Corps Hercynia Clausthal

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coat of arms Circle
Corps Hercynia Clausthal - Wappen.jpg Corps Hercynia Clausthal - Zirkel.svg
Basic data
University: Clausthal University of Technology
Founding: April 19, 1866
Place of foundation: Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Umbrella organization: Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention
Website: www.corpshercynia.de

The Corps Hercynia is a colorful and striking student association that belongs to the umbrella organization of the Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convent (WSC). The Corps Hercynia is the oldest of the student associations founded at the university town of Clausthal and still in existence today.

At the Technical University of Clausthal , Hercynia forms the Clausthal Senior Citizens' Convent ( Clausthaler SC ) together with the Weinheimer Corps Montania and Borussia .

Circle, motto and color

Until 1900 the colors of the corps were light blue-white-light blue. However, since there was often confusion with the city colors of Clausthal and some other clubs, they were changed to light blue-white-dark blue. The two-tone fox ribbon has the colors light blue and white. The hat and barrel are light blue. Instead of the pekesche , which is common in many connections, the mountain smock is worn on festive occasions .

The circle consists of the first letters H (ercynia) v (ivat) c (rescat) f (loreat) (Latin: "Hercynia may live, grow and blossom"). The motto is “Famam extendere factis, hoc virtutis opus” (after Virgil's Aeneis , Book 10, 467, Latin, as much as “to extend fame through deeds, that is the work of bravery”), as the motto chosen was “ Glückauf “ To emphasize the solidarity with the Upper Harz mining industry .

Founding of the corps and first years

At the Clausthal mountain school, the mountain school regulations of 1859 forbade the so-called “ regulatory ” to form “corps associations or country teams”. The regulation still applied after the mountain school had been elevated to a mountain academy in 1864 . This led to the fact that many mountain school students switched to the mining academies in Berlin or Freiberg , where even then there was full academic freedom . Despite this regulation and although two connections had already been dissolved, the Corps Hercynia was founded on April 19, 1866 in the Voigtslust colliery near Clausthal under the cover name "Connection for the promotion of comfort and unity among the members". The founding members all came from Clausthal mining families and had been members of a Concordia school association at the Clausthal grammar school .

Already in the first constitution of the corps of June 1, 1866, the character of a striking connection, motto and weapon motto had been specified. The colors chosen were “light blue-white-light blue” - the city colors of Clausthal. The first scale was held on November 15, 1866 in Göttingen , the first Clausthal scale on February 23, 1867 in the Voigtslust colliery.

It was not until May 9, 1867 that they dared to take the next step and publicly declared themselves the "Corps Hercynia". As a result, Bergrat Roemer , the director of the Bergakademie at the time, announced the termination of the connection on July 4, 1867. A submission by Hercynen to the Mining and Forestry Office, the then superior department of the Mining Academy, supported by all professors of the Bergakademie, led to a rethink there, because it was feared that if the ban persisted, even more students would migrate to other universities. On October 27, 1867, Bergrat von Groddeck , Roemer's successor, finally lifted the ban on connections with a lot of people.

After this regulation was repealed, further connections were established at the Bergakademie. Up until the turn of the century, these were the Corps Montania in 1868, the Corps Borussia in 1875, the evening pint of Clausthaler students in 1890 as the predecessor of the Schlägel und Eisen fraternity , in 1892 the academic bowling club Glück Auf as the predecessor of the Germania gymnastics club and in 1903 the Association of German Students in Clausthal (VdSt) .

On November 23, 1867, a Senior Citizens' Convention (SC) was founded, to which three members each of the Hercynia and the Verein zum Lustigen Arschleder - the predecessor of today's Corps Montania founded in 1867 - belonged. The task of the Senior Citizens' Convention was to settle the frequent disputes between the students of the Bergakademie. After the establishment of the Corps Montania on July 11, 1868, Clausthaler SC emerged from this. The third member of the Clausthaler SC was the Corps Borussia, founded in 1875, in 1892.

The Corps of Clausthaler SC were admitted to the WSC on May 22, 1874 through the agency of the Freiberger SC. In 1883 there were disputes in the WSC, because the two mining academies Clausthal and Freiberg did not apply the Matura principle . Students could be admitted as interns even without a secondary school leaving certificate and, after a waiting period of one year and an entrance exam, could be admitted as regular students. When an application in the WSC to exclude the corps of the two mining academies for this reason failed, the other universities left the association and re-established the WSC the following year. The old WSC was continued by the Clausthalers and Freibergers for another five years. Only after the Matura principle also applied to the Clausthal Mining Academy through a ministerial decree in 1905 , the Clausthaler SC was re-accepted into the WSC on May 6, 1905.

When the First World War broke out , the mining academy was closed because both the students and part of the teaching staff had been drafted into military service. During this time the corps was also idle.

