Moved to Witzenhausen

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The move of the Göttingen student body to Witzenhausen in July 1818 was the second major move from the university town of Göttingen in the 19th century after moving to Münden in 1806. It did not have the effect the students intended in the dispute with the authorities of the Kingdom of Hanover .

Göttingen students (1818)
Return of the Göttingen students from the Kerstlingeröder field (1790)

Excerpts were a political weapon used by the students, which was first used in Göttingen with the move to Kerstlingröderfeld on July 26, 1790, and was used very successfully at the time. This large excerpt from Göttingen students from the 18th century is therefore a legend and model for all other excerpts from the 19th century. Even the move to Hann. Münden in 1806 was less successful for the students. The occasion for the move in 1818 was similar to that which led to the move to Kerstlingröderfeld in 1790: On July 2, 1818, a student had a dispute with a Göttingen craftsman, the butcher Krische, because the student, looking for rain protection, was passing through the meat stalls at the town hall had bumped into a boy. The exchange between the two ended with a physical attack by the craftsman against the student, who immediately complained to the local police. The Göttingen police senator Ulrich saw that the craftsman was at fault, but nevertheless referred the student to the criminal court. The matter was taken up by the entire student body and made their cause, because the relationship between the student body and the citizens of Göttingen was already suffering from tension at that time.

Ulrichs Garten 1801 on a record book sheet
Memorial to Gottfried August Bürger in Ulrich's garden (removed in 1956)

The seniors of the Göttingen corps , who saw themselves as the representatives of the entire student body, therefore called the student body to a meeting on July 11th at the Ulrich, an inn in front of the Albanikirche , because the expected satisfaction had not come. The student body elected the student Böhmker from Eutin as their spokesman. He gave a short speech and without much further discussion it was decided to get the satisfaction out of throwing the butcher's window. The house of a Krische namesake was caught, which was at least just noticed before the whole house threatened to be torn down. Thereupon the students turned to the house of the police senator Ulrich and smashed his window with a scream of "Pereat". The prorector of the university rushed to reassure the students and assured them that university hunters and pedals would not bother them.

However, the city police reported directly to the Cabinet Ministry in Hanover via Estafette on July 12 and asked for an investigation into the incident. For this purpose, the government sent Hofrat Georg Friedrich Falcke on July 20, who was reinforced the following day with a division of soldiers from the nearest garrison in Northeim. On July 22nd, a tumult broke out on the Göttingen market square, in which the mounted military wounded nine students with sword cuts. On July 23, Falke reinforced the hussars by 40 infantrymen. This led to the decision of the student body to leave the university town immediately. From Witzenhausen, the first place outside the Kingdom of Hanover , the seniors of the Corps Guestphalia, von Forckenbeck, and the Corps Vandalia, Ludwig von Wickede , tried to negotiate as deputies with the government of the Kingdom of Hanover. Both the government and the Georg August University refused to start negotiations. Ultimately, the children of the kingdom were informed that they could not count on being employed in the Hanoverian civil service and that they would lose their scholarships if they did not return to Göttingen by August 15th. At this news the student body imposed on the University for a period of two years the disrepute . The only exceptions were Hanoverian regional children and scholarship holders.

As a result of this notoriety, the number of students at the University of Göttingen fell from 1158 students in the summer semester of 1818 to 858 students in the following winter semester. The seniors of the three Göttingen state corps, including the student Karl von Bothmer from Corps Bremensia and the Hanoverian senior Friedrich Schrader , were severely punished after their return in the course of the investigations by the academic authorities, although they had tried to appease their fellow students.

All corps were officially dissolved, but the three Landescorps Hannovera, Bremensia and Brunsviga continued to exist in secret because their members were not affected by the disreputation in the interests of their future career prospects. The other corps came in due to the boycott effect of the declaration of disrepute, as most of their members left Göttingen. It was not until around 1820 that life in the student associations in Göttingen flourished again temporarily, even for outsiders, despite strong pressure from persecution.

Another move to Witzenhausen took place in 1823.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stadtmüller (1963), p. 81 ff.