The University of Freiburg wanted to secure its existence 80 years ago by becoming an honorary senator for the Nazi Reich Minister of the Interior Frick.
. Nobody today seriously questions the existence of the University of Freiburg. It was different 80 years ago. With Alsace annexed in 1940, the University of Strasbourg came back to the German Reich and was to become a “model university”, which increased the existing fear of existence in Breisgau. A prominent honorary senator should alleviate this fear. Meanwhile, the measures against the decline of young German men at the university were less ideological.
The terrible scenario in the rectorate of the Freiburg University came true in September 1939: it was closed. The University of Freiburg was the only university in the so-called evacuation area at the beginning of the war because of its proximity to the border with France. Although the weapons in the West were largely silent at the beginning of the war, the alma mater did not resume operations until January 8, 1940 – and for this it also needed the permission of the Wehrmacht.
The closing of the university under the National Socialists hovered over Freiburg like a sword of Damocles. This was not least due to the reputation of being Catholic and conservative. …
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