When a new class of students was ceremonially enrolled in the Palace of the Republic for the 1989 winter semester, none of them had any idea that their time at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin would be characterised by far-reaching political changes. These affected all Humboldtians, regardless of whether they worked as laboratory staff, in administration, in technical services or as academics. Were they able to shape change themselves, or did outside influences prevail? How did they find fellow campaigners when trust in others became a scarce resource and they had to fear repression? How did people become involved at all during the time of the ‘Wende’, the outcome of which was initially not at all foreseeable for their contemporaries? What was an opportunity, what created uncertainty; how did people even imagine the future?
Gabriele Metzler will discuss these questions with the two contemporary witnesses Hildegard Maria Nickel and Ulrich Miksch, as well as with the historian Mitchell Ash, a recognised expert on the history of German universities and science around 1989/90, who will provide a historical perspective on what happened.
For further information please consider the event page at Humboldt Forum.
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