Happy Birthday, Studentendorf!

70 years ago, our dormitory in Eckertweg, Studentendorf (student village), was opened as one of the first student dormitories in Germany. The construction of the village, with a total of 183 dormitories, was due in part to an endowment from the United States High Commissioner (McCloy Foundation) to serve the common goals of the United States, Great Britain, and the Federal Republic, particularly the democratization of the young, educating population. The village was conceived along the lines of American and British models, which had taken up the idea of student campus life. After denazification and the reorganization of German universities, a democratically influenced approach deliberately prevailed here.

According to contemporary witnesses, life in the village was very enriching for the development of all students who had gone through the war, including women. Many had a lot of catching up to do, especially in intellectual and cultural terms, and enjoyed the community as well as the right to develop freely.

At the beginning of the 1970s, the village was to be expanded by an additional development. However, due to the vehement opposition of the villagers, the Ministry of Science and Research rejected the application of Studierendenwerk.

The system of student self-government in the village was trend-setting. Even though today there is no longer a tutor who has to marry his girlfriend in order to live there with her, many of the structures have been retained. They are characteristic of dormitory life today.