The Reichsuniversität Straßburg (RUS) was founded 1941 by the National Socialists in Alsace, annexed to Nazi Germany, while the regular University of Strasbourg moved to Clermont-Ferrand in 1940. The purpose was to create a continuity to the German character of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität — as the University of Strasbourg was named from 1872 to 1918. In 1941, it was to the fore of German invaders to propagate the "pure German knowledge" of national socialistic character in the annexed Alsace-Lorraine.