Five centuries of knowledge and innovation

Rethinking education

Landgrave Philip of Hesse establishes a full university in Marburg with four faculties: theology, law, medicine and philosophy. Marburg University is the oldest Protestant university in the world still in existence today.

Founded after the Homberg Synod

Philip of Hesse founded the university in Marburg after the Homberg Synod had resolved in 1526 to introduce the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse. He was the first ruler to establish a university detached from the old Roman Church, initially without imperial privileges and answerable to a territorial prince alone. After fourteen years, in 1541, the university received its imperial privilege and so became a university recognised across the empire. Since the early twentieth century it has carried the name of its founder.

The university and the educational crisis of the Reformation

The founding came during the educational crisis of the early sixteenth century brought on by the Reformation. Student numbers were falling, and competing ideas circulated about how education should be organised and what it was for. Some reformers held that a university should serve above all the study and proclamation of scripture. Ranged against them were humanist currents that looked to antiquity, to textual criticism, to the biblical languages of Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and to scholarship that served the common good.

A humanist-reformist balance as guiding idea

In establishing a Protestant state university, Landgrave Philip broke new ground. He kept the old administrative structures while seeking a balance between humanist and reformist thinking. This shows in his appointments and in the shape of the curriculum, both marked by a humanist spirit. He also appointed professors from different currents and put his faith in dialogue: the reformer François Lambert of Avignon, who had played a central role at the Homberg Synod, became Marburg's first professor of theology.

Training, the Pädagogium and an early scholarship scheme

Philip's aim was for the university to train Protestant pastors, teachers and officials. The Pädagogium, founded at the same time and now the Gymnasium Philippinum, served as the link to schools in the towns and the countryside. In 1527 ten professors taught in Marburg and around ninety students studied there.

One notable achievement was the scholarship scheme Philip set up in 1529, which enabled able men without means to attend the Pädagogium and the university. Now the Collegium Philippinum of the Hessian Scholarship Foundation, it has changed a great deal and still exists today, describing itself as the oldest self-governing hall of residence in the heart of Marburg. 

From the founding to Marburg University today

Marburg University today has some 21,000 students and around 380 professors. Its 218 study options make for a very broad offering: from classical single-subject bachelor's degrees to combined bachelor's degrees, teacher training and the traditional state examination courses. There is also a wide range of master's degrees and continuing education. Research-led degree programmes encourage independence, critical thinking and tolerance in young people and prepare students to take on responsibility in a social and democratic state under the rule of law. Depth in a subject matters here as much as the range of perspectives that a broad spectrum of disciplines brings, and as much as the interconnected study structure that characterises Marburg. In how they are taught, the programmes work towards a peaceful, gender-equal, sustainable and socially just society in all its cultural diversity.

Sources and further reading

Winterhager, Wilhelm Ernst: Die Gründung der Universität in ihrem historischen Kontext, in: Christina Schlag, Wolf-Friedrich Schäufele, Christoph Otterbeck (Ed. by): Bildungsereignis Reformation. Ideen – Krisen – Wirkungen, Weimar 2017, pp. 36-44.

Schaal, Katharina und Steffen Arndt: Kostbarkeiten aus der Geschichte der Philipps-Universität Marburg in Archiv, Bibliothek und Museum, Marburg 2009.

The cradle of university chemistry lies in Marburg: in 1609 Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel appoints the chemist Johannes Hartmann (1568-1631) as the world's first professor of chemiatria (medical chemistry).

With Hartmann's appointment, Marburg University became the starting point of a new science: in 1609 Landgrave Maurice made him the world's first professor of chemiatria, a field combining chemistry, pharmacy and medicine. Marburg thereby founded pharmaceutical and medical chemistry and became a central starting point for university chemistry - a milestone honoured centuries later by the German Chemical Society, which in 2015 designated the site of the historic laboratory at the Barfüßertor a 'historic site of chemistry'.

Medicine and chemistry in a changing seventeenth century

At the start of the seventeenth century medicine was changing. Alongside traditional healing based on ancient authorities, new approaches emerged that understood the human body as a site of chemical processes. Inspired by thinkers such as Paracelsus, the search for effective medicines moved to the centre. Experiment and observation gained ground, yet at universities chemistry was not yet a subject in its own right yet formed part of medical training.

Johannes Hartmann brings laboratory practice into research and teaching

This is where Hartmann came in. In Marburg he was the first to establish chemistry systematically in research and teaching, and he did so in new ways: his teaching included not only lectures but practical work in the laboratory. Students prepared medicines themselves, examined substances and learned chemical procedures at first hand. Combining theory and practice in this way was revolutionary for university teaching at the time and made Marburg a draw for students from across Europe. Hartmann's approach is regarded as a forerunner of the modern laboratory course in chemistry and pharmacy.

