Lichtgedanken 02

S C HW E R P U N K T 33 02 | LICHT GEDANKEN The Wartburg Festival as a signal of political awakening is one of the most multifacetted events in German history. But without Jena students, the event at the castle which once offered Martin Luther a refuge, would never have taken place in this fashion 200 years ago. Calendar: 200 years of the Wartburg Festival BY JULIANE DÖLITZSCH It goes without saying that the Wartburg Festival in 1817 is inseparably associa- ted with Thuringia due to Wartburg’s location in Eisenach. Less well known is the fact that the original student fra- ternity from Jena issued invitations, thereby starting the ball rolling for the joint festival. After receiving an applica- tion from the students, the Weimar go- vernment of Grand Duke Karl August determined the site of the meeting. The students were eyeing three occasions for the festival: the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, a memorial to the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in 1813 and the staging of a national meeting of stu- dents. »Loosely formulated, you could also call the celebrations a ’students party’. The whole event only became highly politically charged as a result of the sub- sequent public debate and the quickly ensuing slanders,« states adjunct Prof. Dr Joachim Bauer from the University Archives with conviction. On the one hand, there were speeches at the event against parochialism and in favour of a national state, and from 1814 it became a ritualized celebration in the sense of a peace festival in which along with 500 students from 13 universities, the resi- dents of Eisenach also took part. Even professors from the alma mater Jenensis and government officials were present. Students as a compensating element On the other hand, central, internal stu- dent concerns such as the foundation of a binding »fraternity« at all German universities, were discussed. This is also reflected in the course of the festival: October 18 was primarily dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther and the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig in 1813, while exclusively student themes were addressed on 19 October. »The Jena students often acted as a compen- sating element between more radical fraternities during the two days. It was principally the – definitely politically in- tended – burning of aristocratic symbols and book dummies on the periphery of the event that in the end triggered the ensuing denigration and persecution of the members of the fraternity,« explains Dr Stefan Gerber from the research of- fice for the Recent Regional History of Thuringia. It is undisputed today that the Wartburg Festival represented a minor milestone on the path to the formation of the Ger- man nation. The ban on fraternities after 1819, in particular, reinforced them in their collective identity and advanced the struggle for a nation state until the German Reich was founded in 1871. One of the political symbols of democracy was also born 200 years ago: »The flag of the Jena students made in 1816 by Jena’s ’women and maidens’, consisted of the colours black, red and gold. And as the students from Jena had issued the invitations to Wartburg, their flag led the procession. Since the Hambach Festival of 1832 and above all during the revolution in 1848, black, red and gold now prevailed on a national level as a political symbol,« Bauer recounts. The reasons for the Wartburg Festival were as complex as its subsequent inter- pretation. The three-day conference in Wartburg Castle from 11 to 13 October of this year is evidence that the interpre- tation of the Wartburg Festival has still not been completed after 200 years. His- torians from all over Germany will pon- der »The Wartburg Festival in 1817 as a European Event« – and perhaps once again hit on completely new patterns of meaning. Procession of the students to Wartburg Castle on 18.10.1817, Heinrich Hose, copper engraving, not dated. F AT R E