Association of German Boys

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The Association of German Boys (VDB) was a fraternity corporation association . It was founded on May 8, 1920 under the leadership of the reform fraternities Alemannia Leipzig (today in Bamberg and Leipzig), Adelphia Gießen and Marcomannia Frankfurt / M. (not reactivated after the Second World War) in Giessen . Still under the impression of the lost First World War , the young umbrella organization set itself the goal of maintaining “genuine German sentiments” and working for the “welfare of the fatherland ” on the basis of an “intimate friendship”. The VDB strived for a "recovery of academic life by educating its members to be physically and mentally capable men". He saw himself as a fraternity association and thus part of the fraternity movement.

Essence and history

Its member fraternities saw themselves in the tradition of the arministic direction of the original fraternity . While a large number of the fraternities of the General Deputy Convent (the later German fraternity ) brought about an alignment with the other arms student associations during the Wilhelmine era , the fraternities of the VDB sought to return to the original ideals of the original fraternity. Consequently, all one-sided terms of honor were rejected and the duel was discarded. Only the court of honor was recognized as a means of restoring honor . With its ideals, the VDB was much closer to the General German Burschenbund (ADB) than the German Burschenschaft (DB).

The association went through ups and downs until the National Socialists came to power . Like all other corporations, the VDB was also faced with the choice of affiliation to the NSDStB or self-dissolution in 1935 and consequently dissolved.

Very soon after the end of World War II and the reopening of the universities in the western occupation zones, the old gentlemen's associations of the former VDB came together to re-establish their connections. On December 10, 1950 , under the leadership of Ceresia Freising, which had already been re-established in 1949, the VDB was officially re-established with the former owners of Adelphia Gießen, Ascania Cologne , Baldur Cologne, Cheruskia Bonn and Marcomannia Frankfurt / M. At the same time, it was decided to join the Convent of German Academic Associations (CDA). The fraternity Germania Göttingen in the Schwarzburgbund (SB), which was re-established in 1950, proposed the conclusion of a friendship treaty in 1951 to the three first re-established VDB fraternities. In 1954 only three active corporations belonged to the association (Cheruskia Bonn, Adelphia Gießen, Ascania Cologne ). Cheruskia led the suburb. Baldur Cologne and Marcomannia Frankfurt / M. planned reactivation. The association was of the opinion that under these circumstances one would not be able to survive on one's own. At the suggestion of fraternities in the SB, the intention was to enter into friendship relationships with them.

The friendship treaties provided for:

  1. Cooperation in higher education policy
  2. Mutual visits at highly official events
  3. Opportunity to become active in the befriended fraternity when changing universities

Friendship relationships existed in 1954 between

  1. Cheruskia Bonn and Germania Göttingen (SB) and Vandalia Freiburg (SB)
  2. Ascania Cologne and Germania Göttingen (SB) and Vandalia Freiburg (SB)

Adelphia Gießen was about to close with Mainfranken Würzburg (SB).

According to the then VDB chairman, the VDB wanted to further deepen its relationship with the SB fraternities. At the Göttingen Germania Foundation Festival in 1955, the then spokesman for Cheruskia Bonn handed over the draft of a friendship agreement with the aim of bringing the VDB fraternities closer to the SB. However, negotiations stalled at the end of the year. As a result, on December 15, all VDB groups joined the Frankfurter Arbeits -gemeinschaft (FAG), an amalgamation of the former DB and ADB unions Germania Darmstadt, Ghibellinia Karlsruhe, Gothia Darmstadt, Wartburg Gießen and the Freie Burschen Stuttgart.

On May 12, 1956, with the support of a Cherusker from Bonn, the Alemannia Leipzig fraternity was re-established in Erlangen. The active Alemannia was immediately taken back into the VDB.

On 23/24 June 1956 constituted the Giessener Burschenring (GBR) in Giessen. In addition to the old VBD fraternities, Ghibellinia Karlsruhe, Gothia Darmstadt and Wartburg Gießen joined. At the same time, the VDB finally dissolved. In contrast to the VDB, the GBR gave its members the freedom to wear color . Whether this was the sole reason for the dissolution of the VDB and the re-establishment of the GBR cannot be established from the sparse surviving sources.

Efforts to rebuild the association after the end of the Second World War had thus failed, but were partially fulfilled indirectly with the establishment of the Deutscher Burschen-Ring (DBR).

VDB fraternities still in existence today

  • Fraternity of Adelphia Gießen (founded in 1870, free of association)
  • Burschenschaft Alemannia Leipzig (founded in 1861, today as the Leipzig Burschenschaft Alemannia zu Bamberg and Burschenschaft Alemannia zu Leipzig, since 10/2012 in the Cartell Christian Burschenschaften)
  • Fraternity Ascania Cologne (founded in 1919, free of association)
  • Fraternity Tuiskonia Darmstadt (only AHV)
  • Fraternity of Ceresia Freising / Weihenstephan (founded in 1912, free of association, only AHV)
  • Fraternity of Germania Mannheim (founded 1919, SB)
  • Burschenschaft Kurbrandenburg Berlin (founded in 1921, today's name: Burschenschaft Kurmark Brandenburg zu Bayreuth, SB)
  • Burschenschaft Ruthenia Bonn (founded in 1919, renamed in 1929 to Burschenschaft Cheruskia Bonn, free of association)
  • Burschenschaft Hohenstaufen Karlsruhe (founded in 1920 by Eberstein, 1951 merger with Eberstein to Burschenschaft Hoheneberstein, SB)

VDB fraternities that no longer exist today

Frets in the VDB (1931)
  • Alemannia Berlin fraternity
  • Germania Berlin fraternity
  • Fraternity Rheno-Germania Berlin
  • Fraternity of Teutoburg Detmold
  • Fraternity Marcomannia Frankfurt am Main
  • Fraternity Rheno-Saravia Frankfurt am Main
  • Fraternity Arminia Göttingen
  • Fraternity Arminia Halle an der Saale
  • Fraternity Hermunduria Jena
  • Fraternity Baldur Cologne
  • Fraternity Karolingia Cologne
  • Fraternity Normannia Koenigsberg
  • Thuringia Koethen fraternity
  • Fraternity of Tuisconia Leipzig
  • Asgardia fraternity in Munich
  • Marchia Munich fraternity
  • Fraternity Nibelungen Nuremberg

See also

literature

  • EH Eberhard: Handbook of the student liaison system. Leipzig 1924/25, pp. 238-239.
  • Gunnar Auth: On the history of the VDB , in: Golücke et al. (Ed.): GDS archive for university and student history , Volume 8, SH-Verlag, Cologne 2006. ISBN 978-3-89498-167-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Convent. Academic Monthly Journal 1 (Jan. 1951), p. 21.