101 Years Student Union S.H.

Even before the establishment of a "student aid", the university - made possible by a private foundation - had created a place for the needs of students. In 1910, after long planning and a short construction period, the "Seeburg Student House" was inaugurated on the shore of the Kiel Fjord. The basement contained rooms for rowing and sailing. On the ground floor was the "Restauration" with two separate halls for students and lecturers and on the first floor were social and party rooms, club rooms, games rooms and meeting rooms for student associations.

After the First World War, the Seeburg became the centre of "student aid". In the "mensa academica", students could satisfy their hunger in this first student house of its kind in Germany. In addition, both the Seeburg and the "Studentenhilfe" had student co-determination from the very beginning.

At the end of 1921 - three years after the First World War - Prof. Wilhelm Anschütz, then director of the University Surgical Clinic, initiated the "Association for Schleswig-Holstein Student Aid" because of the generally poor supply situation and was then its chairman for many years. He succeeded in regularly raising donations from the population in the city and especially in the countryside. Among other things, many foodstuffs were collected with the help of cultural evenings organised by students in Dithmarschen, for example, which could then be processed in the refectory. According to Anschütz's endeavours, the "student aid" was to ensure the physical well-being of the students. This "student aid" was even so successful with its programme that it was sometimes enough for travel costs to the parents or Christmas parcels even in times of inflation. It also granted "free tables" in the refectory, where needy students received meals free of charge.

In contrast to the Germany-wide "Erlangen Programme", which propagated "student help" as work communities supported by students themselves and called for help for self-help and the arrangement of work for "working students", Anschütz strongly distinguished the Kiel "student help" from this. He respected the activities of "working students" who earned money in addition to their studies, but in his opinion the help for food and books should better come from outside. In Kiel, the "Studentenhilfe" was therefore organised as a private, autonomous and independent association at the university.

Tear gas bomb in the Seeburg

Already at the beginning of the 1930s, the change that then followed was announced. There were complaints about uniformed students in the Seeburg refectory and in 1931 there was even an attack at a lecture event (see newspaper clipping). National Socialist forces were already gaining influence at Kiel University before 1933. Before the First World War and during the Weimar Republic, the rooms were reserved exclusively for students and lecturers, but from 1933 onwards, more and more non-academic Nazi organisations also rented rooms here.

The "Studentenhilfe" in Kiel, which until then had been completely apolitical, was subordinated in 1934 as "Studentenwerk Kiel e.V., Zweigstelle des Reichsstudentenwerks" (Kiel Student Union, Branch of the Reich Student Union) to the directives of the headquarters in Berlin and thus eliminated as an independent charitable body. Prof. Anschütz had already been ousted from the chairmanship. As a result of this Gleichschaltung, all dormitories became "comradeship houses". Only those students who satisfied the National Socialist ideological criteria were admitted to a "Kameradschaftshaus" - talent or social need became secondary (cf. circular). In addition, financial support for studies was usually only granted to members of comradeship houses. As the "Führerhaus" of the "Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund" (NSDStB, National Socialist German Student Association), into which primarily student functionaries were to be admitted, the Christian Albrecht House (CAH) also occupied a special position. In the staff and lecture directory of the 3rd term of the CAU in 1940 it says: "The Christian-Albrecht-Haus, Kiel, Niemannsweg 152, F 6083, is the dormitory of the comradeships "Nordschleswig", "Otto Weddigen" and "Bornhöved" of the NSDStB." In 1924, the CAH was deliberately founded as an international hostel in the spirit of international understanding.
The "Office for Political Education of the Kiel Student Body" took care of political education. This was intended to shape the German student "into a political person, a political soldier". The soldierly model also applied to all non-military areas. In 1940, the student dormitory was finally bought by the Reichsstudentenwerk before it was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War.

During the Second World War, the old university buildings in the Schlossgarten and the Seeburg had been partially destroyed by air raids and a normal lecture programme with seminars was impossible under these circumstances. The housing situation was also almost hopeless for Kiel students directly after the war. Therefore, in 1945, with the help of the British military government, the university chartered four former navy accommodation ships on which students and lecturers were housed. The ships were moored in front of the Seeburg, so that students could go directly from the ship to the refectory there. The Studentenwerk had leased the cafeteria to a private operator, who in these times of need often served very watery vegetable soups that did not correspond to the already very low food rations estimated in 1946. Moreover, the operation of the canteen was only possible due to food donations from the USA, among others from the Mennonites or the "Hoover Feeding".