His professorship also stood for a new sense of what scholarship was for. Hartmann, who came from modest circumstances and made his way from bookbinder to scholar, connected different disciplines and argued early on that chemistry should stand on its own. His work therefore reached beyond chemiatria and laid foundations for the development of chemistry as an experimental natural science. Setting up a university laboratory marked a decisive step towards research based on systematic experience and verifiable results.

From chemiatria to scientific practice

Anchoring chemistry in the academy changed the training of physicians and scholars across Europe and helped make medical therapies more precise. At the same time a tradition of experimental research grew up in Marburg that carried on over centuries and made the town a significant centre for teaching and research in chemistry and pharmacy.

Marburg University's modern research today builds on those beginnings. The development of chemistry in Marburg can be traced through its changing addresses: in 1881 the Institute of Chemistry moved into Bahnhofstraße 7, now home to the hands-on science centre Chemikum Marburg. The institute produced five Nobel laureates in chemistry, among them Otto Hahn, who studied in Marburg.

Today the Department of Chemistry has a modern building on the Lahnberge campus, replacing the prefabricated building used for decades before. More than 500 students are enrolled, whether heading for teaching or for academic research. The department's research runs from fundamental questions about understanding nature through to concrete applications and their commercial use. Close collaboration in materials science and life science priority areas, where traditional disciplinary boundaries are increasingly left behind, gives the department a distinctive profile - Johannes Hartmann would have enjoyed it.

The professorship in chemiatria also laid the groundwork for the later establishment of scientific pharmacy. In 1841 pharmaceutical chemistry was introduced as a subject and, together with pharmacognosy, served to train pharmacists. Starting with ten to fifteen students, Marburg today has the largest pharmacy department in the German-speaking world, with 1,300 students.

Sources and further reading

Friedrich, Christoph und Christian Reichardt: Johannes Hartmann und sein Marburger „Laboratorium chymicum publicum“, Frankfurt am Main, 2015.

Schmitz, Rudolf und Adolf Winkelmann: Johannes Hartmann (1568–1631) „Doctor, Medicus et Chymiatriae Professor Publicus“. Eine biographische Skizze, in: Pharmazeutische Ztg. 111 (1966), 1233–1241, p. 1235.

Thiel, Alfred: Zur Geschichte des Lehrstuhls und Instituts für Physikalische Chemie, in: Die Philipps-Universität zu Marburg 1527-1927, Ed. by Heinrich Hermelink und Siegfried A. Kaehler, Marburg 1927, ND 1977, p. 772.

Carolus Dadichi, an early witness to academic internationality

Carolus (Karl) Rali Dadichi, a Christian from Aleppo, is one of the remarkable early witnesses to academic internationality in Marburg. A Rum Orthodox Syrian of the Greek confession and Arabic mother tongue, he came to Marburg University in 1718. He wrote a Latin petition to the university, headed by a sura from the Qur'an in Arabic script. The Latin verse at the end of the letter is followed by a line in Arabic cursive, presumably his signature. This extraordinary document is held in the Marburg university archive and offers an insight into Dadichi's life.

An education between Aleppo, Paris and Italy

Dadichi was born in Aleppo around 1693. He received tuition in Syriac and Arabic from respected scholars from an early age. At fourteen he was selected by King Louis XIV of France to be educated in Paris, where he studied the humanities and philosophy for seven years and learned several European languages. On his way back to Syria his ship was driven off course to Italy by a storm. Fascinated by Rome, he stayed in Italy for eighteen months and then continued his journey via Geneva, Zurich, Basel and Strasbourg, places where he pursued theological studies and took language lessons, among other things.

His time in Marburg

In 1718 Dadichi reached Marburg and addressed his petition to the rector of the university. The university records show that he was granted twelve thalers. He moved on after a short time, working in Halle, Leipzig and Berlin and later in London, where he remained until his death in 1734.

International students in the university's early history

The letter preserved in the university archive documents the personal story of a widely travelled scholar and shows that universities of the period were open to students from abroad. Latin, the language of scholarship, made it easy for international students to study in different countries. A guest from outside Europe was nonetheless remarkable. The archive also holds the story of what is probably the university's earliest international student: the Scot Patrick Hamilton studied in Marburg as early as 1528 and was executed as a heretic in Scotland immediately after his return that same year.

