Swiss student union Helvetia

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Swiss student union Helvetia

coat of arms Circle
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Basic data
Founding: 1832
Abbreviation: H!
Color status : Colored
Colours: Crimson-White-Crimson
Colours:
Cap: Crimson flat cap
Type of Confederation: Men's association
Position to the scale : Striking
Motto: Fatherland, friendship, progress
Field shout ( Panier ): Helvetia be the banner!
Website: www.centralhelvetia.ch

The Helvetia student association (full name: Swiss student association Helvetia , French Société suisse d'etudiants Helvétia ) is a Swiss student association . Today she has sections at five Swiss universities in Basel , Bern , Geneva , Lausanne and Zurich . The sections are united in a central association. Helvetia currently has around 60 active people and around 600 old men. The members of Helvetia refer to themselves as "Helveter".

The motto of Helvetia is Fatherland, Friendship, Progress , its members wear a ribbon (crimson-white-crimson) and hat (crimson). The Basel, Bern and Zurich sections are members of the Swiss Armed Forces Ring , strike and maintain the principle of unconditional satisfaction . According to the principle of the alliance of life, membership in Helvetia lasts for life. Simultaneous membership in another university association is not permitted. Helvetia is a men's association. After completing your studies, you usually transfer to an old man's section.

history

The Helvetia was on 11./12. Founded June 1832 at Gasthof Engel in Hitzkirch in the canton of Lucerne . Your founding fathers were radical members of the Swiss Zofinger Association of the Lucerne, Bern and Zurich sections. They wanted to distance themselves from the, in their opinion, all too moderate, liberal stance of the Zofinger Association. When the club was founded, Franz Dula from Lucerne uttered the essential words for the club's history: "O friends! We were terribly wrong in the Zofinger club!" The background was the political upheaval in Switzerland between 1830 and 1848. In various cantons of Switzerland there were “radical” upheavals, the liberal “ regeneration ”.

During the time of the Sonderbund and after the founding of the Swiss federal state in 1848, Helvetia was the reservoir of Swiss radicalism . After 1847 the terms “radical” and “free-spirited” or “liberal” were often used with the same meaning in Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland, the Free Democratic Party still calls itself Parti radical-démocratique Suisse and is popularly known as les radicaux (“the radicals”). Many Helveter were later members of this party.

The strong political orientation and the conflicts of the time were reflected in numerous expulsions, mergers, and new foundations. With the founding of the central association by the Lausanne, Bern and Aarau sections in 1858, the life of the union became more permanent. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Zurich and Basel sections also joined, while those in Lucerne, Aarau, Friborg, Solothurn and Neuchâtel disappeared. The Geneva section, with its checkered history, has been part of the central association without interruption since 1972.

The central association, based on the statutes of radical democratic principles , adopted the motto fatherland, friendship, progress in 1859. During the First World War , particular emphasis was placed on patriotism in order to counteract the growing contradictions between the population of German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland . Like other university student associations, Helvetia formed an influential training and cooptation structure politically and associatively . Former activists played important roles in politics and the public, especially in the cantons of Bern and Vaud , where the association represented a recruiting pool for the future political elite.

today

Today Helvetia is politically and denominationally neutral and emphasizes the maintenance of tradition and student customs. The connection is unique in the Swiss student union landscape. With the Zofingia , the Falkensteinerbund and the Swiss Student Association (StV) there are also other unions that overcome the language barriers inherent in Switzerland, but Helvetia is unique due to the different interpretation of the fencing principle: the German-speaking sections are decisive, the sections of French Switzerland are not . That is why Helvetia distinguishes between a Welschen and a German-Swiss mentality. The members of the individual sections maintain a lively exchange across language barriers and the Röstigraben .

Today, Helvetia has sections in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich. In June 2007 Helvetia celebrated its 175th anniversary in Solothurn .

Club magazine

Helvetia has published a central paper on a regular basis since 1882. In addition to internal issues, the publication also deals with politics and literature and is available in Swiss university libraries.

Known members

A list of Helveters with Wikipedia entry can be found in the Wikipedia category: Corporated in the Swiss Student Union Helvetia .

Sorted by year of birth

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ EH Eberhard: Handbook of the student liaison system. Leipzig, 1924/25, p. 191.

See also

Web links

Sections