The ships "Sofia", "Barbara", "Hamburg" and later the "Orla" were provisionally repaired by a shipping company. Lecturers were accommodated in the better cabins and students in the simple cabins, which were also completely overcrowded. Shortly before the end of the war, the "Sofia" was badly damaged by a mine hit and lay aground, partly under water. Nevertheless, it accommodated 250 students and 40 lecturers and offered 500 seats in a large lecture hall and also four smaller lecture halls with a capacity of 100-120 seats. In addition, the office of the student union was also housed on the "Sofia" during this time, before the barracks on the Westring were built.

A former ELAC (ELECTROACUSTIC GmbH) factory site on the north-western outskirts of Kiel became the new core of the Christian Albrechts University (CAU) of Kiel after the Second World War. The burnt-out main building of the university on the fjord was blown up and demolished. Shortly after Wilhelm Hallermann, Professor of Medicine at the CAU, took over the management of the Kiel Student Union in 1946, he organised the construction of an administrative barracks on what is now Westring, which was to become the new headquarters of the Student Union for almost 20 years. Since daily necessities were in short supply, the Studentenwerk also set up a stationery shop, a grocery shop and a shoemaker here, as well as a post office and a hairdresser. With the currency reform in 1948 and the resulting shortage of money, support for self-help became the most important task of the Studentenwerk. Thus, there was a placement service for housing and jobs for students. In addition, students could apply for loans and educational grants if they could prove that they were in need and had academic achievements worthy of support.

In 1949, a second barrack, the so-called Anschütz Barrack, was completed, named after Prof. Wilhelm Anschütz, the "patron of all students", as the city of Kiel dubbed him on his 80th birthday in 1950. In this barrack, a treatment room was set up for a doctor from the stocks of a field hospital. For the students' state of health and nutrition was a major problem. In addition to the medical services on site, the health service was also able to arrange a place for needy students in a convalescent home, e.g. in List on Sylt, at low cost. Another supportive measure was the establishment of clothing assistance in the winter semester of 1953. CAU students could pay off the remaining amount for clothing in small monthly instalments after making a small down payment. In addition to health and material needs, the student union also promoted culture. For example, a lending library with a reading room was set up in the Anschütz barracks, which in 1952 had a stock of 125 books, 33 newspapers and 72 magazines. In addition, students were offered reduced-price tickets for the theatre and other cultural events. And the student union supported the "Cultural Working Groups" financially and then took over the management of groups such as "Stage and Journalism" with the AG Theatre, the AG Drawing and Painting and the student radio studio in 1952.

Through the cooperation of the then Rector of the CAU, the British Military Government and the Student Union, a project was launched on 1 August 1949 which took on the task of international understanding: the International Summer Course.

"Every German and every foreigner must come to the point where it is no longer inwardly possible for him to go to war against the country in which he knows so many like-minded and valuable people."

With these words, Prof. Wilhelm Hallermann, chairman of the Kiel Student Union since 1946, summed up the aim of the course. In addition to 30 German students, just as many foreign students from France, England, Italy, the Netherlands and some Scandinavian countries took part, who were only allowed to come to the British occupation zone with an "Entry Permit". The three-week course also included joint clean-up work in bombed-out Kiel. Later in the day, there were frequent scientific lectures by German and foreign professors and an English lecturer, as well as language courses. From time to time, social evenings were held where the students danced and sang songs together. They also went on excursions together, for example to the naval memorial in Laboe, to Trappenkamp or to the Hallig Hooge. The international holiday course still exists today.

After the war, the former "Kameradschaftshaus" Christian-Albrecht-Haus was rebuilt as an international hall of residence, as it had been in the 1920s. Derived from the Anglo-Saxon college system, German and foreign students now lived together in double rooms. This international residential community was to be further consolidated through joint cultural activities, regular study groups and open discussion evenings with younger lecturers. In particular, language courses and the "International Summer Course" also promoted understanding. At that time, the student union's "Stage and Journalism" working group organised international film days in the CAH's large hall, which was equipped with a film projection system.

