Dr. Bettina Bohle (Director)
… studied musicology, ancient greek philology and philosophy in Greifswald, Glasgow, Padova, and London. She received her PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin and and worked for several years as a research assistant and post-doc in the field of ancient philosophy and literary theory at various universities in Germany. In this context she was one of the founders of the online journal eisodos with a focus on literary theory, and she organized workshops for young female scholars in the sphere of philosophy. In the recent years, she has increasingly focused her publishing activities on jazz-related studies. Amongst others, she was a member of the scientific advisory board for the "Jazzstudie 2022" and authored the report "German jazz" for the Europe Jazz Network survey.
Until February 2024, Bohle led the implementation process for a center for jazz and improvised music in Berlin ( Zentrum für Jazz und Improvisierte Musik in Berlin). As a project manager for the Initiative Musik, she developed the concept for the first edition of the German Jazz Award (Deutscher Jazzpreis). For several years she ran the blog JAZZAFINE with its weekly newsletter.
Bohle is a lecturer at the Institute for Music and Musicology at the University of Hildesheim, where she offers courses on jazz with a focus on cultural policy, philosophy, and sociology. Since 2019, Bohle has also been one of the spokespersons for the Federal Jazz Conference and thus played a key role in the preparation of the report on the situation of jazz in Germany (published in 2024). Berichts zur Situation des Jazz in Deutschland beteiligt, der 2024 erschienen ist (online und als pdf).
Press photo: Please click on the thumbnail above which links to a high resolution jpg.
Contact: ph. +49 6151 963740, bohle@jazzinstitut.de
Marie Härtling (project management/documentation, general services, and exhibitions)
... studied musicology, ethnology and music education at Frankfurt University and at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. During her studies Marie focussed on historic and present afro-american music. She is an artist herself as a singer. She initially gained professional experience in adult education. At Jazzinstitute's collection, Marie Härtling is responsible in particular for looking after and maintaining the visual collections. She supports exhibition projects of other institutions and helps with research for scientific publications.
Press photo: Please click on the thumbnail above which links to a high resolution jpg.
Contact: +49 151 7242-2874 (office hours Monday to Friday 8:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.), haertling@jazzinstitut.de
Arndt Weidler (Deputy Director/archive, general services, and events)
... studied sociology, political science and social psychology, first in Heidelberg and then at the University of Mannheim. In his master thesis, he investigated the different expectations of blues and jazz audiences when attending concerts. Already during his studies, he initially worked as a tour guide for American blues bands and later founded his own artist agency for blues and jazz musicians, while also organizing club concerts and festivals featuring blues, jazz and gospel music. Since 1998, he has been responsible for events as well as the information and service area of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. His diverse activities also include providing expert advice to committees and juries. In addition to a large number of other projects, Arndt Weidler supervised the creation of the „Jazzstudie 2016 – Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen von Jazzmusiker:innen in Deutschland“ and he was a member of the advisory board of a follow-up-study in 2022 Nachfolgestudie 2022.
Press photo: Please click on the thumbnail above which links to a high resolution jpg.
Contact: Ph. +49 6151 963744 or +49 151 7256-9507 (office hours Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), weidler@jazzinstitut.de
Volunteers
The Jazz Institute is the smallest cultural institute in the city of Darmstadt. We couldn't do our work without the help of many volunteers. In addition to the Verein zur Förderung des zeitgenössischen Jazz in Darmstadt e.V., which primarily assists us with the management of the vaulted cellar, the following colleagues also work in the Jazz Institute's archive, some of whom have been with the Jazz Institute for many years.
Rainer Grobe (since 2012, recently inactive)
... supports us in archiving extensive collection holdings, such as complete discographic recording of the record collection. Rainer Grobe has been part of our team for over ten years. As a committed trade union activist, the current retiree has been awarded the Darmstadt Citizen's Medal for his many voluntary activities.
Eva Haberkorn (since 2026)
... is freshly engaged in the development of collection holdings and initial cataloging of special collections (e.g., Joachim Ernst Berendt publication index)
Thomas John (since 2023)
... was a school teacher for Music, meanwhile a regular participant of our jazz improviseres summer-camp and dedicated member of our local choir. He has taken over responsibility for our sound recording collection, compiling new additions and cataloging existing holdings.
Prof. Dr. Wolfram Knauer (since 2024)
... was the founding director of the Jazz Institute Darmstadt and has been retired since February 2024. Among many other activities, he spends his retirement doing volunteer work at the Jazz Institute, including maintaining our magazine bibliography, the Jazz Index.
... studied musicology, English/American studies, art history and sociology at the University of Kiel. He lead the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt since 1990 and has also taught at several German universities, including as an honorary professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. He has published various books. Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington (all published by Reclam-Verlag), has been editor of the Darmstadt contributions to jazz research (15 volumes to date), sits on the editorial board of the international journal Jazz Perspectives and is the author of numerous scientific articles in books and specialist journals. In fall 2019, his latest book "Play yourself, man!“ Eine Geschichte des Jazz in Deutschland (Reclam). In spring 2008 he was the first non-American Louis Armstrong Professor of Jazz Studies at Columbia University in New York. (Publikationsliste)
Alexander von Leliwa (since 2009)
... worked professionally as a pilot and planned the logistics of large airports. Now, in his retirement, he helps us with the development of extensive collection holdings and the initial registration of special collections (Wilhelm-Liefland-Collection, Gene-Krupa-Collection, Hans-Blüthner-Collection, and meanwhile Werner Wunderlich-Collection).
Claudia Molnar (since 2025)
... is a historian with publishing experience. Her research focuses on dance music and variety theaters of the Roaring Twenties in Berlin. She is assisting us in cataloging and organizing the extensive estate of Marko Paysan, which we acquired in 2024.
Jochen Rissler (since 2022)
... is also a saxophonist and active member of the Frankfurt Jazz Initiative. Since 2022, he has been volunteering for the Jazz Institute, cataloging and digitizing materials primarily related to Frankfurt's jazz history (Hot Club Frankfurt, German Jazz Federation, Jazz im Palmengarten, “Sammlung Glier”).
Günter Schapka (since 2006)
... is a passionate glider pilot and cyclist. The jazz fan and amateur photographer joined our team through concert visits to the Jazz Institute. Collaborates in the archiving of extensive collection holdings, edits the discographic complete version of the recorded sound collection.
Rolf Schäfer (since 2023, recently inactive)
... was a self-employed graphic designer and helps us prepare exhibitions in the Jazz Institute Gallery. At the same time he helps us with the collection, digitization, cataloging of jazz photos, posters and posters for the electronic database.
Michael Telega (since 2011)
... is a specialist for jazz films on VHS and DVD. Digitizes and archives the film collection for the Jazzinstitut and supervises its technical preparation for our electronic database. The former IBM employee was active in the Jazzkreis Wiesbaden e.V. and wrote a blog about historical jazz recordings.
Bernd Wehking-Berges (seit 2023)
... as a former engineer, he is very familiar with lengthy and detailed work processes. He is responsible for cataloging our database of approximately 100,000 photo prints and nearly as many negatives, slides, and digital files from 70 years of jazz history (collections from the estates of Hanns E. Haehl, Klaus Mümpfer, Jürgen Becker, Joachim Ernst Berendt, and countless others).
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