Frequently Asked Questions

The BayernHistoryApp is the central digital platform for Bavarian history and stories. It is available to everyone free of charge and free of advertising, and serves as a form of digital regional studies — from local guide and nature guide to museum guide.

The BayernHistoryApp is run by the non-profit association dieKunstBauStelle e. V., based in Landsberg am Lech. The platform is under the patronage of the President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner, and is accompanied by academic experts.

Yes, the app is completely free of charge and free of advertising for all users.

The BayernHistory project was initiated in 2019 by Wolfgang Hauck and realised together with the association dieKunstBauStelle e. V. The app was launched on 1 May 2023. A detailed history of its creation can be found under 'About us' → 'History of the App'.

The BayernHistoryApp is unique because it brings together a wide variety of topics. It is not a hiking or cycling app, but focuses on history and stories — personal, individual, but always embedded in the broader context of Bavaria.

The BayernHistoryApp is designed in terms of content for Bavaria. The integrated map, however, covers the entire world — there is no geographical limitation. The app is part of a platform family: berlinHistory is the original app design, and further apps exist for Brandenburg, Frankfurt am Main, the Green Belt, and Bavaria. The association dieKunstBauStelle e. V. set up the app for Bavaria on its own initiative and works as a platform partner with berlinHistory.

With a single app, downloaded once, users gain access to all thematic areas. Cross-connections between topics significantly broaden the reach of the audience — anyone using the app in a museum is automatically connected to the whole of Bavarian culture when hiking or visiting an unfamiliar town. In this way, even small initiatives, places, and villages gain visibility on an equal footing with all others.

There are various apps designed for small tours or audio guides. None, however, matches the BayernHistoryApp in terms of reach, thematic diversity, and qualified content. Apps such as 'erlebe Bayern' or 'Lauschtour' are more limited in scope, more rigid in structure, and above all lack the comprehensive context that portrays history with its many facets.

The platform started in 2019 as the LandsbergHistoryApp — developed locally for Landsberg am Lech and the surrounding region. On 1 May 2023 it was launched as the BayernHistoryApp; the messages of welcome by State Minister Markus Blume and the then District Council President Josef Mederer date from this phase. By 2026, the app had systematically expanded, with more and more state institutions actively using it. Additional funding from the Kulturfonds Bayern 2026 extended its central importance as digital regional studies for Bavaria. In May 2026, the President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner, assumed the patronage.

The BayernHistoryApp is supported by public funding at several levels. Basic funding for technical infrastructure and operation is provided by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, the District of Upper Bavaria, Landsberg am Lech County, and the City of Landsberg am Lech. Additional funding from the Kulturfonds Bayern 2026 extends the app as central digital regional studies. Individual thematic areas are also enabled by thematic funding — for example, Nazi memorial sites by the German Foundation for Civic Engagement (DSEE) and the District of Upper Bavaria, participatory history education by the Fonds Soziokultur at federal level, and the pilot phase of 'Erzähl doch mal' in 2025 by the Bavarian Dementia Fund. At regional and local level, individual stakeholders acquire their own funding — for instance through LEADER and LAG programmes.

The app currently comprises eight thematic areas: BayernHistory (main area), Nazi Memorial Sites in Bavaria, Jewish Life — Past and Present, Werkstatt Bayern, Hörpfade (Audio Trails), Bahnpark Augsburg, Inns and Breweries, and Erzähl doch mal (Tell Us a Story).

All content is continuously updated. Frequently changing data such as museum opening hours are not provided by us; instead, we refer to the relevant websites.

The thematic areas allow a clear focus, their own design, and targeted use — for example as an app for a museum. Some topics are so extensive that they would overload a single map.

Source references can usually be found under each entry. The references are abbreviated for the sake of readability — if you are interested, we will gladly share more detailed source information.

The thematic area 'Inns and Breweries' makes visible and tangible the identity-forming impact of historical inns and breweries. Through in-depth interviews and walking tours in the inns, we bridge history and the present — innkeepers and brewers, both women and men, speak as eyewitnesses themselves.

