The Swedish historian, Professor Sven Ekdahl (born in 1935), studied at the universities of Göteborg/Gothenburg, Sweden (under professor Erik Lönnroth) and Göttingen, Germany and was from 1979 to 1999 Archivist (scientific researcher) at the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, where he still lives. His scientific interests mainly concern the history of the Teutonic Order in Prussia as well as Poland and Lithuania in the late Middle Ages, but he also specializes in many other topics relating to the history of the Baltic Sea region at different time periods. From 1996 to 1999 he was chairman of the Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk e. V., Lüneburg. His various memberships and awards include the Order of Grand Duke Gediminas (Lithuania) and the Grunwald Medal (Poland), Honorary Doctor at the University of Vilnius and Foreign Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.