Geschichte des Vereins
Hinter dem Studentenwohnheim Geschwister Scholl e.V. steht der 1956 gegründete, gleichnamige Verein (Studentenwohnheim Geschwister Scholl e.V.). Er ist Eigentümer des Wohnheims und verwaltet es seit dessen Eröffnung 1960.
History of the association
The dorm Geschwister Scholl e.V. is owned and managed by the association with the same name (Studentenwohnheim Geschwister Scholl e.V.), which was founded in 1956. It owns the dormitory and has managed it since it opened in 1960.
The initial situation (1946 to 1956)
Aerial photograph in the area of Schwere Reiter Straße in 1945, the Schollheim property is marked in red. Source: StaMü FS-1945–7125
After the Second World War, 50% of the buildings in the city of Munich were destroyed. As a result, about 300,000 people were homeless. When the Technical University (TUM) resumed teaching in April 1946 and the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in June 1946, the construction of student dormitories was not the order of the day. Much more problematic was the creation of housing in general to eliminate the greatest need. To achieve this goal, the allocation guidelines for social housing excluded the renting of rooms to students. At the same time, however, the number of students at both universities was rising, and by 1949 there were already about 15,000. Rising student numbers now further increased the housing shortage in Munich. By the early 1950s, the situation had become even more acute. Since the promotion of housing for students could not be a priority in housing policy in view of the general housing shortage, an improvement of the situation was only possible through private initiative.
The foundation of the association (1956)
Then as now, children of non-wealthy parents should also have a chance to attend college. A prerequisite for this was, and still is, the availability of affordable housing.
In order to create this, the non-profit association „Studentenwohnheim Geschwister Scholl e.V.” was founded on June 13, 1956 in an adjoining room of the Café Odeon on Munich’s Odeonsplatz. The sole aim of the association’s statutes: the construction and maintenance of a student dormitory.
The idea of building a student dormitory had originated in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer Akademiker (Working Group of Social Democratic Academics). The suggestion to found an association came from Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, a member of the SPD and the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (SDS). Vogel, who was 30 at the time, was a district court judge and an employee in the state chancellery of Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Wilhelm Hoegner, and later became Munich’s mayor and federal minister of justice. Through the working group and private acquaintances, Vogel was able to win over three personalities to support the plan to build a student dormitory:
- the dermatologist and rector of the LMU, Dr. Alfred Marchionini,
- the Bavarian State Minister of Justice, Fritz Koch, and
- the board member of the then Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank, Adolf Eugen Samstag.
The invitation of the committee led by Alfred Marchionini was accepted by 28 personalities, including politicians, professors, entrepreneurs, trade unionists, bankers, publishers, writers, journalists and senior civil servants. Many of them were prominent opponents and persecutees of National Socialism, most of them because of their Social Democratic commitment, because they hid Jews or helped them escape. They represent the „other” Germany around the time of World War 2.
When the association was founded, the following positions were elected:
- Chairman: Prof. Dr. Alfred Marchionini (see above),
- as his deputy: Minister of State Dr. Fritz Koch (see above),
- as assessors: Adolf Eugen Samstag (see above) and Erwin Essl, member of the state parliament and district leader of IG Metall Bavaria, also chairman of the Socialist Workers’ Youth in Schweinfurt until 1933,
- Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel (see above) as managing director.
The Bavarian Minister President Dr. Wilhelm Hoegner became patron of the association (see above).
The assembly decided to appoint another assessor by way of additional election in order to compensate for the dominance of Social Democratic members of the association on the board.
This was:
Dr. Rolf Rodenstock, President of the Bavarian Employers’ Association and member of the Federation of German Industries.