In the app, you can use the register and the full-text search to research numerous topics, places, people, and keywords. The content covers independent cities, counties, individual municipalities, thematic fields such as viewpoints, bridges, fountains, castles, cemeteries, industry, churches, monasteries, inns and breweries, mills, palaces, as well as special thematic areas such as Jewish life, Nazi memorial sites, the Sprachatlas Bayern, and notable figures of Bavarian history.

The BayernHistoryApp brings together eight thematic areas under one roof. Each area has its own focus and is editorially independent. BayernHistory is the central area for local and regional history of all kinds. Nazi Memorial Sites in Bavaria is dedicated to memorial sites and culture of remembrance from the Nazi era. Jewish Life — Past and Present documents the Jewish heritage of Bavaria. Werkstatt Bayern makes theatre, performance, and sociocultural work visible. Hörpfade are audio walks in cooperation with the Bavarian Association of Adult Education Centres. Bahnpark Augsburg is dedicated to railway history. Inns and Breweries makes Bavarian inn and brewing culture tangible. Erzähl doch mal collects personal stories and eyewitness accounts — also for intergenerational dialogue.

The BayernHistoryApp covers all seven administrative regions of Bavaria — Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Upper Palatinate, Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia, and Swabia. Content is available from Franconia, Swabia, and Old Bavaria in over 60 municipalities.

The app is available free of charge from the Apple App Store and Google Play. You will find direct links on the homepage www.BayernHistory.de.

Either via the map view directly at the desired location, or via the register by entering the place name.

Not directly. Ideally, take a screenshot of the entry.

In the map view, you see your location and the content as pins. The colour of the pins indicates the thematic area. Filters let you choose which areas are displayed.

The app is especially suited to passengers. Please observe road safety and do not use the app yourself while driving.

Yes. The app works worldwide — you can open and use it anywhere. On the map you will find entries everywhere, wherever content exists. The first entries outside Bavaria already exist, for example in Vienna or Venice.

The contributions are generally available in German and English. Translating all contributions is an ongoing task.

The app is available for iOS (iPhone, iPad) and Android (smartphones, tablets). It can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

In principle yes. However, for walks in the forest and the countryside, we have integrated a download function that lets you use these tours even without an internet connection.

No. The location query serves solely to show you interesting entries in your vicinity. The data is neither stored nor transmitted.

The installation requires less than 20 MB. The download version for offline tours comes to about 120 MB and can be deleted at any time without uninstalling the app.

The BayernHistoryApp offers special functions such as a before-and-after camera, with which you can directly compare historical images with today's location — an impressive experience of history education on site.

Yes. In each entry, you will find three dots in the upper right. Through these you can send us a direct email with a correction.

No. The BayernHistoryApp is ad-free and offers no possibility for advertising or comparable marketing activities within the app. This is deliberate — and also the reason why the app is publicly funded. Advertising can, however, be placed on flyers, in brochures, or in magazines about the app.

If you have used the download function for forest or nature tours, the background of the entire map is automatically saved as well. This then no longer changes. Delete the downloaded offline version, and you will have the current data again.

Anyone can contribute who would like to bring sound knowledge or materials about the local and regional history of Bavaria to the project — local historians, local chroniclers, city and municipal archives, local history associations, museums, researchers, as well as committed individuals.

The prerequisites depend on the area in which you would like to contribute. We clarify this in a conversation — thematically, in terms of content, or with regard to media production.

Write us an email with the place, topic, and your interest. We will get in touch for an initial contact and introduction.

Write to the editorial team or the project management — you can reach us directly through the contact details on the website.

Once a contribution has been reviewed and finalised, it is online within a day.

No, unless we agree on a publication date for particular topics — for example, for an anniversary or a launch event.

All content related to the history and stories of Bavaria — texts, images, audio recordings, videos, sources, documents. From a single contribution about a place to the co-creation of a thematic area.

