The next chapter for the German Mennonite Historical Society is chronicling steps to modernize the group’s research center while digging deeper into the past. In October, University of Regensburg history professor Astrid von Schlachta began as director of the Mennonite Research Center in Weierhof. She is sharing the position in a one-year transition period with Gary Waltner, who will step aside in October after decades of work that literally built the research center from the ground up.