Enlarge image

The Free University's new Philological Library was designed by Sir Norman Foster.

(© picture-alliance/dpa)

Sixty years ago, on December 4, 1948, students and scholars crowded into the Titania-Palast movie theater – the largest hall available in the American sector of occupied Berlin – to celebrate the launch of the Free University of Berlin.

Founded by students and scholars in protest of ideological persecution at University of Berlin in the Soviet sector and largely funded by the United States, the Free University was unique in that it gave students an unprecedented voice in all of the administrative bodies that governed the university.

Today, over 31,000 students attend the Free University, and it has been designated as an “elite” university in the German government’s Excellence Initiative.

In the East, admissions based on ideology

By most measures, it was not an auspicious time for founding a university in 1948.  The Soviet occupation forces had blockaded West Berlin, shutting off the supply of electricity, food and fuel.  The beleaguered city was dependent on the Berlin Airlift for the most basic necessities.

The founders were driven by extraordinary circumstances, however. In 1948, gaining admission to the Soviet-controlled University of Berlin meant filling out lengthy questionnaires about political attitudes.

Criticizing the administration could lead to expulsion or even arrest.  After three editors of the student magazine Colloquium published articles critical of the increasing grip of the Socialist Unity Party on teaching and research at the university, the education authorities expelled them.

Expulsions and harassment by the authorities gave rise to a protest movement that culminated when 2,000 students gathered at the Hotel Esplanade to demand a free university in the Western sector.

American support

Enlarge image

American sector Commandant Colonel Frank Howley addresses students and scholars at the Titania Palast movie theater on December 4, 1948.

(© picture-alliance/dpa)

The American military administration in Germany, led by Military Governor Lucius D. Clay, supported the founding of the university from the beginning.  In 1948, Clay commissioned an investigation to determine the feasibility of founding a university in the western sectors.

After the University’s founding, American corporations and foundations helped build some of its central institutions.  The Ford Foundation provided 8.1 million marks for the construction of the main academic building, the Henry Ford building.  Other institutions built with American support include the Benjamin Franklin Clinic and the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies.

Excellence Initiative

In 60 years, the Free University has come a long way from its beginnings in a devastated and divided Berlin, when lectures were held by candle light, and thin milk soup was served in a dilapidated barracks.

The German Government recently conferred “elite” status on the University as part of its Excellence Initiative, which earmarks extra funds for top universities that can compete with leading international institutions like Oxford and Harvard.