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The Free University is hoping for a fiftieth birthday present — the nearby barracks (above) which was the US Army headquarters until the end of the Cold War.
Founded at the start of the Cold War, the university grew haphazardly among villas vacated after World War II in the Berlin suburb of Dahlem. History dictated its lack of a real centre.
“It would be a nice symbol of our future if the new government gave us the buildings”, says Peter Gaetgens. “The years 1948, 1968 and 1990 were important cornerstones of our history, but they are the past.”
The government of Berlin supports the idea. But the federal government is as yet undecided. It is toying with the idea of moving the German secret service into the buildings instead.
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Abbott, A. ⃛ and hopes for the gift of a new home. Nature 396, 204 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/24229
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/24229
