The Studentenwerk Leipzig will celebrate its 30th birthday on July 1, 2021. Thus, we are celebrating two anniversaries this year: our founding year and the reestablishment after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This year, the Studentenwerk Leipzig celebrates its 100th anniversary. At the same time, on1 July , 2021, the Studentenwerk Leipzig will celebrate its 30th anniversary of its re-foundation. Now, this does raise the question: Why are we celebrating two anniversaries in the same year?
The 100th anniversary refers to the date of our foundation, 7 September, 1921, when the Wirtschaftsselbsthilfe e.V., which was later transformed into the Studentenwerk, was founded. During the GDR era, however, the Studentenwerk did not exist as an independent institution. The provision of social services to students was the responsibility of the respective universities.
On 1 July, 1991, the Studentenwerk Leipzig was re-established after the fall of the Berlin Wall. And so this year we are celebrating two birthdays.
The 30th anniversary is especially important for many of our employees who experienced and shaped this exciting and dynamic time of reestablishment. In those early years, essential cornerstones for our current work were created with great commitment and united strength of our staff. We provided students with affordable housing and food as well as financial support already 30 years ago. From the beginning, these were our most important tasks. Shortly after, our social services (psychosocial and social counseling), childcare, the semester ticket, the student job office and many further services were added.
On this basis, the Studentenwerk Leipzig became the central, social partner for the currently around 39,000 students from eight Leipzig universities and academies in the city of Leipzig.
