Prof. Hertwig, it's been a long time, but can you still remember what spontaneously went through your mind when you were approached for the role of Founding Rector?

Two thoughts crossed my mind: I was given the opportunity to preserve many of the educational traditions of the past decades from the Technical University in Köthen and the University of Agricultural and Food Sciences in Bernburg. And I immediately began to think about how to ensure that the many hundreds of students in Bernburg and Köthen would be able to finish their studies even after the establishment of the university of applied sciences (FH) and the winding up of its predecessor institutions.

What was the reason for founding the new university? Those were politically exciting times. Would you say that a renewal in terms of structure, content and personnel was necessary? Was it about bringing the GDR's university system into line with West Germany?

That was an eventful time, one year after the completion of German reunification. We knew that the higher education landscape in Saxony-Anhalt and in the entire East had to be reshaped and that we were facing changes. We had developed a number of concepts as to what the new university landscape could look like. We had even considered a university development. But at the same time and in response to the same problems, the Higher Education Structure Commission of the state of Saxony-Anhalt presented its plans. Which universities, which structures, which universities, which universities of applied sciences - essentially the skeleton had already been laid out.

Of course, we had also looked into the status of a university of applied sciences, as was customary in the old federal states, we knew that compatible structures had to be developed and that we could not go our own way on a grand scale. It was unlikely that an independent university in Anhalt could have a chance in such a small university landscape. In addition, the structural commission was trying to develop two universities in Saxony-Anhalt. It made sense for an institution such as the engineering university, which at the time was already the technical university in Köthen, with a strong practical orientation, to develop in the direction of a university of applied sciences.

How did you define the task for yourself back then? And did you see the office more as an honor or a burden?

Certainly not as a burden! It was an honor in a certain sense. I didn't even know how I had come to this position. I haven't been able to find out over the past few decades. I believe that the young academics at the Technical University worked very hard on my behalf. But that wasn't so important at the time. I had been given this task, the minister called me and said: "I'll send you the certificate now and you do it." I was practically the only employee at this institution at the time, on October 1, 1991. It was all about developing concepts and, above all, dealing with the short-term tasks: What do we do with the students who had already started their studies? If possible, they should not suffer any unpleasant consequences as a result of the changes, and this was achieved.

So the students from the predecessor institutions and the university of applied sciences studied together?

Yes, yes. That was a very rapid development. As early as the winter semester of 1991/1992, when the university of applied sciences was founded, we accepted the first students onto the university of applied sciences courses. There were two different categories. On the one hand, the existing students enrolled here could decide whether they wanted to join the university of applied sciences degree program or remain on the existing degree program at the university of technology. The question was: Do I get a UAS diploma or do I aim for a diploma at a university, as was the case at the Technical University? There were people interested in both options.

Was the teaching the same?

[Laughs] Yes, the same people taught. There were no others there at first. The professors, the staff, the laboratory staff and the administration: everyone was responsible for both the TH and the new UAS students. Incidentally, there was a second category of students. More than 100 young people came to us from engineering schools in the GDR. After three years of engineering training, they were given the opportunity to transfer to a university of applied sciences, like ours, and obtain their FH diploma in a one-year course, so we already had groups who were basically FH students from day one in Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering in Köthen and also Agriculture in Bernburg.

You were in charge of Anhalt University of Applied Sciences until 1996. What do you like to remember?

If you can build something up, it's a great job - even if you start from scratch like we did back then. We tried to get the staff, i.e. the professors, the employees and also the colleagues from the Administration, into the new UAS as quickly as possible, provided they were suitable. The number of students systematically increased. More and more degree programs were added. The Dessau site was opened six months later. That was a great situation and the increase in student numbers indicated that this education at UAS level, i.e. practice-oriented higher education, was also well received. The interest was huge, we were the largest university of applied sciences in the eastern German states. That gave me great pleasure and I was delighted with all the new recruits.

What was less pleasant?

For quite a number of employees of the Köthen and Bernburg institutions, there was no possibility of getting a job at the UAS. There were some very sad situations. We had more than 200 academic staff in the predecessor institutions and ten new departments at the UAS. There was only one academic staff member left for each department. That was basically almost nothing. But that was just the dress code at a university of applied sciences of this type, which could only be changed gradually.

"If a professor's secretary position could no longer be filled, the professors were so flexible that they typed up the curricula themselves."

Many of the first professors came from the universities of applied sciences in the old federal states. How did the collaboration between the instructors with East and West German backgrounds work? Did worlds collide? Did they work together?

I had a lot of support from Aachen University of Applied Sciences in selecting the founding dean and the nine founding deans, ten important people for ten departments. They sent us three founding deans for areas in which we had no experience. That was mainly in Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Civil Engineering and Design. I was very happy that we received support from this institution. I also made sure that it was roughly balanced in terms of East and West. We also found outstanding individuals from our own ranks to act as founding deans. They were all expected to be flexible; that united everyone. If a professor's secretary position could no longer be filled, the professors were so flexible that they typed up the curricula themselves. In GDR times, it would have been unthinkable for a professor to type it himself. So there were things that the colleagues in the West also contributed beyond their specialist work. The three Aacheners, who had already retired and were reactivated for this task, founded a shared flat, for example. They found it really exciting to experience something like that again. [Laughs]

May I also ask you why you decided not to stand for re-election after 1996?

To put it simply, the position was a seven-day job. A lot of administrative work, a lot of personnel development. It was an intensive time and I took on many tasks that had nothing to do with my academic work. It was only with difficulty that I was able to give two lectures a week during those five years, supervise my doctoral students and take care of my scientific field. I wanted to work with students again, give lectures, be much more active in my field of research and ultimately have more time for my family.