between 1980 and 1985 peter erler studied history and pedagogy at the kuban state university, krasnodar in the soviet union. since 1992 he has worked with both the , a department at the free university of berlin, established in 1992 to perform research on "the external and internal pre-conditions for the forty year existence of a second german dictatorship" and the berlin-hohenschönhausen memorial museum. he is also a member of the editorial staff of the newspaper of the forschungsverbund.