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Since 2016 Rolf Killius has been working as an oral historian and media producer for the Bubenreutheum Museum in Franconia, Germany. Until the 1980s Franconia was a major centre of musical instrument making in the world. For instance the Franconian guitar manufacturer Höfner, then based in Bubenreuth, made Paul McCartney’s famous ‘Beatle bass’. Shortly after WW2 the small village of Bubenreuth with around 400 inhabitants offered nearly 2000 refugees from Bohemia (then Czechoslovakia) to settle in their village. As a result the village had become a centre of instrument making in Germany. For instance nearly all early beat and rock musicians from Britain and Germany equipped themselves with guitars from this region. In 2018 and 2019 the Bubenreuthem Society and Rolf Killius conducted a major oral history recording project with the aim to document the history of the region and prepare audio-visual media to be shown online and in the soon to be opened museum. |
