The Greifswald Medicine Student Strike from 1955

The 30/03/2015 marked the 60th anniversary of the Lecture Strike of the University of Greifswald’s Medicine students.

On the 23/03/1955, the Secretary of State for Higher Education in the GDR, Prof. Gerhard Harig, met with the management of the University in the University’s Rector’s Office. After the meeting, a rumour spread that the University of Greifswald’s Faculty of Medicine was to be transformed into a training academy for military doctors, as a body of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (Barracked People’s Police). This caused unrest and the students articulated their protest spontaneously on the 30/03/1955. It was the only mass protest at a University in the GDR.