City archivist receives academy prize

At the annual meeting of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in December 2023, city archivist Dr. Andreas Jakob received the Academy Prize from Academy President Markus Schwaiger "for his outstanding achievements in the field of Bavarian regional history and the history of Erlangen and its communication to society."

The Academy Prize is awarded to people who have distinguished themselves through their academic work, even though they have not been or are not working full-time in research.

The Academy's citation states: "Andreas Jakob is the director of the Erlangen City Archive. Far beyond his work as a meticulous archivist ,he has produced an extraordinary wealth of high-quality academic publications, which also appeal to a wide range of interested parties outside the narrower academic community. He has devoted himself in particular to Bavarian and Middle Franconian regional history and has done important groundwork. In this context, Andreas Jakob has also published the first studies on National Socialism in Erlangen. This reappraisal is of immense social significance. In addition, he is always willing to take up requests from academics and thus promote academic work beyond his immediate field of activity."

The studies mentioned include the detailed investigation of the events in Erlangen and the naming of the victims of the Reichspogromnacht in 1938 or the detailed analysis of the events surrounding the end of the war in 1945 and the violent death of city commander Lorleberg. These and other publications from the Erlangen City Archive can be purchased directly from the archive.

The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, founded in 1759, is the largest and one of the oldest academies in Germany. It has been committed to its tasks as a learned society, non-university research institution and place of lively scientific dialog with society and politics for more than 250 years.