Beyond History - What’s that?
- 22. November 2019 - Anniversary, General
On 01 July 2019, Beyond History celebrated its 15th anniversary. A good reason to have a closer look at the company name! Actually, it does make our life a little harder in Germany. Especially when we are on the telephone, we often have to repeat the name and sometimes we even have to spell it. People in Germany obviously just do not expect an English name for a German company.
To look behind the official history
However, there is a good reason, why Andrea Bentschneider never considered another name. It originates from the 1990s, a time when she lived and worked in New York as an assistant executive housekeeper at one of the luxury hotels of the city. She joined forces with some friends from a seminar that all shared a common fate: the dark chapter of German History during World War 2. Part of the group were children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, but also young Germans that had a close connection to Judaism or were confronted with the topic for the first time. The idea behind the project “Beyond History” was therefore to create an understanding for one another and an opportunity for rapprochement of the second or even third generation.
Initially, it was planned to make a documentary. The goal: To look behind the known history, but also to look forward and beyond it. The project was called “Beyond History”. While the film sadly never came into being, a close friendship between the group members has been maintained until today.
The name however did not only match this film project, but also Andrea Bentschneider’s hobby with which she started at about the same time: genealogy. One of the special charms of genealogy is after all that you are able to find a very personal and often new access to historic events. You are not only learning more about your ancestors, but also about yourself.
Genealogy as a profession
This means, the name had already accompanied Andrea for quite some time, when she decided in summer 2004 to become self-employed and to make a profession out of her hobby. She wanted to enable other people to make the exciting, lovely and most of all emotional experiences she had made, and help them to find out more about their families. In doing so, Andrea always focused on the personalities of the ancestors. To put them into a historic context and to go beyond the purely historic and personal data was especially important for her.
Again, the meaning of the name “Beyond History” was a perfect match. It was also already connected to a project that had a lot of passion in it. Since it came to an end, partly due to Andrea’s return to Germany in 2001, it seemed to be just fitting to fill it with new passion for the new adventure ahead.
Until today, Andrea Bentschneider and with her our little team works with a lot of passion and joy as professional genealogists. It is like Andrea likes to say: We are helping our clients to fulfill their lifelong dreams.
A lot has happened since Beyond History was founded. If you are interested in its development, please find here an overview of the company history.
If you would like to learn more about your ancestors, please contact us! Without our great clients, but also our fellow researchers and friends, the last 15 years would not have been possible.
In this spirit: We are very much looking forward to the next 15 years of Beyond History!
0 comments