BGHS mourns the passing of its long-time director Thomas Welskopp, who passed away on 19 August 2021. Thomas Welskopp was on the Board of Directors of the BGHS from the beginning and played a major role in leading it through ups and downs to success. The three basic principles of the BGHS, interdisciplinarity, internationality and the promotion of the doctoral researchers' own initiative, were close to his heart and he lived them like no other. The BGHS - that is the doctoral researchers, colleagues from the faculties, the directorate and executive board as well as the BGHS office - has benefited from his excellent scholarly expertise and fine art of formulation over the long period of time. What we will miss above all, however, is his sense of humour, which made him so accessible as a person in a way that is not often found in academia. We would have liked to spend more time with him.