The political changes that swept across Europe after 1990 gave shape to the idea to reconstruct the former prehistoric and protohistoric collections of eastern Germany and the eastern Baltic region, which were broken up or destroyed after the Second World War. It was hoped that the selective re-examination of surviving remnants of archaeological collections and archival material would recreate the lost source material.

To this end the Commission for the Research of Collections of Archaeological Finds and Documents from Northeast Central Europe (KAFU) was founded in Berlin on 21 June 2001. A few years earlier, in 1997, German and Polish experts from museums and universities had already set up such a commission that provided the organizational basis for the project’s regional office that then opened at the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte in 2001 and which was funded by the German Archaeological Institute.

The KAFU is run from the offices of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage); according to its charter, its chairman is the director of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte. Colloquia have been held every two years since 2001 and are designed to provide an overview of current progress made in interpreting the relevant sources and in fulfilling the tasks set by the commission. The KAFU also provides funding for scientific publications dealing with the material relevant to the tasks of the commission.

Contact person: Dr. Heino Neumayer, research associate, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Duration: since 2001