On 23 June 1951, the Christian Albrecht House was officially inaugurated by the then Federal President Theodor Heuss. In its annual report for 1953/1954, the Student Union announced that the CAH was full throughout both semesters. The 76 students living there were actually equal numbers of foreign and German students from 12 nations. Shortly afterwards, the hall of residence was extended by three so-called pavilion buildings, which offered a further 60 places. In 1979, an extension with 54 individual flats was added. In 1990, the construction of the Studentenwerk's first day-care centre in houses 2 and 3 reduced the number of residents again.

The roots of Flensburg University of Applied Sciences (FH) go back to 1852, when the foundation stone was laid, so to speak, with the founding of the "Royal Danish Navigation School".

On 21.03.1946, a College of Education (PH), the forerunner of the European University of Flensburg, was opened in what is now the Mürwik Naval School by order of the British occupying power.

Together with the establishment of the new Pedagogical College (PH) Flensburg at the beginning of 1959, the "Flensburger Burse" dormitory was built in the Blasberg district there on Jahnstraße. Initially, 128 female and 50 male students moved into 81 double and 6 single rooms.

From the beginning, the new residence was run by the Kiel Student Union. All administrative matters were handled by them. The rent was 48 DM. Because of this rent and the view that the home did not have enough capacity, there was a large protest march by PH students as early as the summer of 1959, with the result that a total of 168 places were set up in the Burse.

From the beginning, there was a "home co-administration" by the students. The 11 corridor groups (each with a kitchenette) elected their own corridor spokespersons, plus 2 dormitory spokespersons.

The "Studentenhaus" was designed by Prof. Dr. Ing. Friedrich-Wilhelm Kraemer, one of the best-known German architects, and won the state government's ideas competition in 1958. The building was intended to solve the supply and space problems caused by the steadily growing number of students. The foundation stone for the "Studentenhaus" with Mensa I was laid in 1963 by the then Minister of Education of Schleswig-Holstein, Edo Osterloh. Three years later, on 25 November 1966, the new building complex was ceremonially opened.

In 1965, the "Norderburse" was built as a"student dormitory of the Flensburg School of Marine Engineering" with 79 places. Here, too, the Kiel Student Union was involved from the beginning.

A housing shortage, the desire to live as close to campus as possible and increased demand due to rising student numbers necessitated the construction of more student halls of residence in the 1960s. The "Dr.-Oetker-Haus" (DOH) was built in 1966 and is located at Projensdorfer Straße 155. The idea for this hall of residence came from the then Landesbank director Dr. Bustorf and the then State Secretary Sureth. To finance the project, they contacted Rudolf-August Oetker, the grandson of the baking powder manufacturer. He willingly supported this building project and in 1961 founded the "Dr.-August-OETKER-Stiftung Studentenheim Kiel" (Dr August Oetker Foundation Student Dormitory Kiel), which supported the construction with a donation of 3 million Deutschmarks. A typical project for the late period of the economic miracle.

In 1964, work began on the plans by Hamburg architect Caesar F. Pinnau. The dormitory was equipped with 144 rooms, 130 of which were single rooms with 10 square metres of living space each and 14 double rooms with 20 square metres of living space. The hall of residence thus provided accommodation for 114 male and 44 female students, a third of whom came from abroad. Men lived on the lower five floors and the upper two floors were reserved for women. The rent at that time was 90 DM for a single room. Unlike today, students who wanted to move into a room in this hall of residence had to present themselves to a foundation committee. For the Dr.-Oetker-Haus, Maja Oetker, the wife of the food manufacturer, had a seat on the committee.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the Dr.-Oetker-Haus had an exhibition room in which, among other things, lithographs by the graphic artist A. Paul Weber were exhibited (1967). In 1972, the Studentenwerk SH took over the DOH and the rooms were restructured. The number of rooms was reduced to 125, 98 of which were furnished double flats with their own sanitary facilities and a corridor kitchen that could be used communally. In addition, there were 17 furnished single flats, two furnished shared flats for three people and one shared flat for four people. The common life of the house residents was duly celebrated. This included sporting activities such as volleyball tournaments or football trips to Prague, among other places. Disputes in the house were also settled through sports duels. There were also joint celebrations, e.g. the annual carnival party, which lasted three days. There were also the legendary hallway parties, which are said to still take place in a similar form today.