Internationalisation today

Marburg University today sees itself as an open, internationally active university. Internationalisation is a central cross-cutting theme shaping research, education and transfer alike. Through international partnerships and perspectives the university strengthens the quality of its research and teaching, supports the global employability of its graduates and prepares them for international challenges. At the same time it takes on responsibility in a global context: Marburg University has developed a system of expertise and advice for dealing with difficult partners and makes its ChinakomMitt service available to researchers beyond Marburg. Its Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies offers comprehensive expertise on the region across the humanities and social sciences. Internationalisation is carried by all members of the university and shaped transparently and in many different forms.

Marburg University is a member and the coordinating institution of EUPeace, the European University for Peace, Justice and Inclusive Societies.

Sources and further reading

Hage, Wolfgang: Carolus Dadichi in Marburg (1718). Bittgesuch eines rum-orthodoxen Studenten im Universitäts-Archiv, in: Oriens Christianus. Vol. 95, 2011, pp. 16–31.

Schaal, Katharina Schaal: Ex oriente studiosus – Syrischer Student in Marburg, in: Katharina Schaal und Steffen Arndt, Kostbarkeiten aus der Geschichte der Philipps-Universität Marburg in Archiv, Bibliothek und Museum (Schriften der Universitätsbibliothek Marburg 136), Marburg 2009, pp. 28-29.

Christian Wolff and the opening up of scholarship

From Latin learning to accessible philosophy, and an early idea of open knowledge

In 1723 a turning point in the history of scholarship began at Marburg University. Christian Wolff was appointed professor of mathematics and philosophy. His work changed the way knowledge was ordered, taught and made accessible, a process whose effects reach into the present.

Christian Wolff is one of the defining thinkers of the German Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant called him 'the greatest of all dogmatic philosophers', though that description already hints at the tensions that accompany his work to this day: admiration for his systematic rigour, criticism of his strict ordering of knowledge.

An education between theology, mathematics and philosophy

Wolff was born in Breslau in 1679. He was well educated from early on at home and was originally intended for theology. During his studies in Jena and Leipzig, however, he turned increasingly to mathematics and philosophy. This combination of a religious background and mathematical thinking marked his entire body of work. Wolff was convinced that philosophy and theology, too, had to arrive at knowledge as secure and as traceable as possible, much as in mathematics.

Conflict in Halle and appointment to Marburg

His academic career began in Halle, where he taught from 1706 and quickly became a well-known figure in philosophy and mathematics. There, though, he came into growing conflict with Pietist theology. The dispute escalated in 1723: Wolff was accused of teaching doctrines that contradicted 'natural and revealed religion'. In the end he had to leave Prussia within days.

At Marburg University he took up the professorship of mathematics and physics, extended to include philosophy, where he could teach and work more freely than in Halle. A large part of his most important work was written in Marburg. He developed his philosophical system further and published central works such as the Philosophia rationalis and the Psychologia empirica, in which he sought to order the whole of the knowledge of his time systematically.

German as a language of scholarship, and wider access

One decision had particular consequences: it began in his Halle years and continued to take effect in Marburg. Wolff increasingly published his work in German rather than Latin. This was no incidental choice but a deliberate break with academic tradition. His 'rational thoughts' made philosophy accessible on a large scale, for the first time, to readers without a classical Latin education. Contemporary sources stress that he thereby considerably widened the reading public for philosophy and spread knowledge beyond the boundaries of the scholarly world.

This is precisely where Wolff's lasting historical significance lies: he helped prise knowledge out of the exclusive language of the universities and put it into a form anyone could understand, an early step towards a broader educated public and the emergence of an enlightened educated middle class.

The present: knowledge in flux

Wolff's work still resonates because it touches on a fundamental question that remains current: who has access to knowledge, and in what form?

What in the eighteenth century was the shift from Latin to German takes different forms today. There are still areas that remain hard for many people to reach, whether through specialised terminology, digital technologies or complex information systems. At the same time we are living through a new phase in the opening up of knowledge: research publications are freely available under open access, knowledge spreads through digital platforms and even complicated material is increasingly prepared for a broad audience.

Yet accessibility alone does not automatically mean comprehensibility or participation. So the question that arose in Wolff's day still stands: how can knowledge be conveyed so that as many people as possible can use it and make sense of it?

The university as a place where knowledge is passed on

Marburg University stands in this tradition of change. It is not only a place where knowledge is produced but a space in which knowledge is repeatedly translated, conveyed and made accessible. The university's Christian Wolff Lecture continues that tradition today: the series, known well beyond Marburg, brings together researchers, philosophers and the interested public, and recalls the reason- and science-oriented thinking that Wolff established in Marburg. Seen this way, Wolff appears not merely as a historical figure of the Enlightenment but as an early example of a task that is still with us: making knowledge understandable without making it simplistic, and so enabling people to take part in society.

