Yesterday’s announcement of the unveiling of the Research Assistance Request (RAR) program of the International German Genealogy Partnership (IGGP) brought an emailed letter today from Georg Palmüller.  He says that the group of German genealogists in Unna has chosen not to take their share of the $30 fee collected from request submitters.  Here are some excerpts:

“We will do it like we always did since 2001: free and without any kind of fee!  We love to help from our hearts to the hearts of the genealogists who need help.  We never took any money from help seeking genealogists except when there were fees to pay for needed documents.

“So we ask the IGGP to keep the complete fee of $30 when the Ahnenforscher Stammtisch Unna is asked for help via RAR submissions….

“We always tried to help in an easy kind of way.  Just by eMail, quick, modern, fast and uncomplicated without any kind of forms at all to fill out.  But we can live with the decision of the IGGP board who is believing that forms are really needed.

“We can’t wait to receive RAR submissions to help our genealogist friends in the US and elsewhere in the world and we will enjoy to help them.”

It should be added that from their webpage it is stated that the genealogical interests and research areas of participants in this monthly “Stammtisch” meeting are quite broad.  So even if your research problem is not associated with their home area, these kind-hearted individuals will help if they can.

As theirs is not a society with expenses to meet, they feel they can make this offer, as Georg says, from their hearts.  We should all make special efforts to return the favor, if asked!!