TV Club Leipzig
The TV club is the oldest student club in Leipzig . The abbreviation stands for T ierproduktion and V eterinärmedizin which from 1968 to 1990, the name of the section (corresponding to a Faculty ) of the then Karl Marx University was. Until the opening of the Moritzbastei, it was also the largest student club.
history
GDR
The TV club was founded in 1970 by a group of students. As was mandatory in the GDR , as an FDJ student club, the club was officially subordinated to the section's basic organization of the Free German Youth . Until the " Wende " the chairman was appointed by the state section leadership, the cultural program had to be presented to the section leadership and approved. Beyond that, however, the influence of the FDJ or the section leadership was small and limited to investment grants.
In 1971 a rear staircase and a hall area on the first floor of the former section building in Johannisallee (now part of the Faculty of Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology) were converted into the club rooms. This was gradually expanded, initially including adjacent basement rooms, later a lecture hall anteroom on the first floor. The renovation work was carried out by the club members themselves.
The TV club members consisted of four teams of 20 students each. The work was done on a voluntary basis for a period of three years. One team each provided the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of study in the Animal Production course, the fourth from the numerically smaller course in Veterinary Medicine. Membership was coveted, new members were accepted at the beginning of each winter semester, and if there were too many applicants, a drawing was drawn.
When it was founded, Thursday was set as the day of the event; a higher frequency of events would not have been possible due to the study load of the members, since all the work was done by oneself.
The TV club has been more than just a nightclub since it was founded . Bands performed regularly, and the large adjoining auditorium was used for lectures that took place before the actual dance event began. In addition, the so-called “Little TV Carnival”, a carnival event organized by the students in the section, was held annually in November .
After the reunification of Germany
The political turnaround had several decisive influences on the TV club. The FDJ was dissolved and the "carrier" was omitted. The members then founded a registered association . With regard to the desired non-profit status, it became the Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Student Traditions zu Leipzig e. V. called. Since then, the board of the association has been elected annually at a general assembly.
The second decisive event was the dissolution of the section. While veterinary medicine remained in Leipzig as a new faculty, animal production was " wound up ". The animal production buildings, and thus also the rooms of the TV club, were assigned to the Faculty of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Psychology , whose management increasingly found the student club to be a foreign body. Further problems arose from the construction of a new guest house for the University of Leipzig in the immediate vicinity of the TV club.
The problems culminated in 1999, the use of the space was terminated, so that the association had to look for new premises or, in the worst case, dissolve. After a tough search, a former Deutsche Bahn goods shed was found in Theresienstraße , which already contained a small discotheque, La Estacion , which was insolvent. First of all, Thursday use was agreed with the operator. At the same time, the adjoining rear rooms were gutted and expanded in the voluntary work of the members. In 2000 the premises were completely taken over and gradually expanded. An adjacent outdoor area has now also been converted into a beer garden.
TV club today
The association has 100 active members and a few hundred honorary members who are recruited from former active members. The teams are now made up not only of veterinary students, but of students from all faculties. Non-university members are also accepted. The TV club is part of the round table of Leipzig's independent student clubs ( RuTiLuSt ) and is also supported by the student union for certain events .
The TV club is now a popular meeting place, not only among students. It is the largest club in Leipzig that is run by the students themselves. With the traditional TV carnival , which is part of the Leipzig student carnival , it is still more than an ordinary discotheque. According to tradition, regular events only take place on Thursdays.