Portrait

Company History

2004

01 July

Foundation of Beyond History with company seat in Andrea Bentschneider’s own
apartment in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

 

 

September

First lecture on "Ahnenforschung, Namensforschung, Auswanderung" (Genealogy, onomastics, emigration) at the Professional Women's Forum (PWF) in Hamburg.

2006

September

The first article on Beyond History is published  in the magazine "Dummy".

 

 

December

Beginning of the cooperation with Ancestry Germany.

2007

January

Beginning of the cooperation with a film production company from Hamburg with a consultation on the realization of a German version of the BBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?".  First preliminary researches on German celebrities start.

 

 

March

Andrea Bentschneider is joined by her husband Ralf Stullich. Beyond History is now officially a family business.

March

First researches on German ancestors of Australian celebrities for the Australian adaptation of "Who Do You Think You Are?". Followed by many years of a great cooperation. Highlights were filming with Ben Mendelsohn (episode aired in October 2009), Maggie Beer (episode aired in October 2009) and Geoffrey Rush (episode aired in August 2015).

June

Andrea Bentschneider’s Blog “Abenteuer Ahnenforschung” (in German) goes online. It is one of the first genealogy blogs in Germany.

October

Filming with Kurt and Armin Rohde in Danzig and surroundings for the ARD series "Das Geheimnis meiner Familie" (The Secret of My Family).

2008

January

Filming in Munich and Lower Bavaria with Christine Neubauer for the ARD series "Das Geheimnis meiner Familie" (The Secret of My Family).

March/April

2009

January

Portrait in the German TV Show “Vivo” on 3sat.

2010

June

We are pleased to welcome our 500th client.

 

 

2011

March

Relocation of our offices to Knauerstraße 11, 20249 Hamburg-Eppendorf.

May

First researches on German ancestors of American celebrities for the US adaptation of "Who Do You Think You Are?". Followed by many years of a pleasant cooperation with many exciting projects. Highlights were filming with Chelsea Handler (episode aired in August 2013), and research projects on the ancestors of amongst others Josh Groban (episode aired in March 2015), Bryan Cranston (episode aired in August 2015) and Liv Tyler (episode aired in April 2017).

2012

March

We are pleased to welcome our 750th client.

September/October

Presentation of a family history that was researched by Beyond History at “Deutschland - Deine Familien” (Germany - Your Families) on ZDF and ZDFinfo.

2013

April

Relocation of our offices to Cheruskerweg 1, 22525 Hamburg-Stellingen.

April

Beyond History supports the 16th Blauer Ball (Blue Ball) for the benefit of the children’s cancer ward at UKE (University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf) with a gift certificate for a genealogical research.

December

From now on, Beyond History supports the Ronald McDonald house in Hamburg-Eppendorf regularly by active participation in the "Wrap for children" advent celebration for children that have to spend christmas at the UKE or at a women's shelter in Hamburg.

2014

April

We are pleased to welcome our 1000th client.

01 July

Beyond History celebrates its 10th anniversary.

July

On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, our new website goes online.

2015

June

The official Beyond History blog starts on our website.

2016

April

Beyond History again donates a main prize for the 19th Blauer Ball (Blue Ball) in the form of a gift certificate for a genealogical research.

2017

February

We are pleased to welcome our 1250th client.

October

Great article at the German newspaper "Hamburger Abendblatt" on Beyond History.

2018

January

Ending of our cooperation with ancestry.

November

Beyond History supports the purchase of a new animal trailer for Hagenbeck's zoo in Hamburg.

December

Live radio broadcast on the German radio station Deutschlandfunk.

2019

February

Portrait in the German TV show "DAS!" on NDR.

February

Live appearance at "Live nach neun" on ARD with Isabel Varell and Tim Schreder.

February

Live appearance at "Mein Nachmittag" on NDR with Kristina Lüdke and Arne Jessen.

March

Live appearance at "ARD Buffet" on ARD with Fatma Mittler-Solak.

June

Participation in the "International German Genealogy Conference 2019" in Sacramento, California. Andrea Bentschneider gives three lectures on the topics "Emigration from Hamburg and Bremen in the 19th Century – Causes, Conditions, and Certificates", "Leaving a Paper Trail: German Sources Besides Church Documents and Civil Records" and "Finding Living Relatives of Your Emigrant Ancestors from Germany Today".

September

Webinar in German on Legacy Family Tree Webinars (MyHeritage): "Ahnenforschung für Anfänger" (Genealogy for Beginners).

December

Second part of the MyHeritage webinar "Ahnenforschung für Anfänger" (Genealogy for Beginners).

2020

March

Andrea Bentschneider, as the only speaker from Germany, gives a webinar as part of “The 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon” hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage.

March-May

The COVID-19 pandemic also affects the work of Beyond History. Archives are closed and the team is working from home. Thank you for your great support in this challenging time!

July

Andrea Bentschneider answers questions live on Facebook as part of the Facebook Live Series by MyHeritage.

August

The book „Walter Ulbricht. Mein Urgroßvater“ (Walter Ulbricht. My great-grandfather) by our client Florian Heyden is published in Germany. We have searched for many years and in various archives worldwide for him in order to find new information on his famous great-grandfather that now became part of this book.

September

We are pleased to welcome our 1500th client.

November-December

The COVID-19 pandemic again influences the research situation in Germany through archive closures.

Over the year

Andrea Bentschneider gives various webinars and lectures for MyHeritage and varying societies.

2021

February

Andrea Bentschneider gives a lecture on "Ahnenforschung als Broterwerb: Vom Hobbyforscher zum Berufsgenealogen" ("Genealogy as a living: From beeing a hobby researcher to becoming a professional genealogist") at the German virtual festival Genealogica, which was held for the first time in 2021.

April

Andrea Bentschneider is once again the only German speaker at "The 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon" hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage.

Over the year

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Beyond History's work. At the beginning of the year, the archives are mostly closed and the team is working mainly from home. Thank you for your great support during this time!

Over the year

The Beyond History team is working on the Beyond History Academy behind the scenes. In the future, it will provide training opportunities for everyone interested in genealogy.

2022

January

A three-page interview with Andrea Bentschneider appears in the German magazine SPIEGEL Geschichte (Topic: German Emigrants).

March

Andrea Bentschneider participates as a speaker at RootsTech 2022 with three video presentations and two live Q&A sessions in front of an audience of nearly 1000.

April

Beyond History is again represented with a virtual booth at Genealogica and Andrea Bentschneider gives a presentation on “Genealogische Quellen in der Weltstadt Hamburg” (Genealogical sources in the cosmopolitan city of Hamburg).

April

Andrea Bentschneider gives a presentation on "German Genealogy & German Surnames - A Brief Introduction" at THE Genealogy Show: Spring Event.

April

First taster seminars of the Beyond History Academy take place.

April

Our YouTube channel is officially launched.

July

Beyond History comes of age!

2023

2024