One hundred years of Studierendenwerk

Studierendenwerk plans a big anniversary exhibition about „100 years of social help for students“ and is looking for photographs from past times.

What was it like to serve meals in the dining halls as waiter in a tailcoat? What did the “hunger curve” in the Audimax look like? How did students live in the sixties? What was the rent strike in the seventies all about? And what happened in the dining halls after the Tote Hosen band concert in 1985?

Exciting stories from a hundred years of eventful student life in Aachen – among other things these stories will be part of the big anniversary exhibition that is going to be held in the main dining hall of Aachen next year. The theme is going to be the history and development of social help for Aachen students.

Studierendenwerk Aachen, founded in 1920 with the opening of the first dining hall “Mensa academica”, is now looking for historical photographs. We especially address Aachen citizens who were students or lecturers in the past decades. Everything that concerns everyday life of students is interesting for us. The motto is: “the older the better”. We would be especially happy about pictures that were taken before digital photography existed, for example of the former main building on Pontwall, the residence halls, the dining halls or kindergartens. Also great would be photos of student events around Pontwall or of other special moments such as concerts, parties and performances in the old theater. Stories that tell the photos’ background are of course welcome!

Everybody who possesses old photographs and would be willing to lend these keepsakes to us can contact Studierendenwerk:
presse@stw.rwth-aachen.de.