History
The Founder
Founded in 1971 by Professor Georg Zundel (1931–2007), the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies is named after his family home near Tübingen, Germany, in honour of his parents’ memory.
From a young age, Professor Zundel was exposed to the social and political tensions of his time. His father Georg was a socialist painter and his mother Paula was the daughter of Robert Bosch, who founded the world-renowned Bosch Company.
His childhood experiences of the horrors of World War II also instilled an enduring conviction in him that this history must never be repeated – a conviction that acquired even greater urgency during the Cold War. Professor Zundel consequently decided to devote a significant portion of the wealth he inherited from his Bosch family relations to philanthropic activity in the hope that this would make an enduring contribution to a more just and peaceful world.
A physicist by training, Professor Zundel strongly believed that the goals of peace and justice could best be pursued through a scientific approach to the study of violent political conflict. Hence the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies, which soon came to play a defining role in the then-emerging field of German
peace research.
Foundation leadership in this area was consolidated and institutionalised through the establishment of the Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management in Berlin (now named Berghof Conflict Research). The research center remains a philanthropic milestone for the Foundation. These achievements earned Professor Zundel the prestigious Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, awarded to him in 2003.
Professor Zundel’s successes and accomplishments as a scientist are evident in numerous ways. He was a highly respected physicist, with a world-wide reputation for hydrogen bond research. Understanding science as a universal discourse, he worked closely with colleagues from both the east and the west during the Cold War. He was also a prolific writer, with more than 300 academic publications to his name.
As an entrepreneur, Professor Zundel worked hard to put his innovative scientific ideas into practice, establishing the Berghof Laboratory of Physics and Technology in 1966. Re-organised in 2003 as Zundel Holding GmbH + Co, the original business now consists of four companies in different locations throughout Germany. All continue to be vibrant enterprises offering a range of products in the automation and environmental sectors.
TopThe Family
From its very inception, the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies has been a family affair. The Foundation is controlled by three shareholders, all of whom are Zundel family members. Day-to-day operations at the Foundation are jointly managed by its two CEOs, Renate Zundel, Professor Zundel’s wife, and his eldest son, Johannes.
Since 2001, Mr. Zundel has also been a permanent member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He has an MA in International Business from the University of Vienna, Austria and brings solid experience in financial management to the work of the Foundation.
TopMaking a Difference
For more than 35 years, the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies has worked to nurture an inquisitive potential to systematically investigate, explore and, above all, engage constructively with the complex and shifting realities that define political violence. In our view, strengthening and improving the capacity of conflict studies is an essential part of responding to the dangerous realities of violent political conflict that threaten human survival.
We are proud to take an active philanthropic role in contributing to the development of a scholarly tradition dedicated to the peaceful transformation of violent political conflict. By focusing our resources this way, we believe we can make a lasting impact.
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