Sources and further reading

Biller, Gerhard: „Biographie und Bibliographie“, in: Theis, Robert und Alexander Aichele (Ed. by): Handbuch Christian Wolff, Wiesbaden 2018, pp. 5-31.

Stories that endure

Universities do not live only from what happens in lecture halls or laboratories, but from the life paths that emerge from them – people who go out into the world with their experiences, ideas and networks while remaining connected to their university. This principle has a long tradition in Marburg.

Beginning studies in a small university town

When Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm began their studies in Marburg at the start of the 19th century, the town was a small, dense university world: barely 170 students, narrow lanes, an often rough everyday life. Jacob enrolled in law in 1802, Wilhelm following him a year later. They lived in simple lodgings on Barfüßerstraße and later on Wendelgasse.

Savigny as a formative teacher

The brothers were decisively shaped by their teacher Friedrich Carl von Savigny. With his private library he opened up new literary horizons for them, and also conveyed a way of thinking that understood scholarship as a living process. In Marburg their interest in language, literature and folk culture began. At the same time they forged contacts in an intellectual network that accompanied them for years and decisively shaped their work.

Collecting, ordering, preserving as a scholarly ethos

Here the approach that would characterise their later work also developed – with great intensity and stamina they devoted themselves to collecting and ordering knowledge. Jacob Grimm worked with almost ascetic discipline, immersing himself in his materials for days on end; Wilhelm pursued his projects with equally persistent rigour. This work ethic – marked by patience, precision and the will to preserve cultural heritage – became the foundation of their famous Children's and Household Tales and of the German Dictionary.

Marburg as the starting point of scholarly networks

Marburg was more than a place of study for the Brothers Grimm. The town became a space in which interests took shape, intellectual impulses intensified and relationships formed. Between student everyday life, literary circles and early scholarly collaborations, a network of contacts and ideas emerged.

Honorary doctorate and the Brothers Grimm Prize

The connection also remained formal – in 1819 both were awarded honorary doctorates by Marburg University, a sign of the significance of their work. The university still commemorates this legacy today: every two years it awards the Brothers Grimm Prize for outstanding academic achievements in linguistics and literary studies or legal history. The prize carries an award of 5,000 euros.

The story of the Brothers Grimm shows exemplarily what makes Marburg University what it is: a starting point for life paths, a hub for relationships and a space in which knowledge is created, passed on and transformed. What the Grimms developed in exchange with their environment, they carried out into the world – shaping scholarship and culture in a lasting way.

This story continues in the role of today's students: graduates carry forward the impulses of their student years, bring back new experiences and keep the network alive. In this way a community emerges that connects generations – a living archive of human life paths that continually grows and in which past and present repeatedly meet anew.

Sources and further reading

Biller, Gerhard: „Biographie und Bibliographie“, in: Theis, Robert und Alexander Aichele (Ed. by): Handbuch Christian Wolff, Wiesbaden 2018, pp. 5-31.

First Nobel Prize in Medicine

Bacteriologist Emil von Behring (1854-1917) receives the first Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on serum therapy for diphtheria.

With Emil von Behring, Marburg University becomes the site of a scientific revolution: in 1901 Behring receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine as its very first recipient. He is honoured for developing serum therapy against diphtheria – a disease that had until then often been fatal, especially for children. His research marks the beginning of a new era in which infectious diseases no longer have to be accepted as fate but can be treated in a targeted way.

Bacteriology and infectious diseases around 1900

Around 1900, bacterial infectious diseases are among the most common causes of death. Diphtheria, then also called the 'child-strangling angel', claims countless victims worldwide. At the same time, bacteriology emerges as a new science that identifies pathogens and investigates how they work. Researchers such as Robert Koch in Berlin lay the foundations for understanding infections as biological processes – opening up the possibility of intervening in these processes in a targeted way.

Emil von Behring and the development of serum therapy

This is where Behring, a student of Robert Koch, begins: together with researchers from his circle, he develops a method in which antibodies obtained from the blood of immunised animals are used to treat sick people. This so-called serum therapy neutralises the toxins produced by bacteria in the body. For the first time, it becomes possible not just to relieve symptoms but to directly combat a central cause of the disease. The treatment drastically reduces mortality and is rapidly adopted worldwide.

