History of the University of Freiburg
Tradition and Future
The University of Freiburg has been shaping society through teaching and research for over 550 years. Freiburg citizens and members of the University have repeatedly worked together to bring about social changes and reforms, including promoting openness and democracy. In addition to remarkable achievements, including being the first German university to admit female students, the University’s chequered history also includes aspects that demand reconsideration , such as its contribution to German and European colonialism and its role under National Socialism.
The history of the University of Freiburg began with the charter issued by Albert VI of Austria on 21 September 1457. At that time, Freiburg belonged to Further Austria, which was part of the Habsburg Empire.
‘Wisdom has built her house’
The new University took up teaching activities three years after its foundation. Matthäus Hummel, a jurist from Villingen, had been appointed ‘governor, overseer, and rector’. At the foundation ceremony in the Freiburg Minster in April 1460, he quoted a verse from the Proverbs of Solomon in the Gospel of John (Prov. 9:1): ‘Wisdom has built her house.’ As was standard for that period, the new university had a Faculty of Arts, where all students completed a sort of foundation course, as well as the ‘higher faculties’ of Law, Medicine, and Theology. 215 students were enrolled in the inaugural semester.
The seal of the University of Freiburg dates from 1463 and draws on Christian iconography. University foundations of that time, university endowments were established as church institutions with papal privileges. The primary purpose of this new educational institution was to train young theologians and professionals for the government of Further Austria.
Influential humanists
The University of Freiburg was home to eminent humanists such as Gregor Reisch, author of the Margarita philosophica, first printed in 1503. Spanning twelve volumes, this encyclopaedia was intended to encompass the entirety of late medieval knowledge – from the seven liberal arts, through the principles and genesis of natural phenomena, physiology, psychology, to moral philosophy.
In 1507, the Freiburg student and cartographer Martin Waldseemüller created a famous and widely circulated map of the world. On this map, the newly discovered continent is referred to as ‘America’ for the first time – because Waldseemüller, like some of his contemporaries, mistakenly believed that the explorer Amerigo Vespucci had discovered the continent.
The University was shaped by scholars like the preacher Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg and the jurist Ulrich Zasius. The humanist Erasmus von Rotterdam also came to Freiburg for several years whilst fleeing the turmoil of the Reformation in Basel and maintained contact with several University lecturers.
Counter-Reformation, exile, and division
In the wake of the Reformation, the University came under increasing pressure in the early 16th century. The Catholic government of Further Austria exerted influence over teaching in order to transform the University into a purely confessional, Counter-Reformation university. The already low student numbers fell further. On the initiative of Archduke Leopold V, the Catholic Jesuit Order took over the humanistic studies at the University. Jesuits filled the Faculty of Arts and to most of the chairs of theology. During the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), the University of Freiburg almost completely ceased its teaching activities. After French troops occupied the city in 1677, Emperor Leopold I relocated most of the University to Konstanz. However, some parts remained in Freiburg. It was not until 1698 that the reunited Albert University was reopened in Freiburg.
Educational reform: German replaces Latin as the language of instruction
The medieval tradition of teaching and scholarship at the University of Freiburg came to an end in the mid-18th century following an educational reform under the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa and her successor, Joseph. From then on, only the state government had the right to appoint professors. The state took control of financial management and ensured that new, practice-oriented subjects and chairs were established in all faculties.
The number of examinations increased. Modern teaching methods, such as experiments and the analysis of differing research views, became integral parts of the curriculum, which was now taught in German rather than Latin. In 1773, the Pope temporarily dissolved the Jesuit Order and the Jesuits left the University. The University took over their buildings in Freiburg, including the building on Bertoldstraße now known as the ‘Old University’, and expanded them for academic use.
Ludwig I as second benefactor and liberal professors
Following the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and the reorganisation of Europe from 1806 onwards, the city of Freiburg became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden. As there was already a university in Heidelberg within the small country, the University of Freiburg once again had to fight for its survival during this period of crisis and financial hardship for the state.
