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On 24 June, the University Senate moved to revoke with symbolic and declaratory effect the honorary distinctions awarded to 13 honorary senators and honorary citizens of the university. Against a background of an intense and often controversial public debate, the Senate has now set out its position regarding honorary titles awarded to persons with connections to the National Socialist regime. In light of today's standards and knowledge, the Senate has concluded that the individuals concerned are no longer deemed worthy of public honour. The decision was preceded by a process of reappraisal lasting several years and which comes to a close with the resolution adopted on 24 June.
Background:
Following a 2018 Senate resolution, Saarland University revoked the title of Honorary Senator from the lawyer and former Minister-President of Saarland, Heinrich Welsch. This was followed by the symbolic and declaratory revocation of the honorary citizenship granted to Privy Medical Councillor Dr. Max Obé in July 2022. The university also denounced the conferral of the title of honorary senator on the former managing director of Röchling Iron and Steel Works, Dr h. c. Ernst Röchling, in July 2022.
At the same time, the Saarland University Senate ordered a central review of all honorary titles previously conferred by the university. Subsequently, at its meeting on 16 February 2023, the University Board commissioned PD Dr. Rainer Möhler, a historian at Saarland University, to carry out an academic review of the university's honorary titles as part of a two-year research project. In autumn 2025, the results of Dr. Möhler's review were presented in the form of an expert report.
In consultation with the Senate, the University President subsequently established a commission with the remit to present a recommendation to the Senate on how to respond to the findings of the review. This commission, comprising the Senate Spokesperson, Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner, and the Deputy Senate Spokesperson, Lukas Redemann, as well as two external experts (Prof. Dr Volker Roelcke, University of Giessen, Institute for the History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine and Prof. Dr Angela Borgstedt, University of Mannheim, Chair of Contemporary History, Executive Director of the Research Centre for Resistance to National Socialism in South-West Germany), the Head of the University Heritage and Historical Research Unit at Saarland University, Dr. Thilo Offergeld, and Dr. Möhler, met during the winter and spring of 2026.
Historical re-examination and findings:
The report by PD Dr Rainer Möhler, running to around 100 pages, formed the essential basis for the commission's work, focusing on the political and moral background of the individuals during the Nazi era. On one hand, the report looks at formal involvement, such as membership in Nazi organizations or the holding offices and positions in the state and political sphere. According to the report, membership of the Nazi Party or of one of its key branches (the SA or SS) constitutes very strong evidence of the party member's at least temporary alignment with the Nazi ideology. 'Nazi Party membership in particular, and even more so membership of the SS, involved an intensive preliminary assessment of the candidate's political and "racial" suitability and character.' Furthermore, the report examines material benefits derived from active participation in Nazi injustices. In the current context, this refers to some of the concerned individuals having benefited from expropriation of Jewish property or forced labour.
'Between 1961 and 2019, Saarland University conferred the title of Honorary Senator 29 times, honorary citizenship 11 times, and the Medal of Honour five times. (…) Among the 45 recipients of honours from Saarland University, evidence of Nazi involvement was ultimately found in the case of 16 individuals (all born before 1919), as well as in the three cases which have already been examined (Heinrich Welsch, Max Obé and Ernst Röchling) and (…) which were not investigated further,' states the report outlining the criteria used to identify individuals eligible for closer scrutiny. This left 13 honourees for whom the report established active, albeit to varying degrees, involvement in the Nazi system of injustice.
Statements on the decision:
'Through this process of systematically reviewing the honours it has awarded, Saarland University is fulfilling its task and duty to engage critically with its own history,' says the Senate's spokesperson, Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner.
The Senate's deputy spokesperson, Lukas Redemann, adds: 'Through the adoption of this Senate resolution, Saarland University has addressed the Nazi-era injustices in its history in a way that is by no means a matter of course among German universities.'
University President Ludger Santen, who by virtue of his office is also chair of the Senate, emphasizes: 'This assessment is not a judgement on the individuals' entire life's work. After 1945, they undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Saarland University and to society at large. However, they were also involved in the injustices of the Nazi regime in such a way that, from today's perspective, it is no longer acceptable for a university to honour their memory.' Santen emphasizes that liberal democracies are the best safeguard against systematic and far-reaching injustices, such as those perpetrated during the Nazi era. 'This becomes all the more evident upon closer examination of the lives of the 13 honourees who exemplify just how far the influence of the Nazi state extended into careers and professional life.'