Marburg as a centre of biomedical research

With his appointment to Marburg in 1895, the university becomes a centre of this new medical research. Behring not only builds a laboratory here but also connects scientific knowledge with practical application. An early biomedical production site emerges in Marburg: the Behring Works, where sera are manufactured on a larger scale. This close interlinking of university research and industrial production is groundbreaking and shapes the development of modern biomedicine.

From serum therapy to immunology

The significance of Behring's discovery extends far beyond his own time. Serum therapy is regarded as the starting point of immunology and paves the way for vaccines and modern therapies against infectious diseases. Millions of human lives are saved through methods based on his work. Medical and pharmacological research at the university and and in Marburg's pharmaceutical industry still play a major role today.

Life sciences at Marburg University today

Today Marburg University, with its strong focus on the life sciences, stands in this continuity. With around 1,300 students, Marburg University has the largest pharmacy department as well as the only Institute for the History of Pharmacy in Germany. Research on infections, immunity and forms of therapy builds on Behring's pioneering work. His Nobel Prize is thus not only a historic milestone for medicine and the university, but also a starting point for a research tradition that continues to this day, placing scholarship and its transfer in the service of health.

Sources and further reading

Enke, Ulrike: Emil von Behring 1854-1917 Immunologe - Unternehmer - Nobelpreisträger, Göttingen 2023. Grundmann, Kornelia: Emil von Behring in Marburg. Ein Lesebuch, Marburg 2019.

Alix Westerkamp is one of the great pioneers and trailblazers for women in scholarship. With her doctorate in 1907, she becomes the first female lawyer to earn a doctorate at a German university.

In 1907 Alix Westerkamp earns her doctorate at Marburg University as the first woman in Germany in the field of law. She is at the same time one of the first women to earn a doctorate in Marburg. Alix Westerkamp is born in Marburg in 1881. Her father, Theodor Westerkamp, is a professor of law at Marburg University. Growing up in an academically shaped household, she receives support from her father on her path into scholarship.

Studies and doctorate under particular hurdles

At this time, the path to a doctorate is fraught with considerable hurdles for women. Before 1908, women were officially not permitted to study in Prussia. Westerkamp attends lectures as a guest auditor. Admission is only granted on the basis of special permits. Westerkamp, too, can only begin her studies thanks to such exceptions. The Faculty of Law at Marburg University supports her in her endeavour and helps ensure that her doctoral procedure is successfully completed in 1907.

Engagement in the women's rights movement

Beyond her own studies, Alix Westerkamp is also active in the women's rights movement. She is, among other things, a founding member of the 'Association of Female Students' in Marburg (1906) and takes over the leadership of the Legal Advice Centre for Women in Frankfurt am Main in 1907.

Alix Westerkamp as a trailblazer for legal scholarship

Westerkamp's doctorate and career exemplify the emerging change in the higher education landscape of the early 20th century – towards a gradual opening of scholarship and academic education to women. The Faculty of Law at Marburg University honours Westerkamp's role as a pioneer and trailblazer and has named a support initiative for early-career female researchers after her. 'Alix Westerkamp - We stand on your shoulders!' is how the faculty's website puts it today. Through networking, workshops and events, the Alix Westerkamp Mentoring programme accompanies female lawyers from their doctorate through to entering professional life and career planning.

A university strong on equality today

Today Marburg University holds the title of 'University Strong on Equality', most recently awarded to it in 2025 for its exemplary work on equality. Marburg University has for many years pursued a consistent equality policy that supports women at all career stages within the academic system. The goal is to bring more women into professorships and to further strengthen the structural anchoring of equal opportunity. Nearly 34 per cent of professorships in Marburg are now held by women, four of these professors belonging to the Faculty of Law. Among doctoral graduates, too, Alix Westerkamp would today be less alone: 40 per cent of law doctorates are completed by women.

Central measures at Marburg University include decentralised equality structures, mentoring programmes, subject-specific funding lines in STEM, humanities and social sciences, as well as targeted measures for actively recruiting female researchers. Early-career female researchers benefit from completion scholarships and career funding programmes; female students and pupils are specifically addressed through programmes such as the 'STEM Summer School for Girls' or 'More (for) Female Physics Students!'.

Advice on the promotion of women, equality and equal opportunity

The Women's and Equality Officers of Marburg University are the contacts for all questions concerning the promotion of women, equality and equal opportunity. They are available for consultation not exclusively to women, but as a point of contact for all genders.

