"In 2000, the President of the DFG commissioned the working group to develop a comprehensive research programme, with a maximum of 20 individual projects, to examine the history of the DFG. Two historians, Professor Dr. Rüdiger vom Bruch, Humboldt University Berlin, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Herbert, University of Freiburg, are the principal investigators. The independent working group conducts research on the history of the DFG from the 1920s to the 1970s. While one focus is on the Nazi era, the period of investigation was deliberately not narrowed down to the Third Reich only. Rather, the intention is to contextualise the DFG's history, which is characterized by continuities and breaks in terms of the DFG's institutional history, and people and projects involved, within the history of science and research in general.The DFG's role in research funding during and after the Nazi period is the core issue that the working group addresses. Continuities and changes within the DFG's development are examined from different perspectives. The history of individuals and institutions, the history of disciplines and cultures, cross-disciplinary developments as well as research funding in Germany are being analysed."