The Military History Research Office () is an office of the Bundeswehr located at Potsdam, Germany. Following a reorganisation in 2013, MGFA was consolidated with the to become the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr. Mission The Military History Research Institute was the central federal institution in Germany for all questions about German military history. Its mission included empirical, archive-based research in accordance with the accepted rules and standards of general historiography. It was a member of the network of historical research institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany outside universities. The institute fostered the cooperation with a large number of research institutes in Germany and abroad and contributed to topical debates among experts in military history. Museums Three military history museums are under the administrative and technical command of the MGFA. These are the Militärhistorische Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden which is in command of the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr at the former RAF Gatow in Berlin, and the Königstein Fortress. Timeline 1956: Directive to establish the Military History Research Agency on 1 January 1957. 1957: The Military History Research Agency is established in Langenau near Ulm. Colonel Dr. Hans Meier-Welcker, the head of the Military Research Branch in the Federal Ministry of Defense, is also appointed Director of the Research Agency. 1958: The History Research Agency renamed 'Military History Research Institute' (MGFA). Colonel Dr. Hans Meier-Welcker appointed Director of the MGFA. The institute was relocated to Freiburg im Breisgau 1964: Colonel Dr. Wolfgang von Groote is appointed Director of the MGFA. 1976: The first issues of the periodical Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen (MGM) were published. 1968: Professor Andreas Hillgruber appointed the first Chief Historian of the MGFA. 1969: The Historic Museum in Rastatt renamed 'Wehrgeschichtliches Museum der Bundeswehr' and came under the control of the MGFA. Colonel Dr. appointed Director of the MGFA. 1970: Dr. Rainer Wohlfeil is appointed Chief Historian of the MGFA. In the same year he is succeeded by Dr. Manfred Messerschmidt. 1972: Navy Captain Dr. Friedrich Forstmeier is appointed Director of the MGFA. 1975: Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen is for the first time supplemented by the international bibliography War and Society Newsletter. 1976: Colonel Dr. Othmar Hackl appointed Director of the MGFA. 1979: The first volume of the series Germany and the Second World War is published in German under the heading Reasons and Preconditions of German War Politics. This is the 150th publication of