Photo gallery of the leading founding members
Other founding members included:
- the editor-in-chief of the Bayerischen Staatszeitung, Karlheinz Lange,
- the publisher Kurt Desch,
- the writer, founder of „Gruppe 47“ (Group 47) and member of a socialist resistance group during the Nazi period, Hans-Werner Richter,
- the political editor of the Social Democratic newspaper „Münchener Post“ and co-founder and first editor-in-chief of the „Süddeutschen Zeitung“, Edmund Goldschagg,
- the historian Dr. Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, older brother of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, whose assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 was unfortunately unsuccessful,
- the State Minister and Director of the Bavarian Savings Banks and Giro Association, Rudolf Zorn,
- the chairman of the German Trade Union Federation in Munich, Ludwig Koch, who was also a member of the Socialist Workers’ Youth before World War II,
- the publicist Burghard Freudenfeld,
- and the student and later lawyer and managing director of the association, Robert Jenisch.
It is striking that many of the association and board members also had personal relationships with each other:
Patron Wilhelm Hoegner and the father of the Scholl siblings, Robert Scholl, knew each other personally; they had their house on the same street. A friendship developed out of the neighborhood, and the Hoegner and Scholl families frequently visited each other.
Furthermore, Alfred Marchionini was a friend and supporter of Hans-Jochen Vogel, who in turn knew Justice Minister Koch very well from his work from 1952 as an assessor in the Ministry of Justice and the Bavarian State Chancellery. Vogel’s circle of friends also included the editor-in-chief of the Bavarian state newspaper, Dr. Karl-Heinz Lange.
Repairs and conversions
No house in the world remains new and as intact as the day it is completed. From the outside, wind and weather, heat, cold, rain, ice and snow gnaw away at it; from the inside, residents and visitors constantly wear it down. That’s why the dormitory has had to undergo a number of renovations since it was built.
The naming (1956)
In addition to alleviating the housing shortage for students, there was another motive for building a student dormitory. The then Bavarian SPD chairman and deputy federal chairman, Waldemar von Knoeringen, wanted to transform the SPD from a class party into a people’s party by, among other things, making it electable for academics. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer Akademiker (Working Group of Social Democratic Academics) therefore considered that a student dormitory could be built to promote the SPD and to inspire young people, future academics, to support social democracy.
This idea was decisive for the naming „Geschwister Scholl”: By remembering two courageous young people who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy, the current generation of students should be motivated to commit themselves to the values of democracy and the Basic Law. Therefore, the working group sought contact with Robert Scholl, the father of the Scholl siblings, and received his approval for the naming. This decision was certainly also promoted by the friendship that connected the patron Hoegner with Robert Scholl.
Opening of house 1 and unveiling of the monument (1956 to 1960)
The chairman of the association, Alfred Marchionini, and other prominent comrades-in-arms succeeded, through their own good example and the wealth of their good connections, in building up the necessary equity capital through fundraising in just two years, in order to be able to apply for government aid and bank loans for the construction of the first house. After the architect Werner Wirsing had been selected, construction took a little more than a year, and the first students moved in, House 1 was opened on January 7, 1960. 144 affordable living spaces had been created.
The opening speech by Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel was attended by other prominent guests: Mr. and Mrs. Hoegner, Robert Scholl, Prof. Dr. Theodor Maunz (Bavarian Minister of Culture from 1957–1964), Prof. Dr. Max Kneissl (Rector of the TUM), Prof. Dr. Egon Wiberg (Prorector of the LMU), Thomas Wimmer (Lord Mayor of Munich), the Wirsing couple, Mathilde Marchionini, Hans Demeter (Chairman of the Munich SPD) and Manfred Schmidt (Deputy Federal Chairman of the SDS).
Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, excerpt from the speech at the opening of the Schollheim on January 7, 1960
„The Federal Republic of Germany is troubled these days by a wave of anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi graffiti. This in particular should be a reason for us to acknowledge the victims of National Socialism and its atrocities with all clarity. I believe, Mayor Scholl, that it has a deep meaning that we give our house the name of your children, who were murdered by a despicable system, especially in these days.“ (translated grom german with deepl.com)
Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel with his wife at the commemoration ceremony for the unveiling of the monument.
Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel’s speech has lost none of its relevance at the time. The student dormitory was to be a place of remembrance and a reminder for the future. The association therefore decided to erect a memorial to the murdered Scholl siblings and to hold a competition for it. The design by the sculptor Christine Stadler was awarded a prize and realized. The memorial is one of the artist’s best-known works. It was financed by a donation of 1,500 DM from IG Metall Bayern.
