05/26/2023 | Press release | Archived content
Main Anniversary Celebration: Seventy-Five Years of Freie Universität Berlin
If you wish to attend, please registeronline in advance. Media representatives are kindly asked to register for the event in advance by sending an email to: [email protected].
Additional Upcoming Anniversary Events in 2023
Freie Universität's 2023 Fundraising Campaign
Due to its unique history and why it was founded, Freie Universität Berlin is very conscious of its responsibility to society. For this reason, it not only wishes to take this anniversary year as an opportunity to celebrate, but also to focus on the crises currently happening around the world. University members and friends of Freie Universität are therefore encouraged to take part in this year's special fundraising campaign: "Seventy-Five Years of Free Thinking: Celebrate and Donate" in support of the international medical relief organization, Médecins Sans Frontières. https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/sites/75jahre/spenden/index.html
Donations can be submitted via the official website of Médecins Sans Frontières at https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/sich-engagieren/spendenaktion/online?cfd=kt8yq or made directly to the following bank account:
Ärzte ohne Grenzen e.V.
IBAN: DE72 3702 0500 0009 7097 00
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Reference: FU Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin's History
From the very beginning, Freie Universität Berlin was a university based on the principles of democracy and freedom. It was founded in 1948 by professors and students with the support of the American Allies and various Berlin-based politicians. This act was in response to the persecution faced by students who took a critical stance toward the system in place at Berlin's main university at that time, which was located in the Soviet sector of the divided city. They wanted to establish a university where its members were able to study, teach, and research free from political interference. The official statement calling to found Freie Universität Berlin was published on June 23, 1948, with the founding ceremony taking place on December 4, 1948, in the Titania-Palast in Berlin's Steglitz district.
Thanks to support from both within Germany and abroad, Freie Universität Berlin was soon able to establish itself as a university of high international standing. Since it was founded, representatives from the humanities and the sciences around the world have regularly come to Freie Universität's campus in Dahlem as guests and friends of the university. Freie Universität has been awarded the title of "University of Excellence" three times through the Excellence Initiative jointly sponsored by the German federal government and the governments of the German states. It received this title in 2007, 2012, and 2019, most recently as a member of the Berlin University Alliance together with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität, and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
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