“Few people know that not only private individuals or organizations but also a university can be named in a will,” says Karina Jung, Head of Friend- and Fundraising. “It is possible to name the University of Potsdam as an heir or co-heir – with all the associated rights and obligations. Alternatively, a bequest can be made to transfer certain assets, such as a sum of money, to the university."
A third option is to establish your own foundation, which is administered under the umbrella of the university. This is the path that Jürgen Lewerenz has taken. He is neither a graduate nor was he professionally affiliated with the university, nor does he have any family connections to it. It was a coincidence that brought the founder and the university together.
A university with Eastern European experience
“My friend Manfred Nitsch, whom I have known for over 60 years, drew my attention to an article in the newspaper,” the 89-year-old recalls. It described the think tank “Translating EVROPA”, which, similar to the Germany Scholarship, is specifically dedicated to research on Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet territories. This is a matter close to Lewerenz's heart, and not only because of his childhood in what was then East Prussia.
"Our view of Eastern Europe has been distorted since the First World War,” says the economic expert, who has studied the history of cooperatives in depth. “We still have a great debt to repay to Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe is practically absent from the international activities of the foundations and cooperatives that emerged from the large funds of the German economy.”
The expertise in Eastern European studies at the University of Potsdam fits Lewerenz's search for a charitable use for his estate like a glove. After all, he has repeatedly researched and studied the economic history of the Baltic and Slavic regions – a history in which he himself played a not insignificant role.
Significant years after Estonian independence
The founder’s life was marked by many milestones. He moved from the Bundesbank to the Ministry of Development Aid and first worked in Bonn and later for about 25 years in the Global South: as a PhD student in Chile in the 1960s, as a consultant for cooperatives in Colombia, as a development aid officer at the German Embassy in Peru, and later also in Bangladesh. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lewerenz – already over 60 years old at the time – took up a position as EU advisor in the Baltic States after working in in Brussels for a year. There, in 1992–1993, he helped the Estonian central bank abandoning the ruble and establish a national currency system.
“Estonia did not have its own money production at the time because the cash came from Soviet Russia,” says the trained banker with a law degree and qualification for “senior service” at the Bundesbank. When introducing the Estonian kroon, he took the successful introduction of the Deutschmark in the Federal Republic of Germany without further ado as a model. On its bumpy road to market economy, Estonia also experienced many cock-and-bull stories that certainly lived up to the label “wild east”.
For Lewerenz, these were two short but distinctive years. Even then, he came across archive material in Tartu about cooperative structures in pre-Soviet times. It is a topic that has fascinated him ever since. “Cooperatives are often misunderstood as an alternative to capitalism. But the opposite is true: cooperatives are also market economy organizations.” They are just in the hands of citizens, and this is where Lewerenz sees their potential for democratization in the economy.
For several years, the Potsdam native has been supporting economic history research on the Eastern European cooperative system before Soviet rule at the University of Potsdam through the “Livonian Charitable Foundation”. After his death, his private assets—totaling around half a million euros—will be transferred to the new trust foundation. His companion Manfred Nitsch also wants to contribute assets to it.
Together with two members of the university and one member of the Universitätsgesellschaft Potsdam e.V., the two founders form the board of trustees of the new “Potsdam Foundation”. Its purpose can be fulfilled, for example, through scholarships, seminars, research projects, and initiatives to strengthen economic democracy in Eastern Europe: conferences, databases with a historical focus, documentation of family histories, research work, or partnerships with other universities.
Nitsch and Lewerenz are still able to accompany the first steps of their non-profit organization on the foundation board. Who will take care of all this one day, after they will have passed away, as chairman of the foundation board? “The university must grow into this role,” Lewerenz says, confident that his cause and his legacy are in good hands at the University of Potsdam.
More information on friend- & fundraising at the University of Potsdam: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/wirtschaft-transfer-gesellschaft/foerdern-und-stiften/foerdern-stiften-uebersicht
This text was published in the university magazine Portal - Zwei 2025 „Demokratie“. (in German)
Here You can find all articles in English at a glance: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/explore-the-up/up-to-date/university-magazine/portal-two-2025-democracy