In 1818, Grand Duke Ludwig I of Baden finally guaranteed the University’s continued existence, and in 1820 the Baden State Parliament approved an annual subsidy from the state treasury. In gratitude, the University included Ludwig in its name alongside its founder Albert, and has been known as the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität ever since. In the time of political uprising known as the Vormärz, well-known liberal Freiburg professors came forward with demands: The jurists Karl von Rotteck and Karl Theodor Welcker spoke out in favour of liberalising the Baden constitution and against press censorship by the authorities. There were also riots, involving, among others, patriotic and democratically minded students, in front of the main guardhouse (‘Hauptwache’) on Minster Square. In 1832, the government in Karlsruhe therefore temporarily closed the University, but a delegation from the Freiburg municipal council secured its reopening.
Spectacular rise around 1900 and admission of female students
For centuries, Freiburg had been one of Germany’s smaller universities, with barely more than 230 students. Following the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, it began its rapid rise: The Kaiser Wilhelm University, founded in Strasbourg in 1872, did not turn out to be the competition that had been feared. On the contrary, the south-west became an attractive destination for prospective students from all over Germany.
In 1870, there were only 200 enrolled studying in Freiburg, by 1885 the number had risen to 1,000 – the milestone student was celebrated by the whole city. The growing city of Freiburg, which had become increasingly attractive since the turn of the century, and its geographical location nearby Black Forest – including the possibility to try out skiing, which was becoming ever more popular at the end of the 19th century– also contributed to its rise.
In 1900, the University of Freiburg became the first in Germany to admit women to study. Johanna Kappes from Karlsruhe and four other female students overcame opposition and were enrolled on the medical course; their previous semester as guest students was subsequently recognised. The growing student numbers also made the University more attractive to renowned scholars, which in turn gave a boost to the University’s reputation. In 1911, the University had over 3,000 students for the first time.
Freiburg becomes a research university
Since the 1880s, Freiburg, like other German universities, had increasingly developed into a research university. The range of disciplines expanded, particularly in the humanities and natural sciences, which were initially still grouped together within the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1911, the University founded a separate Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Buildings such as the ‘Old University’ no longer provided sufficient space: The natural sciences moved to the newly emerging ‘Institute Quarter’ north of the city centre; new clinics were also opened. In 1902, the University Library (today Collegiate Building IV) was built in the city centre. In 1911, the University opened its new main building, today Collegiate Building I, which was constructed in the Art Nouveau style.
World War I and the interwar years
The First World War (1914–1918) was initially met with patriotic enthusiasm by many members of the University community. By the end of the four years, 556 University members had fallen and several buildings had been damaged by air raids. The end of the monarchy in 1918 and the transition to a new, democratic republic was seen critically by most professors, who mourned the loss of the monarchy (‘Kaiserreich’).
The postwar years were marked by great poverty, and the rampant inflation hit the population hard. To alleviate the financial hardship faced by students, the ‘Freiburger Studentenhilfe e. V.’ was founded in 1921, a precursor to today’s ‘Studierendenwerk’. Among other services, it provided affordable meals in the newly opened canteen run by nuns, in the basement of the collegiate building
Martin Heidegger as rector
In the spring of 1933, the internationally renowned philosopher Martin Heidegger became rector of the University of Freiburg. In the same year, he joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). In his programmatic inaugural address on 27 May 1933, he expressed his intention to shape the University into part of the National Socialist ‘movement’. He failed in his office for various reasons and resigned as rector in 1934.
The relationship between Heidegger’s philosophical thought and his political and societal views, whether his philosophy exhibits totalitarian elements, remains a subject of controversy in academic scholarship to this day. Following the Second World War, the French occupation authorities stripped Heidegger of his teaching licence in 1947.
The University of Freiburg during National Socialism
Most of the professors and students welcomed the National Socialist’s rise to power and, through a combination of collaboration and partial distancing, contributed overall to the regime’s survival. The ‘Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service’ of April 1933 ordered the dismissal of Jewish and other racially persecuted university lecturers, as well as political dissidents, and this was carried out without any significant protest.
By 1937, fifty-five Jewish lecturers had been dismissed. Jewish students faced increasing pressure both within and outside the University, and admission restrictions were imposed. Following the November pogroms of 1938, they were forced to leave the University.
