From the idea to its realization

Welcome to Reunions, Germany’s first tracing service. We can trace your old friends worldwide and are committed to helping you establish a long and lasting relationship. Even if it’s a family member, an old school friend or even your childhood sweetheart, we are here to help you get in touch again. After all, Reunions is what we’re all about.

As founder and owner, I would like to introduce myself and the story of this tracing service. My name is Susanne Panter. Having completed my Accounting and Communication Studies in 1996, I founded the tracing service, which was at first only a sideline and I named it “Die Wiedersehensfreu(n)de”. (The reunion friends / joy). In 2000, it became my main job and the name was changed to “Wiedersehen macht Freude”. This is an idiom in German that means, “I love reunions”, therefore as the tracing service started its international activity around 2003, the international service was called “Reunions” and Chiara Salvia, thanks to her language mediation and diplomatic skills with institutions, as well as her great interest in social and personal relationships, was appointed International Department Manager.

Who are our clients?

While our clients are mainly private citizens, probate courts, lawyers and story editors of television stations are also among our customers. We have carried out searches for the TV presenter Inka Bause for her German program “Jugendliebe” (Childhood Sweethearts) and we have worked for many years in the background, searching for people for the German reunions program „Melodien für Millionen“ presented by Dieter-Thomas Heck.
Even if public authorities, for obvious reasons concerning respect of competition
rules, may not directly promote our service, we keep hearing from clients that the German Red Cross Tracing Service, Social Services and registry offices, and even the Foreign Office recommends our service!

Reasons for success

The fact that, unlike the way a detective proceeds, we ask the traced person for their consent in order to establish the contact, creates great interest among the media.
There are many German television reports that have been broadcast about our
Service: “ARD Brisant”, “ZDF reportage”, “Menschen hautnah”, “37 Grad” and a five episode documentary on ARTE are some of the highlights. Currently SWR (Southwest Germany Broadcasting Station) is producing a series entitled “die Aufspürerin” (The Tracer).
Thanks to our continuously growing experience and access to data sources all over the world, we now boast a success rate in the high 90 percent range. In many searches we have had to manage with very little data. In some cases, the exact spelling of names was unknown and we only had an approximate sounding name to work with and the data provided by the client was often only a vague recollection by relatives.
My goal and my personal approach to quality is that your individual concerns,
in relation with your search, achieve a lasting solution. We do not consider our service completed just because we have traced a person. Our job is not complete until the contact is established or all the questions are answered.

In response to the gratitude that our clients have expressed towards us, I would like to say: Thank you for having entrusted us with your request and allowed us to carry out this service for you!

Yours faithfully
Susanne Panter