2017 matriculation celebration on the meaning of life

View of the auditorium during the 2017 matriculation ceremony.

University president Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen and Katrin Greve, head of the University Anniversary Unit and moderator for the evening, with guest speaker, the journalist, moderator and Universität Hamburg alumnus Michel Abdollahi.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen explained in his welcome speech to students how they can fill their lives with meaning, retain and disseminate it—using preserving jars.

Moderator, journalist und poetry slammer Michel Abdollahi regaled the audience with stories from his student days at Universität Hamburg and called upon students to be courageous.

A dramatic reading of a 1931 commentary by the journalist and writer Kurt Tucholsky, whose writings warned of a shift towards the political right during the Weimar Republic, and a speech by the AStA chair Franziska Hildebrandt demonstrated how vital student political activism is.

Sinem Seday Ory was awarded the German Academic Exchange Service's (DAAD) prize for 2017.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen and Katrin Greve with the eight students selected to ceremoniously recieve their matriculation certificates on stage: Lennard Meyer (Law), Stephanie Meyrahn (Business Administration, Economics and Social Sciences), Humam Altarazi (Medicine), Philipp Hoth (Education), Marco Hummel (Humanities), Karina Stock (Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Informatics), Evelina Baier (Psychology and Human Movement) und Kateryna Profatna (Business Administration) (from left to right).