Chronology of FNF History

19 May 1958 Theodor Heuss, the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany after the World War ll, established the Friedrich Naumann Foundation at his official residence Villa Hammerschmidt in Bonn.
1959 Mr. Werner Stephan, the Foundation’s first director, took office and oversaw the first publication of the magazine “Liberal”.
1963 The German head office set up a department to deal specifically with international activities.
1964 An educational centre was set up in Tunisia to handle the Foundation’s first project outside Germany.
1965 The Foundation’s first activities abroad involved strengthening democratic development in Latin America.
1966 Focal points of the FNF international work abroad were basic and advanced trainings for executives.
1967 The Theodor Heuss Academy was opened in Gummersbach to provide political training and education.
1973-74 The Foundation launched its scholarship programme.
1975 The FNF expanded the geographical scope of its international work to include southern Europe by giving support to democracy movements in Spain, Portugal and Greece
1978 The Foundation began activities in Mexico.
1982 The FNF expanded its activities to Argentina.
1984 The Liberal Archive in Gummersbach was officially opened. The Foundation relocated its headquarters to Margarethenhöhe in Königswinter.
1985 The FNF opened its Brussels office, offering international conferences and seeking co-financing opportunities from the European Commission.
1988 The International Academy for Leadership was founded in Sintra (Portugal).
1990 The Berlin-Brandenburg Office was established to provide civic education in Germany’s eastern states of Länder Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
The Foundation began spreading its civic education programmes to central, southeast and eastern Europe.
1991 The FNF revamped its organisational structure and assigned regional offices to implement and coordinate international work in their respective regions of the world.
1993 The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats of CALD was established.
1995 The Theodor Heuss Academy took over the management of the International Academy for Leadership or IAF in Gummerbach.
Dr. Otto Graf Lambsdorff was elected chairman of the Board of Directors while Mr. Rolf Berndt was elected Executive Chairman.
The Foundation’s Liberal Institute was founded in the same year.
1996 Dr. Jürgen Morlok was elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees
1999-2000 The head office was relocated to Potsdam.
2000 “The Rights of Minorities” was discussed, amended and adopted by the Second Minorities’ Conference of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, held at Berlin.
2001 Re-orientation of FNF civic education programmes in Germany began:  regional offices were established in Halle, Hanover, Lübeck and Wiesbaden, and later in Stuttgart (2002), Munich (2004) and Hamburg (2004).
2001 The head office was relocated to the Truman House in Potsdam.
2002 Virtuelle Akademie, Germany’s first on-line provider of civic education, launched its first programme.
2003 The African Liberal Network or ALN was launched in Johannesburg.
2004 RELIAL or the Liberal Network Latin America was founded in Mexico.
2005 Virtuelle Akademie or the Online Academy won the European e-learning-award “eureleA” in 2005.
The Foundation and Dr. Otto Graf Lambsdorff received with the “Light of Truth Award” from His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet.
2006 Mr. Wolfgang Gerhardt was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors.The Congress of the Arab Network for Economic Freedom was founded in Beirut.

The Al-Mena (Alliance of Liberals in the Middle East and North Africa) was established in Cairo.
2007 The Foundation changed its slogan to “für die Freiheit” to highlight its primary goal of spreading freedom.
2008 The Foundation celebrated its 50th anniversary at the German headquarters and other offices worldwide.