In terms of content, the Nazi regime promoted ‘racial theory’, which became a compulsory subject, whilst ‘non-German’ works were removed from libraries. Many institutes at the University of Freiburg were engaged in so-called ‘war-essential’ research, particularly from 1941 onwards.
National Socialists, tacit supporters, and dissidents in the ‘Freiburg Circle’
Among the university lecturers in Freiburg, alongside staunch National Socialists, technocrats and the mass of followers, there were also a number of dissidents – particularly within the Christian conservative ‘Freiburg Circle’ centered on the historian Gerhard Ritter, as well as the three economists Constantin von Dietze, Adolf Lampe, and Walter Eucken. It was the only resistance group comprising professors at a German university. The Freiburg Circle met regularly from late 1938 onwards and, in 1942, drew up plans for the basic political and social structure of a post-Hitler Germany.
Die Zeit nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
During the bombing raid on Freiburg on 27 November 1944, around 80 percent of the University’s buildings were destroyed. Among the 2,800 fatalities were many members of the University community.
After Germany’s surrender and the end of the war, the University gradually resumed its activities from autumn 1945 onwards. In the early post-war years, students were required to undertake voluntary labour for the reconstruction effort. By the end of 1946, around 30 lecturers at the University of Freiburg had been dismissed in the course of denazification process, most of them prominent supporters of National Socialism. However, following the enactment of the so-called ‘Section 131’ by the Bundestag, which regulated the legal status of civil servants, the majority of the dismissed professors had to be reinstated from 1951 onwards.
A distinctive feature in Freiburg, emulated by many other German universities, was the establishment in 1949 of the ‘Studium Generale’, a programme to foster education and civic awareness through interdisciplinary study. This and other post-war reform efforts– such as those relating to higher education planning and student support –already reflected attempts to make the University more socially inclusive and internationally oriented.
The ‘mild and wild’ Freiburg student movement
In early 1952, Freiburg students demonstrated against a public appearance by the director Veit Harlan, who had made Nazi propaganda films; they received support from professors, politicians, and trade unionists. In the 1950s and 1960s, Freiburg developed into a stronghold of the student movement even before 1968: Students demanded reforms in higher education policy and criticised democratic deficits in society and the lack of engagement with National Socialism, but also protested against rising canteen prices. In 1965, students in Freiburg sought to improve educational opportunities for children from farming and working-class families through their widely acclaimed campaign ‘Student aufs Land’. They organised the first large-scale student demonstration of the post-war period, the ‘Aktion Bildungsnotstand’ (‘Education Emergency Campaign’): over 100,000 people took to the streets in most West German university cities on 1 July 1965. The Freiburg student movement acted decisively on the issue, yet remained predominantly consensus- and dialogue-oriented – right up to the height of the student movement in 1968/69. Contemporaries therefore spoke retrospectively of Freiburg as ‘mild and wild’.
Rapid growth since the 1950s and 60s
After the end of World War II, the University of Freiburg grew rapidly –from 3,000 students in 1948 to over 12,000 in the summer term of 1965, and to 20,000 enrolled students in 1981. Numerous professorships were established from the 1960s onwards, and new disciplines and degree programmes were introduced. Since the late 1950s, the introduction of the so-called ’Mittelbau’, the non-professorial academic staff – intended to cope with the growing student numbers – has brought about a lasting change in the university’s personnel structure.
Many new buildings were constructed during this time, including the canteen on Rempartstraße (1961), Collegiate Buildings II (1961) and III (1969), and, in 1978, the new University Library (which was relocated to a new building in 2015). In addition, new buildings were constructed in the so-called ‘Institutsviertel’ and the ‘Sportuni’ in Freiburg’s east side. In 1995, the Faculty of Applied Sciences, today’s Faculty of Engineering, was founded. A new campus was built for this purpose on the former grounds of the French occupation forces at the airfield in the west of Freiburg; it continues to expand to this day.
