Digitization and preservation of Königsberg dissertations and habilitation theses

The Cologne collection of Königsberg dissertations and habilitation works until 1945 comprises about 2,000 volumes. The collection was developed at the end of the 19th century on the basis of the university theses exchange and includes dissertations and habilitations of the philosophical, natural sciences and law faculty. Medical titles are not included.

As part of its internal systematic digitisation, the UCL Cologne has digitized its stock of the Königsberg dissertations and habilitations until 1916. Most originals are of poor quality ; the non-bound prints show several damaged parts.The project protects the fragile originals in terms of use, preserves the texts in digital form and makes them accessible to the general public. In a parallel project, the dissertations and habilitations of the University of Wroclaw were also digitized.An important aspect of these digitisation projects is the solodarity of the University of Cologne with the two major eastern universities and their libraries.The Albertus University of Königsberg existed from 1544 to 1945. The archives of this university were largely lost in 1945. Since 1978, the remains of the archive have been kept in the Prussian Secret State Archives in Berlin.

For copyright reasons, digitized dissertations and habilitations are only offered online until 1916.