Biographical notes on recipients of revoked titles :
Dr. Carl Erich Alken (1909–1986)
Named Honorary Senator on 20 January 1976. Alken was one of the university's co-founders and the first Vice-Chancellor. He is regarded as the father of German urology and ranks among the most highly decorated scientists and teachers both nationally and internationally. He spent his career loyal to Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Alken was a member of the SA from 1933 (SA Rottenführer in 1935), a member of the National Socialist Air Corps from 1936 to 1938 and a member of the Nazi Party beginning in 1937.
Luitwin von Boch-Galhau (1906–1988)
Named Honorary Senator on 21 October 1966. Member of the Governing Board from 1950 to 1956; founding chairman of the 'Vereinigung der Freunde der Universität des Saarlandes e. V.' (Association of Friends of Saarland University) from 1952 to 1956.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: According to the findings of the expert report, by acquiring the Sarreguemines faience works, von Boch-Galhau contributed to the economic policy of the Nazi state in occupied Lorraine, which had been annexed in violation of international law following the Western Campaign. Above all, as managing director and personally liable partner, he bore responsibility for the deployment of forced labourers in the Villeroy & Boch factories and thus, motivated by commercial interests, participated in the Nazi crime of forced labour.
Walter Braun (1907–1990)
Named Honorary Senator on 30 March 1973 in recognition of his many years of successful service as head of the Higher Education Department in the Ministry of Culture, which had made a significant contribution to the establishment of Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Braun was a member of the NSDAP from 1 November 1935 and a member of the Nazi Teachers' League.
Erich Eilebrecht-Kemena (1908–1994)
Named Honorary Citizen on 21 December 1977. Honoured as a patron of the Faculty of Medicine and founder of the Claude Bernard Prize.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Eilebrecht-Kemena had no formal political involvement with the Nazi regime but was a direct beneficiary of the expatriation or 'Aryaniza¬tion' of the Jewish-owned tobacco factory Hewimsa AG. The Jewish factory owner's claim for restitution was vehemently rejected over several years, at times using anti-Semitic rhetoric. The settlement enforced by the Saarbrücken Regional Court in 1951 amounted to a clear moral conviction of Eilebrecht-Kemena. He was required to pay 24 million French francs (equivalent to 300,000 Reichsmarks) to the claimant and to bear all the costs of the proceedings in order to have the freeze on his assets lifted.
Franz Funk (born 1906)
Named Honorary Citizen on 28 November 1983. Significant contribution to the establishment of the 'University Weeks' in 1961 and as well as organizing them in subsequent years; played a significant role in strengthening relations between the university and the people of Homburg.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Having joined the party on 1 June 1933, Franz Funk was one of the few early National Socialists in the Saar region who had already declared their allegiance to the Nazi Party during the League of Nations era. In the post-war period, he concealed this early party membership from the denazification authorities and the Ministry of Culture by backdating it to a less suspicious date after the 1935 referendum.
Dr. Kurt Heinen (1897–1976)
Named Honorary Senator on 20 January 1976 in recognition of his services, first as Vice-President and then as President of the Association of Friends of Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Heinen became a member of the Nazi Party on 1 November 1935. Together with his fellow supervisory board member Dr. Oskar Neufang, Heinen was said to be heavily implicated in the expropriation of Jewish property, having purchased shares in the Neufang-Jaenisch Brewery from the Jewish former owner Jakob Feitel. This claim could not be fully substantiated.
Hans Kuhn (1912–1996)
Named Honorary Citizen on 21 December 1977 for his many years of successful service as mayor, and later lord mayor, of the town of Homburg from 1960 to 1977, during which time he fostered relations between the Faculty of Medicine and the town.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Kuhn was a member of the Nazi Party and the SA beginning on 1 May 1933. Within the NSDAP, he held the post of 'Blockleiter' on a temporary basis on two occasions for several months each, 'for professional reasons'. The 'Blockleiter' played a key role in maintaining the Nazi state's control at the local level. The political assessment by the Nazi Party Chancellery, which was required for his promotion and appointment as a Regierungsrat in 1942, had to certify, in accordance with the German Civil Service Act, that he 'offers a guarantee that he will at all times unreservedly support the National Socialist state'.
