Hans-Thorald Michaelis was a German historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, germanist and genealogist

Life and career

After his studies in history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

, germanistics, philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and Protestant religion in Frankfurt am Main, Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 and Marburg

Marburg

Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

 he started a career as a grammar school teacher. In the year 1963 he awarded his doctor in philosophy with the theme: “Die Grafschaft Büdingen im Feld der Auseinandersetzungen um die religiöse und politische Einheit des Reiches 1517−1555“ (The County Büdingen in the field of conflicts on religious and political unity of the realm 1515−1555).

Between 1966 and 1971 he was in charge of the constitution and direction of the evening grammar school in Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden

Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...

. In these politically turbulent times he very early campaigned for this new German “second-chance or adult education

Adult education

Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...

” and for the democratisation in school and along with this the student council

Student council

Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...

 too.

Since 1965 until 1973 contemporaneous with the above mentioned function he got involved as an active member in the Wiesbaden Social Democratic Party of Germany

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 (SPD) and he published a work on the history of the 100-year-existence of the party in their festschrift. In the year 1977 after his activities in the SPD, Michaelis was cofounder of a local political party “Freie Wählergemeinschaft” (FWG) (free voters union) of Wiesbaden and also member in the “Frankfurt round table

Round table

A round table is a table which has no "head" and no "sides", and therefore no one person sitting at it is given a privileged position and all are treated as equals. The idea stems from the Arthurian legend about the Knights of the Round Table in Camelot....

”, a political, economic and liberal club for discussions with very important persons (VIPs).

In context with his long-time work in the Protestant church he campaigned also for the ecumenism

Ecumenism

Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...

 of church very soon and took part in 1968 on the 4th plenum of the ecumenical World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

 in Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

. In 1976 he joined the club: “Brüderlicher Kreis” (brother circle), a Christian religious Open community with Protestant imprint, which has its origin in the confraternity

Confraternity

A confraternity is normally a Roman Catholic or Orthodox organization of lay people created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety, and approved by the Church hierarchy...

 of Baltic States

Baltic states

The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...

, founded 1926.

After his retirement in the year 1982 he was engaged in the constitution and management of the archive from the “Deutscher Schützenbund” (German Shooting

Shooting

Shooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...

 Sport Federation) in Wiesbaden, which is the head organisation for German Schützenverein

Schützenverein

A Schützenverein is in German language countries a voluntary association featuring sport-shooting either on Olympic levels or historic weapons....

. During this time he wrote more than ten papers about the historical background of the German Schützenverein and organised several expositions.

Since his early days Michaelis was interested in genealogy

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

. On the basis of already available information and documents regarding several branches of his family he travelled to different regions of Germany and overseas in order to complete these data. Thus it was possible to generate a databank with more than 10.000 persons of the corresponding families Michaelis, von Boehmer, Von Görschen

Von Görschen

The name von Görschen is an old German name of nobility originating from the 12th century. The family name derives from its original headquarters: the place Goresin or even from an older "oppida goresin" near Lützen, which was already appointed by Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg in the year 998,...

 and Weitbrecht. In context with these searches he published more than 50 essays and papers including their historic circumstances and backgrounds. On the basis of these researches he could prove that all descendants in direct line of his grand-grandmother Mary Barbara Rennie (1836−1920) from the Rennie-Clan of Kilsyth

Kilsyth

Kilsyth is a town of 10,100 roughly halfway between Glasgow and Stirling in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.-Location:...

, are also direct descendants from the pilgrim

Pilgrim

A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...

s father William Bradford (1590−1657). Therewith the mentioned persons are eligible for membership in the traditional and renowned the Mayflower society based in Plymouth, Massachusetts.