Turbulent times also for the Studentenwerk

The late 1960s were marked by student protests, today known under the heading of the "68 Movement". The Kiel Student Union was also the scene of these turbulent times. The "Studentenhaus" as a place for the students had already been completed and planned much earlier and was now also used for protests.

TAKE YOUR CAUSE INTO YOUR OWN HANDS! SEND THE CHEAP SOAP OPERA PACKING ONCE AND FOR ALL! SPOIL THE REACTIONARY PROFESSORS' MUMMENSCHANZ. [...] DRIVE THE FAT-BELLIED GUESTS OF HONOUR OUT OF THE TEMPLE! [...] YOU ARE FULL-FLEDGED STUDENTS EVEN WITHOUT A PARTY! THE UNIVERSITY BELONGS TO YOU AND NOT TO THE CLIQUE OF BACKWARD ORDINARIES!
(From the Kiel student newspaper "Skizze", 5.11.1968.)

UNDER THE TALARS
MUFF OF 1000 YEARS
(slogan of the time with allusion to the 3rd Reich)

Housing shortage/rent strike

Throughout the decades, students used imaginative methods to try to get a "student flat" or protest against the housing shortage that affected them greatly. Students often went door to door for days asking for accommodation or marched or drove through Kiel with banners to draw public attention to the critical situation. Rents had been rising continuously since the 1960s. While in the WS 1961/62 an average monthly rent for a room was still 63 DM, by the SS 1963 the price had risen to 73 DM. Furthermore, it was not possible to find a room for all students at the beginning of the semester, which is why many students were forced to resort to offers in neighbouring communities in Kiel, which meant longer and more time-consuming journeys to the university. Well into the 1970s, despite the construction of new student halls of residence, the unfortunate situation still did not seem to have improved. Due to the increasing demand for accommodation, rents continued to rise at the same time.

22.04.1971

In retrospect, 1971 can be seen as the end of the turbulent 1960s in the higher education sector. In Germany's northernmost federal state, the "Law on the Schleswig-Holstein Student Union" clearly defined responsibilities. This made it the first Studentenwerk to be responsible for an entire federal state. In the following decades, the university landscape here was continuously expanded. From now on, the Studentenwerk itself played a major role in this expansion - and not only in Kiel.

26 August 1971

Federal Act on the Individual Promotion of Training - short title: Federal Training Assistance Act.

regulates state support for the education of pupils and students in Germany. The abbreviation BAföG is also used colloquially to refer to the social benefit resulting from the Act.

BAföG is therefore over 50 years old and is processed for students by the student and student unions.

In 1991, the Studentenwerk SH buys the former "Christian Youth Village St. Jürgen" and christens the 3 apartment blocks with 324 places "Studentendorf". They are located directly on the Lübeck campus. From March 2008, they will be completely rebuilt and renovated.

The Mensa Lübeck with its cafeteria was opened on 9 April 1991. It was the first refectory with a so-called free-flow serving system, i.e. you can choose the food you would like to have at various serving stations. In 2006, the building, which architecturally quotes Lübeck's town hall, was considerably extended. Another interesting feature is the mosaic eye on the façade, which is reflected in the dark glass panes next to it, creating a pair of eyes.

Next to the Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, a dormitory with 148 places is built on the Sandberg in 1992 in the form of a student village.

In 1994, another hall of residence with 160 places is built on Anschützstraße directly on the Lübeck campus next to the "Student Village".

Kita Lübeck was completed in 1995. It also has a large adventure garden.

At the private University of Applied Sciences in Wedel, a cafeteria and a small canteen with delivery service were put into operation in 1989.

In 1997, the new dormitory with 72 places was opened at Tinsdaler Weg.

In 1993, the West Coast University of Applied Sciences was founded in Heide.
In 1997, the Studentenwerk SH built the Heide hall of residence with 49 places, and in 2009 the hall of residence was expanded to double its size.

Shortly before Christmas, on 19 December, the Mensa Heide was inaugurated in 2002. Since then, it has been a central meeting point at the West Coast University of Applied Sciences. In the meantime, there is also a very popular café lounge in the FHW's central building.

The Mensa Flensburg is inaugurated on 25 March 2002.

At the same time, the campus dormitory and the neighbouring day-care centre are also completed.

In the middle of the World Heritage Site of Lübeck's historic Old Town, the"International Student Residence" (ISW) is inaugurated on 23 September 2005.