At the unveiling of the monument on February 17, 1962, the historian and association member Prof. Dr. Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, brother of Claus von Stauffenberg, spoke, among other things, as follows:
At the memorial (from left): Association Chairman Prof. Dr. Marchionini and Prof. Dr. Alexander Graf von Stauffenberg
„For precisely this seems to me to have been the real secret of their sacrificial walk and their difficult and proud death, 19 years ago today, the meaning of their difficult and self-chosen path imposed on them in the bloom of youth, which is expressed in one word, „atonement”: that they have cleansed the stained earth and restored the lost self-respect to the rest of us, who by thousands and thousands have contributed to the disaster through pusillanimity and cowardice, through acquiescence and letting it happen.“ (translated from german with deepl.com)
Many prominent people were present in the hall to celebrate the unveiling of the monument. The chairman of the association, Prof. Dr. Alfred Marchionini, was able to welcome, among others, Dr. Wilhelm Hoegner, Munich’s Lord Mayor Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, Robert Scholl and Erwin Essl, representing IG Metall.
In addition to the chairman of the association, Prof. Dr. Alfred Marchionini, the managing director of the association, Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, was another driving force behind the founding of the association, the fundraising and the construction of House 1. In 1960, he was elected Lord Mayor of the state capital of Munich, at the time just 34 years old.
Picture gallery of the unveiling ceremony of the memorial of the Scholl siblings by Christine Stadler on February 17, 1962
Management under Robert Jenisch (1960 to 2016)
Photo gallery of the chairmen of the association
Since Dr. Vogel was now unable to continue the association’s business, the association had to select someone new for this task. Robert Jenisch, a lawyer by profession, who had been a member of the association from the very beginning as a young student of the SDS, was chosen. During the founding period, he had been significantly involved in the preparations for the construction of House 1 and had already been actively supporting the management for some time. In December 1960, he was elected by the general meeting as Vogel’s successor as managing director of the association. He immediately began fundraising for House 2, its planning and construction. Only four years after the opening of the Geschwister Scholl student dormitory with House 1, the extension building on the neighboring ruined property with 98 additional rooms could be occupied at the beginning of 1964.
The chairman of the association, Prof. Dr. Alfred Marchionini, lived to see the completion of House 2, but unfortunately could not enjoy the success of the association for long. He died on April 6, 1965, at the age of only 66.
The association’s general meeting elected the biochemist Feodor Lynen, then director of the Max Planck Institute for Cell Chemistry in Martinsried near Munich, as his successor. It is admirable that the Nobel Prize winner for medicine took on this task in addition to his numerous other honorary posts and memberships in scientific committees and societies. He died on August 6, 1979, at the age of 68.
After him, the physicist Edgar Lüscher, full professor for experimental physics at the TUM, took over the chairmanship of the association. Although he was very busy with his research work in the field of solid state physics and with the establishment of the physics department in Garching, he took the necessary time to fulfill the tasks of the association. Unfortunately, Professor Lüscher did not live to a ripe old age either; he died on January 16, 1990, at the age of 64.
As successor of Professor Lüscher for the chairmanship of the association, the association succeeded in winning the well-known dermatologist Professor Dr. med. Dr. phil. Siegfried Borelli. He was full professor and director-emeritus of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Dermatology and Allergology of the TUM and medical director of the Clinic for Dermatology and Allergology Davos (Alexanderhaus Clinic). Professor Borelli, a former student and medical collaborator of Professor Marchionini, considered it his duty from the beginning to dedicate himself with great commitment to the work of his academic teacher.
In addition to his involvement in the founding of the association and the construction of House 1 and House 2, Managing Director Robert Jenisch also played a key role in the construction of the third construction phase, House 3. This houses apartments and was ready for occupancy in October 2019. The approvals of the construction and financial planning took place during his lifetime. He was not able to witness the completion of House 3, as he died in October 2016 at the age of 85, after 56 years of voluntary management of the association. Like no other, he succeeded, fought and lived with energy and passion for his dormitory.
