This year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law. After the Second World War, it was an attempt to anchor (West) German democracy on a solid foundation of values. The most fundamental norm is the human dignity laid down in Article 1, Paragraph 1: "Human dignity is inviolable. To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority." This means that the state is primarily responsible for ensuring living conditions that preserve people's inherent dignity and safeguard it in the long term. However, it must not be forgotten that the state alone is not in a position to guarantee a humane society. Its endeavours must be embedded in a culture of human dignity. This means that people living in a state are also called upon to stand up for human dignity and advocate its protection, whether in their private lives, at school, in public or at work. This also and especially applies to universities, which are not only committed to finding the truth, but also see themselves as places of academic exchange, encounter and joint work in the community. That is why it is good and right for university management to occasionally take a political stance, for example in response to the rise of anti-Semitism following the attacks of 7 October 2023. But here too, a culture of human dignity cannot be imposed from above. All members of the university are called upon to work towards a humane university. This also applies to ours, which after all is named after Carl von Ossietzky, who, as is well known, was prepared to sacrifice his life for the values that found their way into the German Basic Law 75 years ago.