Historical resolution28 March 1919 marks the founding of Universität Hamburg

28 March 2018, by Ellen Schonter

Photo: Auszug aus dem Amtsblatt der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg vom Dienstag, 1. April 1919

The founding of Hamburg University was announced in the local gazette of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on 1 April 1919.

Photo: Auszug aus dem Protokoll der Dritten Sitzung der Bürgerschaft der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg vom 28. März 1919

On 28 March 1919 and following prolonged discussion, Hamburg Parliament passed a preliminary act to found Hamburg University and a Volkshochschule—one of its first resolutions. This makes Universität Hamburg the first university in Germany to be founded on democratic principles.

Photo: Auszug aus dem Protokoll der Dritten Sitzung der Bürgerschaft der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg vom 28. März 1919

When Hamburg Parliament convened on Friday, 28 March 1919 “in the afternoon at 2 1/2 hours", they negotiated the founding of Hamburg University and a Volkshochschule—point 4 on the agenda.

One year from today, on 28 March 2019, Universität Hamburg will be celebrating its 100th anniversary! On 28 March 1919 a new democratically elected Hamburg Parliament resolved in its first session to establish a university in Hamburg. This makes Universität Hamburg the first university in Germany to be founded on democratic principles.

When Hamburg Parliament convened on Friday, 28 March 1919, “in the afternoon at 2 1/2 hours,” it was only the 3rd session of its kind. The Parliament had been elected just 2 weeks earlier.

Prior to that, Hamburg had a class-based electoral system that virtually dis-empowered the majority of the population. The German or November Revolution of 1918 swept this system away and replaced it with a democratic electoral system. Thus, on 16 March1919, men and women alike cast their secret ballots in Hamburg’s first general, equal, and direct parliamentary election.

Clearing the way for a university

A democratically elected parliament was a breakthrough for the founding of the university. Earlier Werner von Melle (1853–1937), senator and then mayor, had called for the establishment of a university; however, too many members of a parliament based on the old electoral model wanted Hamburg to remain a commercial hub. They feared both the expense of a university and social competition from a scholarly elite. Most of the merchants felt that university education for their sons, at least in Hamburg, was superfluous—to say nothing, of course, of their daughters.

First university in Germany founded on democratic principles

Things changed in 1919, when the Social Democrats clinched the absolute majority in the newly elected Hamburg Parliament. They were determined to ensure access to education for all, not just for an elite. They introduced a bill with a proposal not just for a university but for a Volkshochschule, or adult education center open to all. Accordingly, on 28 March 1919, Hamburg Parliament passed a preliminary act to found Hamburgische Universität, or Hamburg University, and a Volkshochschule—one of its first resolutions. This makes Universität Hamburg the first university in Germany to be founded on democratic principles.

The founding of Hamburg University was announced in the local gazette of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on 1 April 1919. The university ceremoniously opened its doors on 10 May 1919 in Hamburg’s concert hall.