About me

My name is Jan Heyne and I have been researching my own family tree since the 1980s. I was inspired by old existing chronicles and pictures in my mother's family, and so I directly after reunification Germany seized the opportunity and searched for my ancestors in what were then the „new" federal states.

In the process, I was able to [do] a lot of Original documents and images compile, conducted interviews, written a chronicle of about 600 pages about my own family, created a company chronicle, and a lot more. I have also dealt with the topic of archives in order to store and preserve the findings in the best possible way.

In addition to birth certificates, certificates, pictures, and letters, I have also come across identity documents, driver's licenses, family registers for „Aryan proof," or denazification files, for example. In addition, for almost 40 years I have asked members of the family to their Resumes with their personal view of their life to write down. The entire material tells of the personal fates of the individual family members in the context of the history of our country and the entire world. Witch trials, misfortunes, prostitution, drug-related death, and Nazi membership are contrasted with weddings, births, business successes, emigrations, or remarkable achievements, for example. Secure this information about your family as (still) unadulterated evidence of the events of the respective era and retain interpretive sovereignty over this data. Due to AI and fake news, historical facts may also no longer remain original and authentic, but rather change or become inaccessible.

The history of one's own family makes me see my own life and my successes and failures also as a mirror of society understand. The generations currently alive are part of a fundamental upheaval that affects humanity as a whole in the areas of climate, resources, digitization, or AI and will massively influence the lives of future generations. Be a chronicler of these momentous events for your family, report on your life and document it through records.

I hope my four children will preserve these records and one day take a look inside and better understand me and other family members.