The Federal Republic developed over the course of its existence into a liberal constitutional and social state in the Western model. Historians contributed by providing orientation knowledge and critically accompanying this development as public intellectuals. They remembered, imagined, and criticized specific concepts of the state, reflecting on the crises of constitutional and social statehood since the 1970s. Even today, historians are involved in the reconceptualization of statehood in the context of globalization and European integration. Gabriele Metzler tells the story of the Federal Republic from its beginnings to the present through the prism of her contemporary historical research.