Following a long illness, our highly esteemed colleague Werner Sundermann passed away on Friday, 12 October 2012.

Werner Sundermann, former head of the Turfan department of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, was appointed honorary professor at the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin in 1992 - as one of the first internationally renowned scholars of East Germany after the fall of the wall. For nearly twenty years he has enriched the study programme of the Institute with courses offering insight into his manyfold and highly regarded research work.

We mourn with his family and colleagues around the world.

The staff of the Institute of Iranian Studies