The Baltic University in Exile was established in the

displaced persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peop ...

s in Germany to educate refugees from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, Latvia and Lithuania in the aftermath of

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The University was established at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in the

British Zone of Occupation Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

in March 1946, with aid from

UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

, the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

, and other groups. In early 1947, it was moved to a former

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

barracks in

Pinneberg Pinneberg (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Pinnbarg'') is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18&nbs ...

(''Eggerstedt-Kaserne'') and renamed the Displaced Person's Study Centre. The University's presidents were Fricis Gulbis (1946–1948), Vladas Stanka (1948–1949) and Eduards Šturms (1949), assisted by three (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) national rectors. The Estonian astronomer

Ernst Öpik Ernst Julius Öpik ( – 10 September 1985) was an Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist who spent the second half of his career (1948–1981) at the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland. Education Öpik was born in Kunda, Lääne-Viru, Go ...

became its first Estonian

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, and the Lithuanian archaeologist, Jonas Puzinas, was Lithuanian rector from April 1948 to September 1949. Because many of the staff and students had found homes in other countries, the University was closed in September 1949. A total of 76 students graduated from the Baltic University in its short existence: 53 of them were Latvian, 16 Lithuanian, and 7 Estonian. Many others went on to complete their studies at other universities. Three male student fraternities, ''Fraternitas Imantica, Gersicania'' and ''Fraternitas Cursica'', and two female, Spīdola and Zinta, were founded in Pinneberg. A non-notable Estonian corporation, Fraternitas Ucuensis, was founded in 1948. In 1947 it was written that "The Baltic DP university with about 170 professors on the teaching staff and 1,200 students in eight faculties and 13 subdivisions has been running for three semester."

People associated with the university

Mykolas Biržiška Mykolas Biržiška (; ; 24 August 1882, in Viekšniai – 24 August 1962, in Los Angeles), a Lithuanian editor, historian, professor of literature, diplomat, and politician, was one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuan ...

Viktoras Biržiška Viktoras Biržiška (February 23, 1886, Viekšniai - 27 January 1964 Chicago) was a Lithuanian mathematician, engineer, journalist, and encyclopedist of noble extraction. His brothers were Mykolas Biržiška and Vaclovas Biržiška. Biography He ...

Teodoras Daukantas Teodoras Daukantas (September 20, 1884 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – March 10, 1960 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Lithuanian military officer who served as Lithuanian Minister of Defense. In 1903–1918, Daukantas served in the Imper ...

Aleksis Dreimanis Aleksis Dreimanis (August 13, 1914 – July 8, 2011) was a Latvian Canadian Quaternary geologist. He was born in Valmiera, Latvia. Biography He first studied geology at the Institute of Palaeontology at the University of Latvia in Riga. In 1939, ...

* Pāvils Dreijmanis *

Eižens Laube Eižens Laube (May 25, 1880 – July 21, 1967) was a Latvian architect. He was responsible for some of the reconstruction work of Riga Castle in the 1930s and designed more than 200 houses in Riga. Biography Eižens Laube was born in Riga a ...

* Ilse Lehiste *

* Jonas Puzinas * Lauri Vaska * Arthur Võõbus

References

Displaced persons camps in the aftermath of World War II Forced migration Aftermath of World War II Baltic states Universities and colleges established in 1946 1946 establishments in Germany Educational institutions disestablished in 1949 Universities in Germany Universities and colleges in Hamburg Universities and colleges in Schleswig-Holstein {{Lithuania-stub