haas and his team completed our order on time in autumn 2014 and delivered the expected result. Mr. Haas and his team worked carefully and to the fullest satisfaction of the client. “(…)

Uwe Wichert, Special Unit Ammunition in the Sea

  • Complete restructuring and inventory of the Rust / Baden community archive: “The Rust community had formulated the task of viewing the old municipal archive, integrating it into new storage systems and restructuring the finding aids. Mr. Haas and his team structured the project neatly and solved the tasks to our complete satisfaction. We thank you for the trusting cooperation. ”

Kai-Achim Klare, Mayor of Rust

Scientific and journalistic work:

  • Master Thesis: Biography of the german field marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz

  • TV-Expert in serbian Televison RTS to the documentary “Secret of the Danube Elf”

  • Restructuring of the archive of the local community Rust/Baden

  • Newspaper article: The „Führer und Befehlshabertagung in Bad Schachen 1943″. Published in the “Schwäbische Zeitung”

  • Lecture: The „Operation Barbarossa“, the german attack on the Soviet Union.

My scientific qualification can be confirmed by the following persons

  • Prof. Dietmar Neutatz
    Department of History
    Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
    Rempartstr. 15
    D-79085 Freiburg
    Contact:
    Email:dietmar.neutatz@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de
    Tel: 0049 0761/203343

  • Dr. Carl-Alexander Krethlow
    Rigistr.23
    6006 Luzern
    Contact:
    Email:alexander.krethlow@gmx.ch
    Tel: 0041 414101446

Costs and Offers

Costs

  • Research: I take 107,10 euros (incl. VAT) per hour for the research.

  •  Digital Reproduction:  My rates are as follows:

  • a) Photos: € 83,30 euros (incl. VAT) per hour. The photo quality is very good. I can photograph in all formats. I can produce 100-450 photos per hour, depending on the nature of the archival material.

  • b) High-resolution scans (600 dpi): 101,15 euros (incl. VAT) per hour. The scan quality is very good. I can only scan up to A3 size. I can produce 50-225 scans per hour, depending on the nature of the archival material. You can download the photos and scans via my cloud service. A cost estimate is available upon request.

Offers

  • Chronicle “Basic”

For 1190 euros (inc. VAT)I offer to make a complete chronicle of a searched person. Included are a telephone talk, a manual to request a collection of relevant documents in german archives to the searched person and a compact chronicle with the military service of the searched person in WW2.

  • Chronicle “Advanced”

For 1500-5000 euros incl. VAT  I offer to make a complete chronicle of a searched person. Included are a telephone talk, a manual to request all relevant documents in german archives to the searched person and a complete chronicle with the military service of the searched person in WW2.

  • “Tailor-made offer”

If you send me your question, I will make an offer tailored to your indiviudal needs. I am guided by your wishes and your budget.

Note: Only european citizens have to pay VAT. 

Procedure

First Step: Send me your question formulated as precisely as possible so that I can prepare an estimation of costs for you.

Second Step: If you accept my proposal, please send me the completed application form (the link contains the application form: Benutzungsantrag) by post or email.

Third Step: After having completed the research, I will send you my invoice. As soon as you have transfered the money (it’s possible to pay with paypal) I will send you the results of the research and a working report.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate and ask me via email or telephone.

Archives/Cooperation Partner

I am working in the following archives:

  • German Federal Military Archive in Freiburg

  • German Diary Archive in Emmendingen

  • State Archive Freiburg

  • City Archive Freiburg

  • University Archive Freiburg.

I provide research orders to competent partners in different german archives such e.g.:

  • Federal Archive Koblenz

  • Federal Archive Berlin

  • Federal Archive Ludwigsburg

  • Institute for Contemporary History Muinich

  • Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Hertiage Foundation

  • State-, City- and Regional Archives

My cooperation partners are:

  • Roul Scheer M.A., Freiburg

  • Muriel Lorenz M.A., Freiburg

  • David Hamann M.A., Hamann Research Service, Berlin

  • Lars Thiele M.A., Research Service Thiele, Dresden

  • Dr. Jens Brüggemann, Research Service, Hamburg

Interesting Links

The Homepage of the Podcast “gestern ist jetzt”, which interviewed me as a professional, you can find here:

The Homepage of the Federal Archive you can find here:

The search engine „Invenio“ of the Federal Archive you can find here:

An Overview to the german institutions which hold personal records to the Great War you can find here:

An Overview to the german institutions which hold personal records to the Second World War you can find here:

The application form for an Research at the “WASt” Archive you can find here:

The Homepage of the “Volksbunds deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge” you can find here:

The Homepage of the tracing service of the german red cross you can find here:

The Homepage of the International Tracing Service Bad Arolsen you can find here:

Informations to units of the “Wehrmacht” and “Waffen-SS” you can find here:

Informations to the german history you can find here:

Impressum/Data protection declaration

Impressum

Impressum

Contact
Research service Haas
Owner: Benjamin Haas
Lina-Kromer-Str. 26
79379 Müllheim
Contact: haasbenjamin2@gmail.com
You can reach us by email.
Responsible for the content according to § 55 Abs. 2 RStV:
Benjamin Haas
Runzstr. 2
79102 Freiburg

Liability for content
As a service provider, we are responsible for our own content on these pages in accordance with general 
law in accordance with Section 7, Paragraph 1 of the German Telemedia Act. According to §§ 8 to 10 TMG, 
as a service provider, we are not obliged to monitor transmitted or stored third-party information or to research 
circumstances that indicate illegal activity. Obligations to remove or block the use of information under general 
law remain unaffected. Liability in this regard is only possible from the point in time at which we become aware 
of a specific legal violation. As soon as we become aware of such legal violations, we will remove this content 
immediately.

Liability for links
Our offer contains links to external third-party websites over whose content we have no influence. Therefore, we
cannot accept any liability for this third-party content. The respective provider or operator of the pages is always
responsible for the content of the linked pages. The linked pages were checked for possible legal violations at the
time they were linked. No illegal content was found at the time the link was created. However, permanent monitoring
of the content of the linked pages is not reasonable without concrete evidence of a violation of the law. If we become 
aware of legal violations, we will remove such links immediately.

Copyright
The content and works on these pages created by the website operator are subject to German copyright law. The 
duplication, processing, distribution and any kind of exploitation outside the limits of copyright law require the 
written consent of the respective author or creator. Downloads and copies of this website are only permitted for 
private, non-commercial use. Insofar as the content on this site was not created by the operator, the copyrights 
of third parties are observed. In particular contents of third parties are marked as such. Should you nevertheless 
become aware of a copyright infringement, we would ask you to notify us accordingly. As soon as we become 
aware of legal violations, we will remove such content immediately.