Yes. Since we maintain the CMS, you can send us changes or corrections at any time, and we will incorporate them promptly.

You can contribute all materials to which you hold the rights, or that are free of rights. Materials from third parties are also possible if you have their explicit permission to use them in the app.

For a place, we recommend about ten contributions for a first publication. This allows many aspects of a town or place to be portrayed — a good basis for a launch event or press work.

Yes. You can deliver single contributions or individual topics at any time. There is no limit — neither downwards nor upwards.

A thematic area is a separate section of the app with its own focus, its own pin colours, and its own design. Examples include 'Nazi Memorial Sites', 'Jewish Life', and 'Bahnpark Augsburg'. A thematic area can be operated by an institution with a comprehensive subject.

Setting up a thematic area is complex and is usually created by an institution or by the editorial team for a comprehensive subject. Contributions are the individual articles about locations or content within a thematic area.

Yes. Every contribution always contains the attribution to the author as well as to the editor.

All rights remain with the respective rights holders. You grant us the right to use the material in the BayernHistoryApp.

Please clarify the rights beforehand. We can only use materials that are free of rights or for which the right to publication in our app has been explicitly granted.

Yes. As an institution, you can place your content in an existing thematic area. For museums and larger institutions, it is natural to set up and operate their own thematic area — Bahnpark Augsburg is an example.

Depending on the form of participation, there are basic agreements — on editorial work, research, rights, and ethical standards. As a publicly funded platform, we are bound to comply with democratic core values.

Your data as a contributor will be published, but in consultation with you — with or without a role designation. Contact with authors is generally made via the editorial team.

The contributions generally remain in the app, unless you wish them to be deleted or changed. This is possible by agreement.

We have a permanent editorial team for the revision and review of contributions. Individual project areas are financed through funding — there, fees or work allowances are paid. This depends on the topic, thematic area, and scope. We clarify this in a conversation.

Contributions are formally reviewed by the editorial team and then with the involvement of subject advisers. We additionally use specially optimised AI tools for readability, comprehensibility, and accessibility. The results we discuss with you.

Yes. We carry out an introduction and training — on editorial format, text style, and image formats. For P-Seminars, we offer joint Zoom training sessions, and we provide training videos.

No technical prerequisites are required. You write your texts or provide image material — we take care of the transfer into our CMS system and everything else.

No. You do not need any special software or any special technical equipment.

All contributions and media are transferred by our editorial team into the CMS system. This ensures the security and consistency of all entries.

A cooperation covers the use of the BayernHistoryApp for the publication and provision of materials and media of your municipality, as well as the regulation of rights and the cooperation between municipality and association.

You can download the app free of charge at any time and explore all existing entries. On request, we also create one or two sample entries especially for your municipality, so that you gain a concrete impression with a local reference.

Yes. As of May 2026, over 600 entries are available in the app, which can be viewed as reference and example from other municipalities.

As of May 2026, you will find over 60 municipalities and towns in the app, along with institutional partners such as Bahnpark Augsburg, Bavarian Broadcasting (Bayerischer Rundfunk), the bvv (Bavarian Association of Adult Education Centres), and agricultural offices. A complete overview can be found in the register of the app.

The costs depend on the size of the municipality and the number of planned contributions. After an initial discussion, we prepare an individual offer. As a non-profit association, we invoice the costs for set-up, training, and continuous use as a one-off payment — with no ongoing obligations.

Use of the native app for Android and iOS, 10 years of updates and support, 30 contributions including editorial preparation and AI-generated audio recording, ad-free and free-of-charge provision for end users — with all usage rights remaining fully with the authors.

There are no ongoing obligations. With our hosting partner, we have contractually secured operations until 31 December 2037 and can guarantee them accordingly.

A cooperation with BayernHistory opens up for your municipality a low-threshold, cost-effective access to the digital preparation of local history. There is no comparable platform with the same functional scope and sponsorship of a non-profit association. The app is identity-forming and makes your history digitally visible.