From 1919 until the end of World War II

In January 1919, lectures at the Bergakademie were resumed, and the interrupted corps operations were continued. In the period that followed, the number of students at the Bergakademie rose continuously. While only 205 students were enrolled in the 1919 summer semester , their number had risen to 497 in 1921 and reached its peak in the 1923/24 winter semester with 913 students. As a result, many new connections were established in Clausthal, but they had to be suspended again after a few years due to the now falling student numbers.

From 1933 onwards, pressure from the NSDAP and its branches was increasingly exerted on the corps and other connections . The active members had to join the National Socialist German Student Union (NSDStB) and the corps was largely displaced by the SA training and camaraderie evenings. Nevertheless, until 1935 the leadership of the Clausthal student body had been in the hands of corporate students, although the NS student union founded in 1925 had already made up the majority in the general student committees at many other universities since 1930/31 . Under pressure from the NSDStB, the WSC disbanded on October 20, 1935, followed by the Clausthaler Corps on November 6, 1935. In contrast to the activities , the old rulers of the Corps were retained.

The students were now grouped into comradeships of the NS student union, which all freshmen had to join. While there was initially only one such organization in Clausthal (the “original comradeship” from 1935), three different comradeships emerged in 1937 at the Bergakademie within the NSDStB, which were essentially based on the old association structures. These were:

  • "Kameradschaft I", named after Emil Thuy , consisting of former members of Germania , Rhenania and Glückauf , the meeting point was the house of the former gymnastics association "Germania" on the "Bremer Höhe".
  • "Kameradschaft II" (called "Schlägel und Eisen") made up of former members of Schlägel und Eisen and the VdSt , the meeting point was the house of the former fraternity "Schlägel und Eisen" on Adolf-Ey-Straße.
  • "Comradeship III" (named after Kurt Elliesen, a Clausthal Hercynen who died in the fight against insurgents in 1921 ), consisting of the three corps, meeting point was the house of the former Corps Borussia.

These camaraderie persisted during World War II .

The flags of all Clausthal corporations were handed over to the Rector of the Bergakademie in a ceremony on September 25, 1937 and placed in the auditorium, where they remained until 1945. From 1946 the flags were returned to the re-established connections. At the beginning of the Second World War, the university was initially closed, but due to the need for qualified engineers, it was temporarily operated in trimesters from January 1940 . From the winter semester of 1941/42, teaching was fully resumed and continued until the Americans marched in on April 13, 1945.

Time after 1945

After Professor Gerhard Krüger, Rector of the Bergakademie since December 1945 , successfully opposed efforts by the British occupying forces to close the Bergakademie, lectures were resumed on June 12, 1946. In the first semester the number of students was limited to 200, but rose rapidly in the following period and in the 1950 summer semester 721 students were already enrolled.

After the end of the war, the comradeships were dissolved, but the formation of connections was initially prohibited. Initially, only the interests of the Bergakademie were allowed, such as B. in the form of the General Student Committee (AStA) and student councils . Later friendship alliances were also allowed. In mid-July 1946, former members of the Kameradschaft III formed the “Bergakademischen Verein” (BAV) as such a friendship association. This was licensed by the "Education Officer" of the military government in Göttingen on October 14, 1946 after submitting the statutes and the list of members.

In the summer of 1950, the old owners of the former Corps Montania decided to build their own corps from the members of the BAV. Already on October 8, 1949, the Weinheim Association of Old Corps Students was re-established, the aim of which was to re-establish the WSC as an association of active corps. As a result, the remaining members of the BAV founded the Corps "Hercynia-Borussia" and on February 17, 1951, Clausthaler SC was reopened with these two corps. In the summer of 1952, the old Corps Borussia was restituted from this connection and on June 21, 1952 the Corps “Hercynia-Borussia” again took on the old name “Hercynia”. Since then, the Clausthaler SC has existed again in its old form with the three Corps Hercynia, Montania and Borussia.

Corps homes

Corphaus of the Hercynia

After it was founded in the Voigtslust colliery house (converted into a spa facility in 1896, now a youth home school), the corps met in the colliery house. In the fall of 1866 the move to the “Hotel Rathaus” was made. After the death of Hermann Koch, the father of one of the founders of the corps, the family moved into his parents' house on Kronenplatz in 1877. The next stop was two rooms in the “Deutscher Kaiser” hotel. In 1894, Ukena, another of the Corps' founders, acquired a small house on the lower Zellbach, which he left to the Corps in July 1895. The corps could stay here until 1912.

The year before, a commission had been set up to draw up plans for the construction of a new corp house . The foundation stone was laid on July 17, 1912 and on June 14, 1913, the new corp house on the upper Zellbach was handed over to Aktivitas on the occasion of the foundation festival. When the active corps was dissolved in 1935, the old owners sold the house at Zellbach.

