Manfred Kittel worked at the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich after his studies. In 2009, he became the founding director of the Federal Foundation »Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation« in Berlin. Since 2015, he has been conducting research on contemporary historical topics, initially at the German Historical Museum and later at the Federal Archives. He teaches Modern History in Regensburg. Among his most important publications are studies on the history of democracy in Germany and France before 1933/36, on »coming to terms with the past« in Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945, and especially on the history and culture of memory related to flight and expulsion. His most recent work focuses on the politics of »compensation« starting from 1952.