GEOGRAPHISCHE LEHRE UND FORSCHUNG AN DER MARTIN-LUTHER-UNIVERSITÄT HALLE-WITTENBERG SEIT 1946. EIN BEITRAG ZUM VERSTÄNDNIS DER HOCHSCHULPOLITIK IN DER DDR

The chair of geography at Halle-Wittenberg University was one of the first to be founded in Germany besides that of Berlin. It was held by Alfred Kirchhoff from the start in 1873 until 1904. Otto Schlüter, one of the most famous historical geographers, led the department from 1911 to 1938, some time during the war and again between 1946 and 1951. The paper deals with the history of a department under the specific conditions of the GDR, where the executive power tried to influence all spheres of academic life. Teaching, education and research had to contribute to the formation of a new, socialist society. Considering the attempts to dominate academic institutions, 3 stages can be distinguished. During the first period (1946–1951) a democratic reform, acceptable in its general idea, brought about equal rights and conditions for all students and tried to eradicate antidemocratic and fascistic thinking in the universities. In the course of the second period (1951–1968) interference of the state became more comprehensive. The traditional academic rights to decide what to teach and to search were confined more and more. In 1969 the third period began. Its aim was to form the "Socialist Educational System". Universities were an essential part of this system which stands for the unity of teaching and research, theory and application. In order to establish larger and more effective departments, the Geographical Departments of Leipzig, Jena and Rostock were closed. During this period there were some new and important developments, particularly in the concentration on a few integrative research projects with strong elements of applicability (though it is a different story if and how the results were really used by state institutions). At the same time this transformation had serious disadvantages, including a loss of regional research and the neglect of subdisciplines like Geomorphology, Historical Geography and Historical Cartography which had been traditional cornerstones of geography at Halle-Wittenberg University.