Latest / The History of Germany: Kingdoms, War, and Rebuilding Europe — Fexingo History / The Wartburg Festival: German Students Demanding Unity in 1817
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you've heard about the failed Frankfurt Constitution of 1849 and the Hambach Festival in 1832. But the real spark for the liberal student movement came earlier — in 1817, at the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach. Luna: That's the castle where Martin Luther hid out, right? Lucas: Exactly. Luther had been smuggled there after the Diet of Worms in 1521, and by 1817, the castle was already a symbol of German resistance and identity. So when students from across the German Confederation gathered there on October 18, they were consciously invoking that legacy. The date was chosen deliberately — it was the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig, where the coalition had defeated Napoleon, and also the tercentenary of the Reformation. Lucas: The event was organized by the Burschenschaften — these were student fraternities that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, pushing for national unity and liberal reforms. About five hundred students showed up, along with a number of professors and sympathetic figures. They marched from Eisenach up to the castle, carrying black, red, and gold flags — the colours of the Lützow Free Corps, which had fought against Napoleon. Luna: Wait — those are the colours of today's German flag, aren't they? Lucas: They are indeed. The black, red, and gold first became a national symbol at this festival. They weren't official yet — the German Confederation didn't have a single flag — but the Burschenschaften adopted them as their own. Later, in 1848, the Frankfurt Parliament would make them the colours of the German national flag. Lucas: The festival itself had two parts. First, there were speeches and sermons, including one by the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, who was a prominent liberal. Then came the more provocative bit: a book burning. The students threw a bunch of reactionary texts into a bonfire — including the Napoleonic Code, which they saw as foreign oppression, and books by authors like August von Kotzebue, a conservative playwright and Russian agent. They also burned symbols of the old order: a Prussian corporal's cane, a wig, a pigtail, and an Austrian corset. Luna: A corset? That's oddly specific. Lucas: It was meant to symbolize the oppressive constraints of the old regime. The fact that they burned a wig and a pigtail — which were part of the Prussian military uniform — shows they were targeting militarism and absolutism. The message was clear: they wanted a unified, constitutional Germany, free from the petty princes and foreign influence. Lucas: The key figure behind the Burschenschaft movement was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, known as 'Turnvater Jahn' — the father of gymnastics. He had created the gymnastic associations that promoted physical fitness, national pride, and liberal ideas. Jahn was present at the Wartburg, and his ideas heavily influenced the students. Another important figure was Heinrich von Gagern, who would later become president of the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848. So the festival really was a precursor to the later national assembly. Luna: So this was a huge deal. What did the authorities do? Lucas: They were alarmed. The conservative powers — especially Metternich in Austria — saw the festival as a direct challenge to the existing order. The book burning in particular gave them a pretext to crack down. Two years later, in 1819, a Burschenschaft member named Karl Ludwig Sand assassinated the playwright August von Kotzebue, whom the students had burned in effigy. That was the trigger for Metternich to push through the Carlsbad Decrees in 1819. Lucas: The Carlsbad Decrees — Karlsbader Beschlüsse — effectively banned the Burschenschaften, imposed strict censorship on the press, and placed universities under surveillance. The liberal movement went underground for a decade. Luna: So the Wartburg Festival was a moment of hope that got crushed. Lucas: It was, but it didn't disappear. The symbolism lived on. The black, red, and gold flag kept being used by liberal movements, and the festival was remembered as a founding moment of German democratic nationalism. In 1832, the Hambach Festival explicitly referenced the Wartburg. And later, the Nazis tried to co-opt it, but the real legacy belongs to the students who wanted a free, united Germany. Lucas: You know, we talk about these big events — the Hambach Festival, the 1848 revolution — but the Wartburg Festival was really where the student movement first found its voice. It's a story about idealism, but also about how quickly that idealism can be suppressed. And that's a pattern we see again and again in German history. Luna: It's sobering. But also inspiring that they tried. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's part of why we keep telling these stories — because they matter. Which brings me to something I want to mention. We deliberately don't run ads on these episodes. No sponsors, no commercials. It's just us, talking about history the way we think it should be talked about. If you appreciate that approach and want to support it, you can find us at buymeacoffee.com/fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It really does keep us going. And it means we can keep digging into these corners of history that don't always get attention. Lucas: Exactly. So, back to the Wartburg — one of the most interesting aspects is that the festival wasn't just about politics. It was also about creating a German cultural identity. The students sang songs, performed plays, and celebrated what they saw as the authentic German spirit, rooted in the Reformation and the struggle against Napoleon. They saw themselves as heirs to Luther and the fighters of 1813. Luna: It sounds almost like a religious revival, but for nationalism. Lucas: That's exactly the right word. Nationalism in the 19th century had a quasi-religious fervour. The Wartburg Castle itself was a sacred site, and the festival was a kind of pilgrimage. The students came from all over the German Confederation — from Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hesse, and elsewhere. They were united by language, culture, and a shared sense of grievance against the conservative restoration. But they were also deeply divided on how to achieve their goals. Lucas: Some wanted a constitutional monarchy, others a republic. Some wanted a 'Greater Germany' including Austria, others a 'Lesser Germany' without it. Those debates would continue down to 1848 and beyond. Luna: So the Wartburg Festival already foreshadowed those later splits. Lucas: It did. And that's what makes it so valuable to study — it's a microcosm of the whole 19th-century German national movement. The energy, the idealism, the symbols, and the eventual crackdown. It all starts here. Luna: I never knew the German flag came from a student protest. Lucas: A lot of people don't. The black, red, and gold were originally the colours of the Lützow Free Corps, but the students made them national. Over the decades, they became the flag of the democratic movement, and later the Weimar Republic. The Nazis replaced them with their own red, white, and black, but after 1945, the black, red, and gold were restored as the flag of a democratic Germany. So the Wartburg Festival's symbol is still with us. Lucas: One more detail: the festival also included a famous speech by Heinrich Riemann, a theology student, who called for 'a free Germany in a free Europe'. That phrase — 'free Germany in a free Europe' — became a rallying cry for liberals. It's a reminder that the German national movement wasn't narrow or xenophobic at its inception. It was part of a broader European struggle for liberty. Luna: That's a nice note to end on — idealism before it got complicated. Lucas: Exactly. The Wartburg Festival represents that moment of pure hope, before the reaction set in. And that hope, even if crushed, never fully died.