Source and further reading

Lorch-Göllner, Silke: Vorkämpferinnen an der Alma Mater Philippina. Die ersten (Gast-)Hörerinnen an der Universität Marburg (1895 bis 1908) (Academia Marburgensis. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philipps-Universität Marburg Vol. 19), Münster 2024, pp. 163-173.

The university's critical engagement with its past

In 1933, classical philologist and head of the German Language Atlas Hermann Jacobsohn is dismissed by the Nazi regime. Shortly afterwards he takes his own life. The portal on the history of Marburg University under National Socialism commemorates the life stories of students and teaching staff and traces the connection between political persecution, antisemitic exclusion and institutional action. Marburg University accepts its responsibility to continually and critically engage with its National Socialist past.

Dismissal in April 1933

On 25 April 1933, a telegram from Berlin reaches the curator of Marburg University. It orders that two Marburg professors be released from all university duties with immediate effect. The basis is the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of 7 April 1933, with which the National Socialist regime forces political opponents as well as Jewish scholars out of civil service. This is communicated to those affected in writing on the same day.

One of them is Hermann Jacobsohn, professor of Indo-European linguistics. By the time the decree finally arrives by post in Marburg on 4 May, Jacobsohn is already dead. Two days after the telegram, at the age of 53, he had thrown himself in front of a train in the middle of Marburg. The leave of absence initially ordered was formally only valid until a 'final decision' and was granted on full pay. It appears that Jacobsohn, who came from a Jewish family, saw no other way out than suicide.

However, records suggest that Jacobsohn was removed from office for political reasons. The questionnaire for implementing the aforementioned law, which was completed after his death and filled in and signed by his widow, points to this. As a professor who had already held civil service status before 1 August 1914, he could not formally have been 'placed on leave' at this point on account of his 'non-Aryan descent'. This constellation illustrates the close connection between political persecution, antisemitic exclusion and institutional action as early as spring 1933.

Academic career and appointment to Marburg

After his schooling in Lüneburg, Hermann Jacobsohn begins studying comparative linguistics and aspires to an academic career – anything but a matter of course for Jews at the time. A few days after his doctoral examination in Göttingen, he becomes engaged to Margarete Flemming, the daughter of a Protestant ophthalmologist from his home town of Lüneburg.

In Munich he completes his habilitation in general and comparative linguistics. In 1911 he comes to Marburg University as an associate professor of Indo-European linguistics. During the First World War he serves as a Russian interpreter in a prisoner-of-war camp near Kassel, where he eventually becomes academically active with ministerial permission. In various camps he researches the numerous Slavic and Baltic languages and dialects as well as the Finno-Ugric languages spoken by the prisoners.

On this basis arises the scholarly work that establishes his career as an internationally recognised linguist. In 1919 he is appointed full professor, and from 1922 he holds a permanent chair. He establishes Indo-European studies at Marburg University. In 1929/30 he becomes dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, and from 1930 he also heads the German Language Atlas in an acting capacity.

Political engagement and awareness of the threat

Not only as a scholar but also as a member of the German Democratic Party, Jacobsohn is active, alongside Wilhelm Röpke, who is dismissed at the same time, as well as Martin Rade and Walter Schücking.

His granddaughter Ruth Verroen explains his suicide as resulting from the failure of his life's goal – the coexistence of Jews and non-Jews in Germany. As a politically active person, he had closely observed developments, lamenting the antidemocratic tendencies and the growing antisemitism at the university. Perhaps he also wanted to protect his family. He apparently saw no other way out.

Lack of recognition and belated remembrance

The university does not honour Hermann Jacobsohn with an obituary. It even reacts with indignation to the connection between suicide and leave of absence drawn by an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Only in 1999 does the city of Marburg name the street on which the Language Atlas is now located after him. Since 2014 a Stolperstein ('stumbling stone' memorial) has lain in front of his former home. In 2026, a brief tribute to his scholarly achievements by his friend, the archaeologist Paul Jacobsthal, on behalf of the rector and senate, became known at his grave – enclosed with the reimbursement of travel costs for the funeral in Lüneburg.

Remembrance of Hermann Jacobsohn today

Marburg University regards remembering Hermann Jacobsohn and the university's role as important. It accepts its responsibility to continually and critically engage with its National Socialist past. Since February 2024, the portal on the history of Marburg University under National Socialism has made the university's complex past transparent. Visitors can learn about the life stories of students and teaching staff, understand the university's role during National Socialism and engage with the effects of that period. At the same time, members of the university can actively contribute to expanding the portal: its content is continually expanded through their participation. Marburg University invites everyone interested to explore the portal and to help continue expanding it.

