Honorary citizen at universities

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The honorary citizenship at universities is a deliberately created academic distinction from Germany. In 1919, at the Rectors' Conference on the application, rectors advised men and women "who have rendered services to the universities in a way other than purely academic, in particular through significant material donations, to issue an honorary citizenship letter from the entire university, not the individual faculties." to appreciate. The reason was "to do everything in the future to avoid appearing as if the honorary doctorate could only be earned through cash benefits," as they had declared in 1918.

Because modern universities with their laboratories and many students developed a great need for money, in war-torn Germany at that time the ingenuity was required to acquire funds from outside the state. That is why associations of “Friends and Patrons” have been formed at them since 1917.

The suggestion of the rectors' conference of 1919 was implemented quickly, for example in Heidelberg, Bonn and Rostock. In addition to the designation honorary citizen, the dignity of an honorary senator or honorary member was generally introduced. This was not practiced consistently. Names were soon changed too. The assessment developed that the honorary member counts least and the honorary senator, who is sometimes also referred to in the letterhead as "Senator eh", counts most. Even in the early days, women were honored, for example at Frankfurt University.

In the “Third Reich” the National Socialists withdrew. After the Second World War, awards of honorary citizenship to National Socialists at German universities began.

literature

  • Stemmler, Gunter , honor where honor is due. A memory of honorary citizens and honorary senators, in: Research Frankfurt. Science magazine of the Goethe University, 27, 2009, no. 3, pp. 106-109. http://www.forschung-frankfurt.uni-frankfurt.de/36050597/23Stemmler.pdf
  • Stemmler, Gunter, the honorary citizens of the universities. The example of the University of Frankfurt am Main, in: Yearbook for University History, 14, 2011, pp. 221–228.
  • Stemmler, Gunter, The Measurement of Honor. On the history of honorary citizens, honorary senators and honorary members at German universities and at the University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2012.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunter Stemmler, The measurement of honor. On the history of honorary citizens, honorary senators and honorary members at German universities and at the University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2012, p. 31f.
  2. ↑ Stemmler, Vermessung, pp. 13–15
  3. ^ Zimmermann, Hans D .: The honorary members and honorary senators of the University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1920-1945 . In: "Contributions to the history of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg 1502-2002". Halle / Saale 2002, pp. 445–454; ISBN 978-3-89812-144-6
  4. ↑ Stemmler, Gunter, honor where honor is due. A memory of honorary citizens and honorary senators, in: Research Frankfurt. Science magazine of the Goethe University, 27, 2009, no. 3, pp. 106-109. http://www.forschung-frankfurt.uni-frankfurt.de/36050597/23Stemmler.pdf ; Stemmler, honorary citizen, p. 225