The Baltic University in Exile was established in the displaced persons camps in Germany to educate refugees from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the aftermath of the Second World War. The University was established at Hamburg in the British Zone of Occupation in March 1946, with aid from UNRRA, the Lutheran World Federation, and other groups. In early 1947, it was moved to a former Luftwaffe barracks in Pinneberg (Eggerstedt-Kaserne) and renamed the Displaced Person's Study Centre. The University's presidents were (1946–1948), (1948–1949) and (1949), assisted by three (Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian) national rectors. The Estonian astronomer Ernst Öpik became its first Estonian rector, and the Lithuanian archaeologist, Jonas Puzinas, was Lithuanian rector from April 1948 to Septembe