The idea behind Spurensuchen History - Culture - Communication came from Sabine Homann Engel and Michael Grill. Their previous experience in a wide range of professional activities, coupled with their organizational talents, team spirit and capacity for hard work, has stood them in good stead in setting up and running Spurensuchen History - Culture - Communication.

The historian Sabine Homann Engel M.A. has been a citizen of Hamburg and the world since 1967. She studied History, German and Tourism Management in Hamburg, and has worked for the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, Acco Theater Center, Dr. Tigges Study Holidays, Landesjugendring Hamburg, eurogay media, and Stage Holding – The Theatre Company. She loves traveling and has a weakness for unusual accessories, kitchen gadgets, books, coffee and chocolate. Her motto is "che sera, sera", so she is very rarely fazed by anything. She met Michael Grill in 1988 in a working party arranging "alternative" city tours for young people under the umbrella of the Landesjugendring Hamburg.

Michael Grill began life in 1952 and has divided it ever since between Hamburg, Scandinavia, America and Israel. He is a freelance lecturer, teacher, study tour leader and academic author, with a degree in Social Economics. His clients include the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, Studiosus Study Tours, the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, numerous colleges, and the Museum Service in Hamburg. Michael Grill has also been a guest lecturer in the Scandinavian Studies Department of Hamburg University, and is just as happy hanging out in Stockholm, Oslo or Copenhagen as he is in Hamburg. He can recommend the best guidebook to practically every town between Hamburg and the North Pole (and the best music to listen to when you get there) and has been on just about every ship that ever cruised the Baltic.

Thea Spurensuchen History - Culture - Communication network also includes sociologist and teacher Hans-Jürgen Plaumann (far left), drama teacher Dörte Harksen-Pott (second left), historian and author Ulrike Jensen (third left), teacher Karin Heddinga (second right), history student Dörte Hein (far right), hobby historian Bernhard Esser (front left), teacher Lars Grüterig (front right) and historian Georg Erdelbrock (not in picture). Our team of supporters includes Thomas Engel, Jörn Christian Meyer and Isgard Rhein, who conquered the technical problems, cable fires and computer crashes of our early days, and now keep an eye on our corporate design and offer us legal advice. This project would not be possible without all those people’s commitment, team spirit and belief in our idea.

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