Wartburg festival
Encyclopedia
Wartburg Castle
The Wartburg is a castle situated on a 1230-foot precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany...
near Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
.
After the war of liberation against France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, many people were bitter about dreams of German unity shattered after the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Democratic reforms were stalled, and governments had cracked down on press freedom and rights of association.
In 1815 the students of Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
founded the youth organization Teutonia in order to encourage German unity at the university. Many of them had participated as voluntary soldiers on the fields against Napoleon, e.g. in the Lützow Free Corps
Lützow Free Corps
Lützow Free Corps was a voluntary force of the Prussian army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was named after its commander, Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow. They were also widely known as "Lützower Jäger" or "Schwarze Jäger" .-Origins:...
with its black-red-gold colour scheme that was adopted as the Flag of Germany
Flag of Germany
The flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold....
. The German students demonstrated for a national state and a liberal Constitution and condemned reactionary forces in the newly recreated German states.
On the occasion of the three-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
's nailing of his theses and the fourth anniversary of the bloody Battle of Nations at Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, the student groups organized a festival at the Wartburg. This castle had been a refuge for Martin Luther. As he translated the bible there and thus set a standard for the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, it became a symbol of German nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
.
A key event was a book-burning of reactionary literary works, and symbols of Napoleon like a corporal's cane. This act was used in 1933 as a justification for the Nazi book burning
Book burning
Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded...
s.
The event itself was also used as a justification for further suppression of liberal forces, like the Carlsbad Decrees
Carlsbad Decrees
The Carlsbad Decrees were a set of reactionary restrictions introduced in the states of the German Confederation by resolution of the Bundesversammlung on 20 September 1819 after a conference held in the spa town of Carlsbad, Bohemia...
of 1819.
In 1832, the Hambacher Fest
Hambacher Fest
The Hambacher Fest was a German national democratic festival—disguised as a non-political county fair—that was celebrated from 27 May to 30 May 1832 at Hambach Castle near Neustadt an der Weinstraße ....
was held in similar manner. A second festival at the Wartburg was held during the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
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Some works burned during the book burning
- Jean Pierre Frédéric Ancillon: Ueber Souverainitaet etc.
- F. v. Cölln: Vertraute Briefe. Freymüthige Blätter
- August Friedrich Wilhelm CromeAugust Friedrich Wilhelm CromeAugust Friedrich Wilhelm Crome was a German economist and statistician, known particularly for his Producten-Karte von Europa , one of the first uses of cartograms.- Publications :...
: Deutschlands Crisis und Rettung im April und May 1813. - Dabelow: Der 13e Artikel der deutschen Bundesacte
- Karl Ludwig von HallerKarl Ludwig von HallerKarl Ludwig von Haller was a Swiss jurist. He was the author of Restauration der Staatswissenschaften , a book which Hegel strongly criticized in Elements of the Philosophy of Right...
: Restauration der Staatswissenschaft - August von KotzebueAugust von KotzebueAugust Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue was a German dramatist.One of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival in 1817. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a militant member of the Burschenschaften...
: Geschichte des deutschen Reichs - Ludwig Theobul Kosegarten: Rede gesprochen am Napoleonstage 1800, Geschichte meines fünfzigsten Lebensjahres, and Vaterländische Lieder
- Carl Albert Christoph Heinrich von Kamptz: Codex der Gensd'armerie
- W. Reinhard: Die Bundesacte über Ob, Wann und Wie? deutscher Landstände
- Schmalz: Berichtigung einer Stelle in der Bredow-Venturinischen Chronik; und die beyden darauf
- Saul AscherSaul AscherSaul Ascher was a German writer, translator and bookseller.- Life :Born Saul ben Anschel Jaffe, he was the first child of Deiche Aaron and the bank broker Anschel Jaffe .Little is known about his training...
: Germanomanie - Zacharias Werner: Martin Luther oder die Weihe der Kraft, Die Söhne des Thals
- K. v. Wangenheim: Die Idee der Staatsverfassung
- The Napoleonic CodeNapoleonic codeThe Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
- Justus Friedrich Wilhelm Zachariae: Über den Code Napoleon
- Carl Leberecht Immermann: Ein Wort zur Beherzigung, 1814, (gegen die Burschenschaft zu Halle)