Added to this were external reforms such as the so-called Bologna Process, which began in 1999. For the University of Freiburg, this meant the transition to a two-tier system of degrees – Bachelor’s and Master’s – as well as the introduction of credit points, alongside new academic and university structures. In 2007, the University celebrated the 550th anniversary under the motto ‘Freiburg – We Are the University’, together with the city, the region, and partner universities.
21st century: Networking and internationalization
Under the headings of networking, internationalisation and excellence, the 21st century began for the University of Freiburg with themes that continue to occupy and shape it today. Freiburg is a founding member of ‘Eucor – The European Campus’, a trinational alliance of five universities in the Upper Rhine region whose essential features had already been in place since 1989. Besides Freiburg, the alliance includes the Universities of Basel, Haute-Alsace in Mulhouse, and Strasbourg, as well as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Eucor enables cross-border mobility across the entire courses offered by the partner institutions, as well as joint research priorities.
In addition, the University of Freiburg participates in the university alliance ‘European Partnership for an Innovative Campus Unifying Regions’ (EPICUR). It also collaborates with Freiburg’s Fraunhofer and Max Planck institutes as well as with numerous universities worldwide. As ‘Enhanced Partner’, it maintains particularly close relationships with the universities of Adelaide (Australia), Nagoya (Japan), Penn State (USA), and Ghana (West Africa).
Transdisciplinarity and excellence
In the first round of the 2005/06 Excellence Initiative, Freiburg was successful in all three funding categories: with the ‘Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine’ (SGBM), the Cluster of Excellence ‘BIOSS – Centre for Biological Signalling Studies’, and its future concept featuring the ‘Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies’ (FRIAS).
In 2012, the University established the University College Freiburg (UCF), where teaching transcends the boundaries of disciplines and faculties. Its centrepiece is the English-taught ‘Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ (LAS) programme, which brings together humanities and natural sciences as well as theory and practice. Interdisciplinarity is also the guiding principle of the innovative research institutions that have emerged from the Excellence Initiative since 2007.
In further rounds of the Excellence Initiative, the ‘BrainLinks-BrainTools’ cluster of excellence was successful in 2012, and in 2019 the ‘CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies’ and ‘livMatS – Living, Adaptive and Energy-Autonomous Materials Systems’ clusters of excellence took up their work. In January 2026, the Cluster of Excellence ‘Future Forests – Adapting Complex Social-Ecological Forest Systems to Global Change’ was launched, while the CIBSS Cluster of Excellence was renewed for a second funding period.
Remembrance and responsibility
The University of Freiburg fosters an active, democratic culture of remembrance. In its mission statement, it is commited to the core values of quality, responsibility, and openness. This includes taking a critical approach to its own past. Since 2005, a memorial designed by the Cologne artist Marcel Odenbach in Collegiate Building I has commemorated the victims of National Socialism among members of the University of Freiburg. The University’s links to colonial history has also been a subject of critical scrutiny. In September 2025, a post was established to investigate the provenance of hundreds of human remains from contexts of colonial violence in the University of Freiburg’s anatomic-anthropological collection (the so-called ‘Alexander Ecker Collection’).
Since 2004, the University has also been showcasing its history at the ‘Uniseum’, located at the Old University, right in the heart of Freiburg city centre.
The University of Freiburg today – a wide range of disciplines and people
Today, the University of Freiburg ranks among Germany’s leading research universities, boasting a wide range of disciplines and a diverse community. It is closely connected to the region, to Europe, and to its global partners. Since its foundation in 1457, it has stood for academic quality, openness, and the capacity to continually renew and reinvent itself.
These days, around 24,500 people study here. With eleven faculties, over 240 degree programmes, and more than 440 professorships, the University offers a broad spectrum of disciplines: from the humanities and social sciences to the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine. Interdisciplinary links are a defining feature of the University.
The University of Freiburg is particularly committed to making a contribution toward overcoming the pressing challenges of our time. Its research provides orientation and fosters innovation, its teaching promotes critical thinking and self-reflection, and its knowledge transfer facilitates dialogue between the University and society.
All of this is made possible by the members of the University community: They contribute knowledge, ideas, and values from different countries and cultures, enriching the academic tradition, carrying it forward, and shaping a diverse and responsible community of learning, teaching, and research.