The Leipzig Theological Seminary (1990-1992: Kirchliche Hochschule) was one of three Protestant church universities in the GDR - the only one under the Lutheran sponsorship of the Saxon, Mecklenburg and Thuringian regional churches.

As students without A-levels were also enrolled at the theological seminary and they were able to complete a one-year humanistic 'preliminary training' at the seminary as a substitute for a state A-level, a very specific student clientele gathered here - often young people who had not even been able to complete an A-level for political reasons, who had instead learned a profession and in some cases experienced considerable political repression. A critical attitude towards the SED state was just as natural for them as it was for the lecturers.

The aim of the research project is to provide an overall account of the five decades of the history of the seminary, which was founded in 1949 as part of the Leipzig Mission, became independent in 1964 and merged with the Theological Schools of the University of Leipzig in 1992. In accordance with the chronological approach, a main chapter will be dedicated to each decade, in which the central themes of each period will be presented. In addition to the history of the institution itself, the focus will be on the participation of students in the protests against the demolition of the Leipzig University Church in 1968 and the resulting consequences for the seminary, as well as the involvement of students in environmental and peace groups that were involved in the Peaceful Revolution of 1989/90.

The project is based on extensive research in the relevant church and state archives. This database is supplemented by twenty-three audiovisual recordings of interviews with former students and lecturers of the seminar as an oral history resource.

The research project is being carried out by Marius Stachowski M.A.. He studied History and Christian Theologies in Ecumenical Perspective (BA) in University of Siegen from 2013 to 2017 and completed his Master's degree in History and Protestant Theology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in 2019. From 2020 to 2023, he was a research assistant in the research project "Discrimination against Christians in the GDR"
at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, since 2023 he has been a research assistant at the Seminar for Protestant Theology
Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Siegen.