Dr. Eduard Martin (1892–1989)
Named Honorary Senator on 21 October 1966 on the basis of his membership of the executive committee and subsequent presidency of the Association of Friends of Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: According to the expert report, Martin profited from the Deutsche Bank's anti-Semitic personnel policies, having been appointed as the replacement to his Jewish predecessor as branch manager in Saarbrücken. His late membership of the Nazi Party in 1941 is cited as evidence of National Socialist sympathies, as membership was not professionally necessary and was acquired with full knowledge of the Nazi state's criminal policies towards Jews. As senior branch manager of Deutsche Bank in Saarland, he was responsible for his bank's complicity in the expropriation of Jewish of property and businesses, as well as the crime of financially plundering the Jews of Saarland. In his private life, Martin was involved in the expropriation of the home of the Jewish retailer Hermann Herz and his wife, both of whom were later murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp.
Hermann Mühlenberg (1904–1987)
Named Honorary Citizen on 21 December 1977. Considered 'father figure to students' during his ten-year term as mayor of Dudweiler from 1956 to 1966.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: From his youth onwards, he is said to have been a committed and active Nazi. He joined the party in early 1932 and the Allgemeine SS in 1934, benefitting greatly in his career from his close ties to the regional Nazi elite. He was the Nazi local politics district office head, a member of the Corps of Political Leaders of the NSDAP and as an Unterscharführer, an active member of the Nazi state's Schutzstaffel paramilitary organization. As mayor of Goslar, Germany (1933 to 1939), Hannoversch-Münden, Germany (1939) and Hagenau in Alsace – which had been annexed in violation of international law – he was responsible for implementing Nazi policies at the local level. Neither his direct witnessing of the fatal beating of a police officer under his command by SA thugs (the 'Ostheeren case' in July 1933), nor the anti-Semitic measures adopted in 1933, nor the Nazi policies against Jews and 'enemies of the Reich' in occupied Alsace prompted him to withdraw from public service.
Dr. Ernst-Heinz Schäfer (1910–2004)
On 29 October 1980, Schäfer was appointed Honorary Senator, initially in recognition of his services as a member of the executive board and then from 1977 to 1995 as president of the Association of Friends of Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Schäfer had joined the Nazi Party as early as 1931 but was expelled following a ruling by a party tribunal in 1932 for breaching the party constitution. After the Nazis came to power, Schäfer became active in the SA. In the years that followed, he tried in vain to be readmitted to the Nazi Party. He demonstrated his commitment to National Socialism through his involvement in organizations such as the German Labour Front and the National Socialist Association of Legal Professionals. In his 1937 law dissertation on allotment gardening, he framed his subject within the National Socialist 'blood and soil' ideology. A renewed application for membership in the autumn of 1939 was successful: Adolf Hitler issued a pardon on 1 May 1941 and readmitted him to the party. Schäfer is said to have sought close ties with the NSDAP throughout the duration of the Nazi state.
Dr. Kurt Schluppkotten (1905–1976)
Named Honorary Senator on 21 October 1966 in recognition of his services as a founding member and long-standing board member of the 'Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft des Saarland University e. V.' (Academic Society of Saarland University) and as a board member of the Association of Friends of Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Kurt Schluppkotten was one of the early National Socialists in the Saar region who joined the Nazi Party in droves during the League of Nations era following the Reichstag elections in March 1933. During the Second World War as a close associate of Hermann Röchling, he represented the interests of German Nazi war policy in the occupied territories of France and Belgium and oversaw the economic exploitation of the Pompey factory in Meurthe-et-Moselle near Nancy, France, and the Charleroi industrial complex in the Walloon province of Hainaut in Belgium.
Paul Simonis (1912–1996)
Named Honorary Citizen on 2 July 1982. Recognized for his 'outstanding services as an "understanding interlocutor" who, as a committed social politician and expert in the field of healthcare, devoted himself to the university hospitals'.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Simonis is said to have shown an early and strong commitment to Nazism, beginning in the Saar region during the League of Nations era and continuing at least until his conscription into the Wehrmacht in early 1942. Membership of the Nazi Air Corps in 1932 and of the NSDAP from June 1933, voluntary work for the SS Sicherheitsdienst (the intelligence agency of the SS) beginning in May 1935, his withdrawal from the church in the late 1930s, and his years of efforts to gain membership of the SS all demonstrated a strong ideological affinity with Nazism.
Egon Ulmschneider (1914–2004)
Honorary citizen on 16 May 1979 in recognition of his significant contributions to the establishment of the technical and administration department at Saarland University.
Connection to the National Socialist regime: Ulmschneider was a member of the Nazi Party from 1937 onwards as well as a member of the SS, which he concealed during the denazification proceedings in 1946. He applied to the SS on 20 April 1936, becoming a cadet and finally as an SS-Sturmmann.