Remembering Prof. Rolf Schulmeister

15 September 2025

Photo: by Rolf Schulmeister, uploaded by Michael Reschke, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hello everyone, we have some sad news to share.
As you may know, Prof. Rolf Schulmeister has passed away.
We at the Institute of German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf (IDGS) would like to pay our respects and remember his important contribution to the founding of the institute.

We have fond memories of him and great respect for his contribution.
That is why Stefan has now provided a summary of his work.
We would like to express our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Stefan: 

Dear all, I am writing today because I have learned that Rolf Schulmeister passed away a few days ago.

My heartfelt condolences.

Rolf was an extremely valuable and important person.

He was an important member of the group led by Prof. Dr. Siegmund Prillwitz, who founded the Institute for German Sign Language in 1987. He was also involved in the group that began researching DGS in 1985.

Throughout this time, Rolf was like a right-hand man to Siegmund Prillwitz.

Rolf tended to work behind the scenes. His valuable work seemed almost invisible.

Do you remember the blue and orange VISTA textbooks for sign language lessons DGS1 and DGS2? Who do you think successfully applied for the European project and contributed to it?

It was Rolf Schulmeister.

Who else applied for and fought for other projects, such as the HORIZON project?

That was Rolf Schulmeister as well.

Another example is the teaching and learning material "Die Fima." This teaching and learning material is based on a great, comprehensive concept with videos, vocabulary collections, and explanations, which was recorded on CD-ROM at the time. It is well known, as is its educational value. Who came up with the idea?

An entire team worked on implementing the concept. But who sought out the financial resources and fought for them? Who took care of the programming and technical implementation? And who kept an eye on all the other things that come into play in such a project?

It was Rolf Schulmeister.

He had close ties to Siegmund Prillwitz and thus to the Institute of German Sign Language. He achieved great things. We will always remember him and his work.

We wish his loved ones all the best.

-------
We regret to inform you that Prof. Dr. Rolf Schulmeister passed away on Saturday, August 30, 2025. His son has also published a statement: http://rolf.schulmeister.com/