ABurschenschaft (German:[ˈbʊʁʃn̩ʃaft]; sometimes abbreviatedB! in theGermanBurschenschaft jargon; plural:B!B!) is one of the traditionalStudentenverbindungen (student associations) ofGermany,Austria, andChile (the latter due toGerman cultural influence).Burschenschaften were founded in the 19th century as associations ofuniversitystudents inspired byliberal andnationalistic ideas.They were significantly involved in theMarch Revolution and theunification of Germany.After the formation of theGerman Empire in 1871, they faced a crisis, as their main political objective had been realized. So-calledReformburschenschaften were established, but these were dissolved by theNazi regime in 1935/6. InWest Germany, theBurschenschaften were re-established in the 1950s, but they faced a renewed crisis in the 1960s and 1970s, as the mainstream political outlook of theGerman student movement of that period started leaning more towards the left. Roughly 160Burschenschaften exist today in Germany, Austria and Chile.
The very first one, calledUrburschenschaft ("originalBurschenschaft"), was founded on 12 June 1815 atJena as an association drawn from all German university students inspired byliberal andpatriotic ideas. Like the Landsmannschaften or theCorps, a student association based on particular German region, the Burschenschaft members also engaged in duelling.[1] However, its main purpose was to break down society lines and to destroy rivalry in the student body, to improve student life and increase patriotism. It was intended to draw its members from a broader population base than theCorps. Indeed, the group was known for its middle-class membership while the Corps' was mainly aristocratic.[1] At first, a significant component of its membership were students who had taken part in theGerman wars of liberation against the Napoleonic occupation of Germany.[2]
Its motto was “honor, freedom, fatherland” (German:Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland),[2] and the original colors were red-black-red with a golden oak leaves cluster, which might be based on the uniform of theLützow Free Corps, being a corps of volunteer soldiers during the wars of liberation.
TheBurschenschaften were student associations that engaged in numerous social activities. However, their most important goal was to foster loyalty to the concept of a united German national state as well as strong engagement for freedom, rights, and democracy. Quite oftenBurschenschaften decided to stress extreme nationalist or sometimes also liberal ideas, leading in time to the exclusion of Jews, who were considered to be un-German. Nevertheless, allBurschenschaften were banned as revolutionary byKlemens Wenzel von Metternich ofAustria when he issued the reactionaryCarlsbad Decrees in 1819.
ManyBurschenschafter took part in theHambacher Fest in 1832 and the democratic Revolution in 1848/49. After this revolution had been suppressed, plenty of leadingBurschenschafter, such asFriedrich Hecker andCarl Schurz, went abroad. After the foundation of theGerman Empire in 1871, theBurschenschaften movement faced a severe crisis, as one major goal had been achieved to some extent:German unification. In the 1880s, a renaissance movement, theReformburschenschaften, led by the ideas of Küster, arose and many newB!B! were founded. It was also during this time until the 1890s when many members turned increasingly towards anti-Semitic outlook believing it provided an approach to achieving the fraternity's fundamental goal. Such members viewed the Jews as a problem that hampered the unification of Germany and the achievement of new values the organization advanced.[3] There were members who resigned to protest a resolution adopted at anEisenach meeting declaring that Burschenschaft "have no Jewish members and do not plan to have any in the future."[3]
In 1935/36, mostBurschenschaften north of the Austrian Alps were dissolved by the Nazi government or transformed and fused with otherStudentenverbindungen into so-calledKameradschaften (comradeships). Some Nazis (e.g.Ernst Kaltenbrunner) and Nazi opponents (Karl Sack, Hermann Kaiser) were members ofBurschenschaften.Theodor Herzl, anAustrianJewish journalist who founded modern politicalZionism, was also a member of aBurschenschaft.However, he resigned two years after he joined because of the fraternity's antisemitism.[4][5]
While in communistEast GermanyBurschenschaften were prohibited as representatives of a bourgeois attitude to be extinguished, inWest Germany mostBurschenschaften were refounded in the 1950s. Some of them had to be transferred into other cities, since Germany had lost great parts of its territories after the Second World War, and manyBurschenschaften from East Germany also tried to find a new home. The allied victors had forbidden refoundingBurschenschaften originally, but this could not be upheld in a liberal surrounding. In the 1970s and 1980s, theBurschenschaften, as many other student fraternities, underwent a crisis: a lack of new members and strong attacks by the leftist student community. In the 1990s manyBurschenschaften that had left Eastern Germany in the 1940s and 1950s returned to their traditional home universities in the East.
Roughly 160Burschenschaften still exist today and many are organized in different organizations ranging from progressive to nationalistic. Among the latter is theDeutsche Burschenschaft organization (DB, German Burschenschaft), which represents about a third of theBurschenschaften. Others are organized in theSchwarzburgbundSchwarzburgbund (Schwarzburg League), theNeue Deutsche BurschenschaftNeue Deutsche Burschenschaft (NeueDB, New Germany Fraternity) or theAllgemeine Deutsche BurschenschaftAllgemeine Deutsche Burschenschaft (General German Student Union). While theDB still insists uponFichte's idea of a German nation based on language, thought and culture, theNeueDB favors defining Germany as the political Germany established by theGerman Basic Law (constitution) in 1949 and altered by the1990 unification. ManyBurschenschaften are not organized at all since they do not see an organization that represents their values sufficiently.
Because of theGerman emigration into Chile in the late 19th century, there are also someBurschenschaften in Chile, organized in theBund Chilenischer Burschenschaften in contact with the German and Austrian organizations. These areB! Araucania (Santiago),B! Andinia (Santiago),B! Montania (Concepción),B! Ripuaria (Viña Del Mar) andB! Vulkania (Valdivia). Contrary to popular belief, there is no precise political view point held by these Burschenschaften, in fact, they don't really mix with politics, mostly focusing on maintaining B! culture (still, fencing is prohibited in Chile).
MostBurschenschaften arepflichtschlagend, i.e. their members must sustain a number ofMensuren.Academic fencing is still an important part of their self-understanding as well as political education.
ManyBurschenschaften, often found in certain "umbrella" organisations (such as theBurschenschaftliche Gemeinschaft), are associated with right-wing orfar-right ideas, in particular with the wish for aGerman state encompassing Austria.[6]In 2013 one Bonn fraternity proposed that only students of German origin should be eligible to join aBurschenschaft. Reportedly half of member clubs threatened to leave in a row over proposed ID cards and a decision to label an opponent ofAdolf Hitler a "traitor".[7]Many of theBurschenschaften that left theDeutsche Burschenschaft following this were later involved in the founding of a new organization, theAllgemeine Deutsche Burschenschaft.[8][9]
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