History of the “Freie Universität Berlin”
(Free University of Berlin)
Source: Information leaflet of the Freie
Universität Berlin
© President`s Office of Freie
Universität Berlin, 2008
Freedom Carries an Obligation
Freie Universität Berlin was founded by students and scholars on
December 4, 1948, with the support of the American Allies and Berlin
politicians as a response to the persecution of students critical of the system
at University Unter den Linden in the Soviet sector
of the divided city of Berlin. These students and scholars wanted to study and
carry out research at Freie Universität,
free of political influence. Thanks to generous donations from the United
States, Freie Universität
was able to construct several new central building complexes including the
Benjamin Franklin university clinic complex and the Henry Ford Building, the
central lecture building. Based on its founding tradition, Freie
Universität’s seal to this day bears the Latin terms
for truth, justice, and liberty. In 2007, Freie
Universität dedicated a monument to the founding
students who were murdered by the Soviet secret service. The university
presents its Freedom Award to personalities who have made a special
contribution toward the cause of freedom.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited Freie Universität in 1963.
The Henry Ford Building was constructed between 1952 and 1954 in the
Bauhaus tradition.
International from the Very Beginning
The foundation of Freie Universität
Berlin was facilitated through international support, and international
impulses have shaped its research ever since. In order to survive, both on an
academic and an intellectual level, Freie Universität established connections from its geographically
isolated position in West Berlin to organizations and personalities in Western
Germany, Europe, and the entire world. What began as a necessity rapidly
evolved into a successful strategy: currently, Freie Universität has over 130 partnerships with scholarly institutions
worldwide. The university is a drawing card for international researchers. Freie Universität and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München are the two locations most often selected for
visiting scholars through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. About 600
foreign scholars contribute to the diversity in research and teaching. Of its
approximately 34.000 students in over 100 subject areas, 16 percent come from
abroad.
Young University – Rich Tradition
Freie Universität is located in the leafy residential district of
Dahlem in southwestern
Berlin. Around the beginning of the 20th century, Dahlem was established as a center
for research of the highest calibre. Academic activity in Dahlem
was supported by Friedrich Althoff, Ministerial
Director in the Prussian Ministry of Culture, who initially proposed the
foundation of “a German Oxford”. The first new buildings housed government
science agencies and new institutes of the University of Berlin. The Kaiser
Wilhelm Society – forerunner of the present-day Max Planck Society – was
founded in 1911 and established several institutes in Dahlem.
A dynamic group of researchers carried out pioneering research resulting in
numerous Nobel Prizes. Since its foundation, Freie Universität Berlin has been using buildings formerly
belonging to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and, in addition, has added numerous
architecturally innovative buildings. Freie Universität’s central campus consists of building ensembles
within walking distance of each other. The planners oriented themselves along
the type of campus found in the United States – a novelty in post-war Germany.
Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and Fritz Straßmann achieved world fame for their research performed
in a garden house belonging to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry.
Today, biochemists of Freie Universität
carry out research in this building.
Freie Universität Berlin
- represented by the President -
Prof. Dr. Peter-André Alt
Address: Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18
14195 Berlin
Office: Susanne
Kruppa (P4)
Ina Lödden (P5)
Phone: (030) 838-731 00
(030)
838-731 04
Fax: (030) 838-731 07
E-Mail: praesident@fu-berlin.de
First Vice President
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Monika Schäfer-Korting
Address: Kaiserswerther Str. 16-18
14195 Berlin
Office: Susanne Hoch
Phone: (030) 838-731 20
Fax: (030) 838-731 17
E-Mail: vp1@fu-berlin.de