From the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Beginnings: 1920 to 1933 in the Weimar Republic

Year Description
30 October 1920 Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft founded in Berlin on the initiative of Fritz Haber, "Father of the Notgemeinschaft", and Friedrich Schmidt-Ott, who became its first president
1920 Creation of a Donors' Association, Stifterverband der Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft e.V., for the purpose of acquiring additional funding in the form of private donations
1929 Consolidation and internal expansion results in the organisation being renamed: Deutsche Gemeinschaft zur Erhaltung und Förderung der Forschung, in short: "Forschungsgemeinschaft"

The Nazi Period: 1933 to 1945

Year Description
1934 Schmidt-Ott and the Executive Committee of the Forschungsgemeinschaft resign
From 1934 The Nazis enforce political conformity with Nazi ideology on the Forschungsgemeinschaft, initially under the presidency of physicist Johannes Stark (1934-36), then under "military chemist" Rudolf Mentzel (1936-45), who implemented the Nazi leadership principle.

From 1949: New Beginning and Creation of the DFG in the Federal Republic of Germany

Year Description
1949 Re-establishment in Bonn of the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft on the initiative of universities, the Donors' Association and the State (Länder) Ministries of Education and Cultural Affairs
1949 On the initiative of Werner Heisenberg, constitution of a science and research policy focused Deutscher Forschungsrat with the support of the Max Planck Society and the Academies of Sciences and Humanities in Göttingen, Heidelberg and Munich
2 August 1951 Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft and Deutscher Forschungsrat merge to form the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)
Since 1951 DFG Head Office in Bonn-Bad Godesberg
Since 1990 Funding activities of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft extend to include the territory of the unified Germany