First occupancy of house 3 and future renovations (2016 – today)
Photo gallery of the managing directors of the association
After the death of Robert Jenisch, a new managing director had to be elected immediately to take care of the future of the construction of House 3. The death of Robert Jenisch came as a surprise, but he had already prepared a successor for his tasks. Therefore, the association’s board was able to elect Thomas Knappstein as his successor in the management. Jenisch knew Knappstein from their joint work at the construction trade association; at his suggestion, he had been elected to the board as an assessor in 2012. These were good prerequisites for taking over from a standing position not only the day-to-day business of the association but also the supervision of the construction of House 3 and the preparations for planned renovation work on Houses 1 and 2. With the completion of the construction work on House 3, Thomas Knappstein stepped down as managing director in March due to his time commitments as an executive at the employers’ liability insurance association.
The board appointed Friedrich Graffe, the association’s vice chairman, initially on a provisional basis, as his successor. He is already managing director of the Alfred and Karl Marchionini Foundation.
The long-time chairman of the association, Prof. Dr. Dr. Siegfried Borelli, stepped down as chairman of the board at the end of the general meeting in January 2020 due to his age. Due to his merits for the home and the association, the general meeting unanimously decided to offer Prof. Borelli the honorary chairmanship of the association.
Historian and media scientist Prof. Dr. Peter von Rüden was elected as the new chairman of the board. He was Director of the Adolf Grimme Institute, Head of Department for Education and Culture at NDR Television, and Head of the Research Center for Broadcasting History at the Leibnitz Institute for Media Research and the University of Hamburg’s Institute for Modern German Literature and Media Culture. From 1969 to 1972, he was a tutor at the Geschwister Scholl student dormitory and has been an assessor on the association’s board since 2017.
60 years of Schollheim and opening ceremony of house 3: memories for the future (2020)
We, the association and the residents of the dormitory, are proud that the history of our association, and thus also that of the dormitory, is being continued. Its future was discussed in detail at the anniversary celebration of 60 years of Schollheim and the official opening of House 3. Following on from the history of the Schollheim, Munich’s mayor, Dieter Reiter, the first managing director of our association, Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, and our association chairman, Prof. Dr. Peter von Rüden, formulated thoughts and wishes for the future.
Prof. Dr. von Rüden recapitulated the history of our association and formulated the following thought in relation to the present:
„For me, [our first patron Wilhelm Hoegner’s] reckoning with the failure of the democrats before the end of the Weimar Republic, entitled „Escape from Hitler: Memories of the Surrender of the First German Republic in 1933,” is of great topicality, for it depicts the internal, creeping dissolution of a democracy. To put it pointedly: Hoegner provides the evidence that those who sleep in democracy wake up in dictatorship.“ (translated from german with deepl.com)
Prof. Dr. von Rüden during his speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary
Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel recalled the Scholl siblings in his speech and appealed:
„Even more important [than getting to know each other internationally], however, was another contact of all these residents[,] [namely] that with the Scholl siblings, whose names they encountered on a daily basis. So they were in constant contact with two people who, in a not entirely easy process, recognized the criminal character of the regime of the time, then called for resistance to it and ultimately sacrificed their lives for it. People who aspired to a social order based on values, who granted people freedom and wanted peace.
That is why the memory of Hans and Sophie Scholl is also a call to resolutely oppose the attacks on these values and our democracy, of which there is certainly no shortage at present.“ (translated from german with deepl.com)
Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter during his 60th anniversary speech
In his ceremonial speech, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter emphasized the solidarity of all Munich’s lord mayors with the student residence, which bears the name of the Scholl siblings. The need to fight racism, discrimination and anti-Semitism has become topical again, he said. Developments that are still manageable in Munich, but – said Reiter: „We never want to see that again in our city.”
Dieter Reiter’s speech spans the arc of support for the Geschwister Scholl e.V. student residence from the first Munich mayor after World War 2, Thomas Wimmer, to the current one. This makes it clear that our student residence is not just one of many, but a Munich speciality. In order to remain so, and to continue to live up to our founding spirit and our namesakes, it is important for us to continue to be more than just a normal student residence: namely, a place where politics, contemporary history, literature and art are debated.
