Student prison (Göttingen)

A cell of the Göttingen prison with prison furniture

The student prison in Göttingen served as a prison for students at the Georg August University until 1933 . Today it is in the auditorium on Wilhelmsplatz.

history

The origins of the Göttingen jail go back to the time when all members of the university were still subject to the academic jurisdiction that the university held. With the establishment of a student detention center, prison sentences of up to 14 days became common. Criminal offenses included insults, public drunkenness, nocturnal noise, laziness and riding too fast around town. A detention order has regulated behavior in detention.

The first four detention cells for students were between the Paulinerkirche and the college building in Papendiek, which was completed in 1737. Schoolchildren may also have been arrested there.

Council House

Wooden door with carvings from the prison in the Concilienhaus

However, these premises could not withstand the rapid increase in student numbers. Therefore, in 1764 the detention center was moved to the so-called Concilienhaus in Prinzenstrasse 1, which the theologian Christoph August Heumann had previously lived in. This prison had three cells. In addition, rooms were available for the academic court, which met here on Tuesdays and Fridays.

In the 1820s, when Heinrich Heine was in Göttingen, a pedell by the name of Brühbach was responsible for running the detention center, but apparently he did not enjoy much respect from the students. In his trip to the Harz Mountains , Heine reports the following incident:

“After I had appeased my stomach a little, I noticed a gentleman with two ladies in the same tavern who were about to leave. This gentleman was dressed all in green and even wore green glasses. [...] The Greens wanted me to recommend a hotel to him in Göttingen, and I advised him to ask the first best student there about the Hotel de Brühbach. [...] Both women asked me at the same time: whether decent people were staying at the Hotel de Brühbach. I said yes with a clear conscience, and when the lovely shamrock drove off, I said hello again through the window. The Sonnenwirt smiled sly and probably knew that the prison is called Hotel de Brühbach by the students in Göttingen. "

- Heinrich Heine : Travel Pictures, Part One: Die Harzreise, 1824

Accordingly, the nickname of this second prison in Hotel de Gräfe was adapted when Brühbach handed over his office to Gräfe. The later Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was an inmate in the "Hotel de Brühbach" prison several times during his student days . Among other things, he was accused of participating in forbidden duels and smoking tobacco in public. He had to serve a total of 18 days, of which, however, he was allowed to serve three at his future place of study in Berlin . The door that Bismarck v. Bismarck Han XID scratched, can now be seen in the Bismarckhäuschen . A second door of this dungeon is owned by the Municipal Museum and can be seen in the dungeon in the auditorium.

Dungeon in the Aula building

The auditorium of the University of Göttingen around 1837

Typical wall decorations: compasses , silhouettes and prison sayings

In 1837 the auditorium on Neuer Markt , which has been called Wilhelmsplatz after Wilhelm IV , was opened. The imposing building was supposed to have administrative tasks in addition to representational purposes. Among other things, the academic jurisdiction was housed in the west wing.

This had become necessary because the cells in the Concilienhaus were again insufficient. The university continued to see rising student numbers - and the academic authorities were urged to take tough measures. Still, sitting in the dungeon had become a joke for the students. Imprisonment was good form and one was proud of it. As an expression of this, many inmates immortalized themselves on the walls with their names, likenesses and the symbols of their respective student association . The obligatory trip to the prison was part of these later stays in prison. Some of the convicted students were put in heavy chains and led through the city disguised as convicts, followed by a brewery wagon with heavy horses on which was a large barrel of beer and a beer organ . Speeches were then given in front of the auditorium and the convicts were solemnly led into detention.

The Hotel de Gräfe was closed and the detention center was moved to the Aula building. There it originally comprised twelve cells on two floors. 1877 academic jurisdiction was abolished, but enacted Prussia , was one of the Göttingen since 1866, on 29 May 1879, the law concerning the legal status of students and the discipline to the state universities, the Academy of Münster and the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg , the continued to contain measures against students, including imprisonment for up to two weeks. Nevertheless, the university court steadily lost its importance, so that fewer students were convicted. From 1900, only four detention cells on the upper floor were used as such. The other rooms were used as storage or - on the floor below - heavily redesigned and then added to the administration.

In August 1914, a Canadian studying in Göttingen was surprised by the outbreak of the First World War . As an "enemy alien" he was to be taken to an internment camp. The then vice-rector of the university took him to jail, and two months later he was finally allowed to leave for Canada.

The detention center was used until 1933. Due to the low number of inmates, one room was essentially used in the end, as the drawings show. This remained in its original condition - including the furniture (bed with headrest, table, chair, bench, stove, toilet bowl and wash basin). The other three rooms on the floor, however, were filled with filing shelves from the administration and library. Today the upper prison cells can be visited during city tours.

literature

• Laws for students at the Georg August University in Göttingen. Hanover 1835.
• W. Ebel: The detention center and the criminal liability of the university. In: Georgia Augusta. Issue 16, Göttingen 1971.
• Gert Hahne: The Karzer - Beer! Innocence! Revenge! The Göttingen university detention center and its history (s) . Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-924781-54-0 .
• Gert Hahne: Georgia Augusta's dungeon. In: “Completely designed for studying.” The museums, collections and gardens of the University of Göttingen. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3892444528 , pp. 29–31.

Web links

Commons : Karzer (Göttingen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detention center in Göttingen

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hahne, p. 11 f .; JS Pütter, F. Saalfeld: Attempt of an academic scholarly story from the Georg-Augustus University in Göttingen. Vol. 4, Vandenhoeck 1938.
2. ↑ Hansheiner Schumacher (ed.): Fraternity Holzminda Göttingen. Contributions to its history 1860-1985. Göttingen 1985, p. 30.
3. ↑ Hahne, p. 16 f.
4. ^ City of Göttingen (ed.): Karzer of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Göttingen 1994, p. 6.

Coordinates: 51 ° 32 ′ 2.6 ″  N , 9 ° 56 ′ 16.7 ″  E