The Senate of the University of Lodz (UŁ) decided to award the title of doctor honoris causa to the former German President Joachim Gauck. The ceremony is scheduled for May 24, 2019. The PhD title will be awarded at the solemn meeting of the UTU Senate.

– Joachim Gauck argued that the citizens of the former East Germany should settle their past and try to understand themselves. He did not stigmatize, but he wanted to understand. He knew that such a critical reflection was not straightforward, he realized that not only the former prominent persons of the regime had gone after the transformation into life’s trouble, but also the former dissidents were unable to find their place in the new reality and today they belong to the “victims of unification” – emphasizes Prof. Joanna Jabłkowska, dean of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Lodz, a Germanist.

Joachim Gauck was the president of the Federal Office for Stasi Files (the Gauck’s Institute). In March 2012 he was elected president of the Federal Republic of Germany. He held the office until March 2017.