Democracy needs conviction. Pioneering thinkers such as political scientist Wolfgang Abendroth shape the university as a place of discourse and social impact. In the tradition of change and shaping the future, the university brings together different perspectives and assumes its responsibility within democratic society.

Universities are places of change – not only because knowledge is created and passed on here, but because social developments are reflected upon and actively shaped here. This is impressively shown in the life and work of Wolfgang Abendroth. Described by Jürgen Habermas as the 'partisan professor in a land of fellow travellers', in the 1950s and 1960s he is the only professor in West Germany to openly identify as a Marxist. As a leading figure of the political left, he shapes Marburg's reputation as a 'left-wing' university. He is one of the most influential political scientists of the early Federal Republic and stands for a university that not only analyses democracy but also actively defends and develops it.

Democracy as a historically fought-for order

Abendroth's understanding of democracy is fundamentally shaped by history. He does not see it as a given state but as the result of social struggles and political conflicts. In particular, the experiences of the failure of the Weimar Republic and the National Socialist dictatorship shape his view of democracy. For Abendroth, democracy must be actively safeguarded and continually renewed. Biography between persecution and democratic renewal: Abendroth's thinking is closely tied to his biography. Born in 1906, he becomes involved early on in socialist circles and joins a communist youth organisation. Because of his political stance he is persecuted under National Socialism, receives a professional ban in 1933, and in 1937 is imprisoned for four years due to his resistance activities. After the Second World War he first continues his academic career in the Soviet occupation zone, flees to the West in 1948, and eventually takes up a professorship in political science at Marburg University, where he becomes a formative figure in political science in Germany. His experiences – political persecution as well as his commitment to democratic renewal and development – lastingly shape his academic work. In Marburg, Abendroth develops a political science that consciously understands itself as critical and socially engaged. The Marburg School of Political Science: Abendroth founded what became known in political science as the 'Marburg School', which combines scholarly analysis with a normative claim. Research and teaching are meant to contribute to strengthening and developing democracy and students are to be not merely trained but guided towards forming independent political judgement. The university thus becomes a space in which democratic practice can be prepared, reflected upon, taught and developed further. Change as the university's responsibility: against this background, the university's present-day guiding motto 'We are capable of change' takes on particular significance. It points to the ability and responsibility of institutions such as the university not merely to accompany social developments but to actively help shape them and lay the foundation for future perspectives. Abendroth's work makes clear that democracy depends on and builds upon critical thinking, social sensitivity and political engagement. The university plays a central role here. It is not only a place of knowledge production but also a space for discourse, critique and reflection, in which different perspectives can meet and new ideas can emerge. In this sense it is itself a fundamental part of change and is in keeping with Abendroth's understanding of scholarship as a socially responsible practice. Tradition and change as a democratic task: change is not the opposite of tradition but its further development under new conditions and in new times. A university that feels committed to this claim actively contributes to the future of democracy. 'We are capable of change' thus means not only the ability to adapt, but the conscious will to shape and further develop in the spirit of a living democracy.

Sources and further reading

Scholle, Thilo: Wolfgang Abendroth, in: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (2026), https://www.fes.de/asd/vordenker-innen/wolfgang-abendroth, Zugriff: 20.07.2026.

Deppe, Frank: Zum 100. Geburtstag von Wolfgang Abendroth, in: UniForum (2006), pp. 43-46.

Abendroth, Wolfgang Walter Arnulf, in: Professorenkatalog der Philipps-Universität Marburg https://professorenkatalog.online.uni-marburg.de/de/pkat/idrec?id=620 (Stand: 10.5.2026).

Abendroth, Wolfgang: Zum Begriff des demokratischen und sozialen Rechtsstaates im Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in: Buckmiller, Michael, Joachim Perels und Uli Schöler (Ed. by), Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 2: 1949-1955, Hannover 2008, pp. 338-357.

When Elisabeth Blochmann (1882–1972) was appointed full professor of education at Philipps University of Marburg in 1952, she made history in German academia. After the field of education in Marburg had initially been represented by the philosopher Paul Natorp (since 1893) and later by psychologists, it established itself as a distinct discipline with Blochmann. Elisabeth Blochmann was the first woman in Germany to hold a full professorship in education. She was also the first woman to hold a full professorship at the University of Marburg.

However, a woman holding a professorship in Marburg was not entirely unprecedented: as early as 1923, Germanist Luise Berthold had become the first woman in Marburg to earn her habilitation. She taught and worked throughout her life as an adjunct or associate professor. Until Berthold’s retirement in 1957, both women worked in the same faculty and were friends.