Yes, for example funding via LEADER or Local Action Groups (LAG). There are several examples where topics or walking tours have been financed through such programmes and published in the BayernHistoryApp.

Yes, a simple agreement. It regulates our authorisation to publish on behalf of the municipality, the retention of all rights by the municipality or the respective authors, and the modalities of a possible deletion.

A simple written notice is sufficient. Termination takes effect at the end of the current month. Since there are no ongoing obligations, this can be done easily and informally.

That is decided by the municipality. The content can remain in the app or be deleted on request — deletion is possible at any time.

Usually not. The total costs are normally within the discretionary budget of the mayor. Many municipalities present the project to the municipal council, however, and communicate it as a joint activity to the public.

By agreement, the materials are usually provided by local associations, city and municipal archives, and actors in regional studies. Our editorial team takes on the editorial preparation.

Ten to twelve contributions are perfect for portraying a place well. This corresponds to a walking tour of one to two hours.

In four steps: initial conversation with the project management, topic identification with local actors, building of an editorial team, publication and step-by-step expansion. Details on the participation page 'For Municipalities'.

All content related to history in the broadest sense — including history from below, anecdotes, scholarly essays, texts, audio, video, photos. There are no substantive restrictions.

Yes, existing audio walks and other materials can be taken over. That is precisely the purpose of the app — to make what already exists visible on a central platform.

The materials and documents are provided by your municipality or your delegates. Our editorial team takes on the editorial development into finished contributions.

Our editorial team reviews the texts and contributions and, as needed, involves the academic accompaniment. We additionally use specially optimised AI tools for language, style, and factual correctness.

Yes, explicitly — and it is desirable. Local history associations, schools, local chroniclers, and committed citizens are often the most important substantive sources of a municipal cooperation.

Wolfgang Hauck (project management) and Alois Kramer (coordination). You can reach us through the contact details on the website.

Yes, town anniversaries or other occasions are an ideal time to place topics in the app in a targeted way. This often results in a larger editorial scope, which can be well accommodated in the event budgets.

All usage rights remain with the respective authors and rights holders. You grant us only the right to use the material in the app. You may use materials from third parties if the rights holders have explicitly agreed.

We provide cooperation partners with a set of printed flyers containing all the information. The integration of the app launch into local events has also proved its worth — citizens' meetings, civic festivals, or specially organised launch events with a walking tour.

Yes, explicitly. Especially also as a supplement for town guides who can integrate the app into their town tours. We provide digital materials such as logo and QR codes.

Yes. There is even a school tool for schools that wish to edit in the CMS themselves. Experience shows, however, that pupils and students already have enough topics and fields of work with the production of content alone — therefore, the school tool has so far rarely been used, but is available.

Yes, the app is excellently suited — for the preparation and follow-up of lessons, for homework, and to introduce pupils to topics. We are currently developing educational accompanying material for selected thematic areas such as 'Jewish Life' or the former Kaufering VII concentration camp subcamp.

Yes, at any time. P-Seminars can range from extensive editorial contributions and development through to focused projects — for example translations of existing texts into English, as was implemented for the Moosburg Neustadt walking tour.

We currently work from Year 8 upwards. There are, however, also projects of berlinHistory in which certain topics have been carried out with primary school pupils — in a way adapted to the target group.

Particularly suitable are History, German, and foreign languages (for translations). The app is also suitable for cross-curricular projects in the spirit of Public History or Citizen Science.

International school partnerships are particularly well suited for translation or comparison projects — for example with texts in English or other languages. We discuss this together.

Yes, as with schools. The app is suitable for courses, study projects, and making academic work visible. We offer the same accompanying structures as for school cooperations.

As with schools. Study projects can range from extensive editorial development to focused tasks — for example translations or the development of local source holdings.

The BayernHistoryApp offers the possibility of making research results visible and contextualising them — as a bridge between scholarly specialisation and public communication.

Yes. Scholarly works can be adapted to the app's language and format. Through links, supplementary source documents, bibliographies, and in-depth materials can be incorporated.