After that, the Prussian House (Corps Borussia) was the seat of the Hercynes for a long time. In 1953 the foundation stone was laid for an own corp house after they had acquired a somewhat secluded property on Adolf-Ey-Strasse. In November 1954, the as yet unfinished building was occupied and the new building was inaugurated at the foundation festival in June 1955.

Association of Old Men

On May 31, 1902, some old men in Bochum founded the "Old Men Association of the Corps Hercynia". The purpose of the association was to support the active corps. The first general meeting took place on November 8, 1903 in Clausthal. On April 4, 1905, the association was entered in the register of associations at the Zellerfeld Royal District Court under the number 11 and the name “Association of Old Men of the Corps Hercynia zu Clausthal” (VAH).

In 1935, when the active corps disbanded, the VAH remained in existence, but renamed itself to the "Association of former Clausthaler Hercynen". After the restitution of the corps in 1952, the old gentlemen's association again took on the old name - chosen in 1905 -.

External relations

The first friendship contract was concluded on December 4, 1882 with the Corps Montania Freiberg, today's Corps Saxo Montania Aachen , due to the close relationship with the Bergakademie Freiberg . The relationship ended in 1894 when there were disagreements over inclusion in the new WSC.

After the Clausthaler SC was reinstated in the WSC, supported by the Freiberger SC, a friendship agreement was signed with the Freiberger Corps Franconia (today Corps Franconia Fribergensis zu Aachen ) on July 1, 1905 . In 1926 this was expanded to a cartel agreement , which was renewed after the restitution of the Corps Franconia in Aachen in 1955 and which still exists today (2015).

Clausthal Hercynen

  • Robert Biewend (1844–1913), Professor of Metallurgy at the Clausthal Bergakademie, founder of the Corps
  • Jochen Friedrich Kirchhoff (1927–2019), entrepreneur, chairman of the advisory board and the circle of shareholders of the Kirchhoff Group
  • Friedrich Klockmann (1858–1937), mineralogist, professor of mineralogy and petrography, rector of the RWTH Aachen. The mineral klockmannite was named after him.
  • Hugo Koch (1845–1932), director of the mining inspection in Tarnowitz in Upper Silesia, director of the state lead and silver ore mine Friedrichsgrube, head of the steelworks office in Friedrichshütte, honorary professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig, founder of the corps
  • Wulf Dietrich Liestmann (* 1937), steel manager
  • Walter Lippe (1885–1963), mountain director, member of the Saxon state parliament
  • Karl Schuh (1876–1960), iron and steel engineer, board member of the AG for iron and steel works in the Thyssen Group, board member of the United Steel Works, smeltery director of the iron and steel works in Meiderich
  • Gustav Weinholz (1874–1951), mining engineer, board member of Braunschweigischen Kohlen-Bergwerke AG

literature

  • Hans Schüler: Weinheimer SC-Chronik , Darmstadt 1927, pp. 592–619
  • Michael Doeberl u. a. (Ed.): Das akademische Deutschland , Volume 2: The German universities and their academic citizens , Berlin 1931, p. 714
  • Clausthal University of Technology (Hrsg.): Clausthal University of Technology. For the bicentenary 1775–1975 . Volume I: The Bergakademie and its history. Piepersche Buchdruckerei and Verlaganstalt, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1975.
  • Georg Müller : Clausthal University of Technology. Outline of their historical development . Clausthal University Library, 2007, ISBN 978-3-940394-05-7 .
  • Max Feuchter: History of the Corps Hercynia zu Clausthal am Harz 1866-1935 . Carl Gerber Book and Publishing Company, Munich, 1942.
  • Hermann Meyer: 100 years of Corps Hercynia zu Clausthal 1866–1966 . Carl Blech printing works, Mülheim (Ruhr), 1966.
  • Paulgerhard Gladen : The Kösener and Weinheimer Corps: Your representation in individual chronicles . 1st edition. WJK-Verlag, Hilden 2007, ISBN 978-3-933892-24-9 , pp. 239 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e 200 years TU Clausthal , pp. 66–67
  2. ↑ 200 years TU Clausthal , p. 70
  3. ↑ Chronik Hercynia 1966 , p. 56ff
  4. ↑ Chronicle Hercynia 1935 , pp. 11, 33
  5. ↑ a b c d 200 years of Clausthal University of Technology , pp. 76–77
  6. ↑ 200 years TU Clausthal , pp. 71–74
  7. ↑ Chronicle Hercynia 1966 , p. 77
  8. ↑ Georg Müller, TU Clausthal , p. 20
  9. ↑ Georg Müller, TU Clausthal , p. 18
  10. ↑ 200 years of Clausthal University of Technology , p. 81
  11. ↑ 200 years of Clausthal University of Technology , p. 84
  12. ↑ Chronik Hercynia 1966 , p. 86ff
  13. ^ EH Eberhard: Handbook of the student liaison system. Leipzig, 1924/25, p. 152.