Blochmann’s appointment marked an important step toward opening up academic careers to women: the first habilitation by a woman was followed, nearly 30 years later, by the appointment of a female professor to a full professorship. This step is part of a long and by no means straightforward development. Elisabeth Blochmann’s own path led her from teacher training to emigration to England. Her biography exemplifies the history of women’s education and the social changes of the 20th century. At the same time, it highlights how war, political upheavals, and ideological influences shaped women’s educational and career opportunities in the first half of the century.

From Teacher Training to Higher Education

Born on April 14, 1892, as the eldest of three daughters of a public prosecutor in Apolda, Thuringia, she attended the Höhere Töchterschule and the Oberlyzeum in Weimar, graduating in 1911. She wanted to study medicine but instead underwent training as a nursing assistant in 1912–13. During a one-year teacher-training program in Wiesbaden in 1913–14, she earned her teaching certification. She then worked at the military hospital in Weimar and, beginning in 1915, taught at her former school.

In 1917, she finally began her university studies—in Jena, Strasbourg, Marburg, and Göttingen. Her focus was on German language and literature and history, supplemented by French, sociology, philosophy, and education. Through her friend Elfride, who later became Martin Heidegger’s wife, she met him and corresponded with him for almost the rest of her life.

Sources and further reading
Froese, Leonhard: Elisabeth Blochmann (1892-1972). Professorin für Pädagogik, in: Ingeborg Schnack (Ed. by), Marburger Gelehrte in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhundert (Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen 35), Marburg 1977, pp. 42-47.

Complex issues of our time and solutions for the future can only be explored through interdisciplinary research. The research centers at Philipps University serve as hubs that bring together outstanding research from various disciplines and generate ideas for the world of tomorrow. Bruno Eckhardt (1960–2019), as a professor of physics and founding director of SYNMIKRO, played a pivotal role in shaping the center’s development.

With the founding of the Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) in 2010, Philipps University of Marburg specifically strengthened its research in a forward-looking field that combines biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, and engineering. At the same time, it deepened its strategic collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology on the Lahnberge.

Bruno Eckhardt as Founding Director

The center’s first director was physicist Bruno Eckhardt (1960–2019). The Leibniz Prize laureate embodied the interdisciplinary approach of SYNMIKRO like few others: complex systems can only be understood through the interplay of various disciplines. His commitment to supporting young scientists continues to have an impact to this day. Since 2026, the “Bruno Eckhardt Lecture” has honored this legacy.

Microbiology as the Key to Addressing Societal Challenges

SYNMIKRO emerged from the realization that many of the major challenges of our time—from climate change to sustainable agriculture to the development of new therapies—cannot be addressed without a deeper understanding of microbial life. Microorganisms regulate key material cycles, influence health and the environment, and form the basis of numerous biological processes. The goal of research in Marburg is not only to decipher these processes but also to make them more predictable and to harness them in a targeted manner.

The Research Approach of Synthetic Microbiology

At the heart of this effort is synthetic microbiology—a research approach that combines classical microbiology with physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and engineering. Researchers study microorganisms across all levels: from the structure of individual molecules to the dynamics of complex microbial communities. The combination of experimental and computer-aided methods opens up new possibilities for understanding biological systems and harnessing them for sustainable technologies, innovative production processes, or medical applications.

From a Research Consortium to an International Center

Starting as a research consortium initially funded by the Hessian LOEWE Program, SYNMIKRO rapidly evolved into an internationally recognized center of cutting-edge research. Today, around 500 scientists from numerous disciplines collaborate in more than 40 research groups. The new joint research building of the University and the Max Planck Institute, state-of-the-art technology platforms, and a global network of collaborations make Marburg one of the most important centers for microbiological research in Europe.

Foundation for the “Microbes for Climate” Cluster of Excellence

SYNMIKRO’s dynamism and scientific excellence also laid the foundation for one of the greatest research achievements in the university’s recent history: the “Microbes for Climate” (M4C) Cluster of Excellence. Closely linked to SYNMIKRO in terms of both content and personnel, M4C investigates the role of microorganisms in the Earth’s climate system and develops new approaches to harness their potential for climate protection.

As a result, the research center, founded in 2010, has become the driving force behind a development that has established Marburg as an internationally recognized beacon of microbiology. SYNMIKRO exemplifies a research culture that transcends disciplinary boundaries and harnesses scientific insights to address the challenges of the future—entirely in keeping with the vision of its founding director, Bruno Eckhardt.

Use our guestbook as a participatory project that uses AI to generate a mosaic of visions for the university’s future based on the entries: Future Generator.