Each contribution contains author attributions and is citable via the app and the website. For study achievements, contributions can be referenced as URLs or exported in PDF form from the CMS.

We support with detailed advice, introduction to the topic, and critical editorial accompaniment. Pupils experience a way of working that does not aim at grading, but at the best possible result — an important experience of editorial work in practice.

All content with historical or cultural reference to Bavaria — from a single contribution to coherent topic series. Texts, images, audio and video productions, and translations are possible.

We accompany schools and universities with critical editorial feedback. Contributions are revised together, with the aim of the best possible result — not grading.

We are currently developing educational accompanying material for selected thematic areas — for example 'Jewish Life' and the Kaufering VII concentration camp subcamp. On request, we provide thematic introductory materials.

Yes. We carry out introductory and accompanying training — for schools and universities, mostly as joint Zoom training sessions. Additionally, we provide training videos.

The effort depends on the project format. A P-Seminar or study project usually comprises a school or study semester with regular sessions. We take on the technical maintenance in the CMS — the substantive focus remains with the school.

Yes, each contribution contains the attribution to the author. For pupils, we clarify the form of attribution with the school and the guardians — optionally with full name, initials, or a class/year-group reference.

The costs depend on the scope. Classic school projects in the context of P-Seminars are free of charge. For more extensive projects with additional services, we discuss an individual offer.

It depends on the respective wishes — from editorial contributions through translations (such as the Moosburg Neustadt walking tour) to audio recordings with AI or speakers, video productions, drone footage, and specialist verification.

Wolfgang Hauck (project management) and Alois Kramer (coordination). You can reach us through the contact details on the website.

Through the three dots in the upper right of each contribution, an email is automatically generated — with the layer and topic ID that uniquely identify the contribution.

Source references can be found under each contribution in abbreviated form. If you are interested in in-depth sources, we are happy to send them — see Section 'About the App', question 16.

Yes, you can obtain detailed information. We cannot provide direct information on all contributions — much of the content comes from various authors — but we are happy to forward enquiries accordingly.

Yes. The app offers a full-text search in the register that makes not only people, places, and topics but also individual terms searchable.

Yes, the contributions are reviewed editorially and with specialist accompaniment. The reduced text scope, however, requires a simplified presentation — there is no comparable claim as in an academic specialist publication.

The contributions are written by the respective authors. Each contribution contains the author attribution and the identification of the editorial work.

Simply report it. Through the three dots in the upper right of each contribution, an email to the editorial team is automatically generated — the contribution is thereby uniquely identified.

Yes, explicitly. Cooperation with archives and museums is even a main purpose of the app: archival materials and research work should be made visible in a form suitable for a wider public. Details on contributing can be found in the section 'Contributing'.

The app is not an academic specialist publication, but understands itself as a moderated dialogue between scholarship, research, and citizens. The topics are reduced, focused, and simplified in their presentation.

In principle not without clarification. The image material comes from many different sources, whose rights have been made available for use in our app. Other use must be clarified separately — images also cannot be downloaded from the app. Please send us a short message for coordination.

We are happy to mediate the contact to the rights holders of historical recordings. A blanket usage permission we cannot grant — the rights lie with the respective sources.

Aerial photographs — for example of the Kaufering concentration camp subcamp complex — may not be used elsewhere. We have purchased licences as an example so that the images can be published in the app. For your own use, separate agreements with the aerial photography database are required. If you are interested, we are happy to mediate.

In principle yes. A blanket answer is not possible, since different audio recordings have different copyrights — we are happy to clarify this for you.

On the website you will find press material for download as well as press texts. Through our press contact, you can request further information.

Write to presse@bayernhistory.de or call us on +49 152 266 303 03. This way, you reach our press office and service directly.

Yes, all contributions can be cited and taken over for broadcasts. For image material or audio recordings, we are happy to clarify rights in the individual case.

Yes. You can develop interviews and contributions or research further building on our materials.