Page Six
THE Ml(-HC.AN r)Att V AAAfA7imr:
Cndoy, Ay 4 195
rvrL~nl3AV AIL MH AL1VtSunday, Mayo4,1958,
Paukant may not twinkle with his
eyes during the fight (probably
*. impossible) and that it is - con-
________trary to sport fencing with foil or
^=^.'--.-- " _ ,;smallsword - strictly forbidden
- \' to move the body in order to re-
treat from a blow. The stroke is
merely caught by a counter-stroke
and immediately returned. While
aO0 , _4this type of Mensur is fought with
- the left or right arm of the fencer
-y;tight to his back, the Sprungmen-
'W"W" 'sur (jump duel) - especially if
Vt - the students fight with bare chest
/n ,\{ -permits a greater liberty of
r tmovement.
HE DUEL is "ausgepaukt" (fin-
shed) after 40 to 60 "Gaen-
r .gen" (bouts) at six hits for each
bout, or if an "Abfuhr" (severe
__________ wound) makes the continuation
of the fencing impossible. The al-
ways present doctor, mostly an
~ alumnus, has to take care of the
wounded. The duel is executed
either among brothers or by for-
mal inter-fraternity agreements,
SFreedomy and today it is merely a "Mut-
probe" (examination of courage)
contrary to the obsolete "defense
of honor against insultation and
" " affront"
Al though the fraternities e
Af'tftde cruit their potential members by
reconnoitering, and evaluating.the
philosophy of life of fellow-stu-
STANDARDS OF PERFECTION-When the Berlin Association of Fraternities issued a pamphlet containing the sentences: "Why have dents at lectures or social events,
we lasted for centuries?-Because our ideals possess timeless validity," a student caricaturist drew this picture for the FUB magazine. the number of duels and the in-
The items in the sketch refer to the greatly emphasized ideals from the standpoint of a non-fraternity student. Juries are not recounted but kept
in strict secrecy which every
member has to vow.
The brothers are discouraged to
since it is nearly impossible to get
actual snapshots, magazines and
papers pay high sums for them.
Dueling, an Important Part of German Fraternity Life, nity member abouttl" idea, sense
or nonsense of a duel, one gets
Is Executed in Forests or Secret Basement Fencing-Floors ps like the following which
are typical of the spirit of these
chaps and their conception of the
world.
By ERIIARD LIPPMANN cribed to university fraternities, contact, entertainment, distrac- initiation of a brother, or special "It is the indispensable means
A FEW DAYS before my depart- and is it really true that in a cn- tion from study and work and duels. of education for the German aca-
ure to the United States a fel- tury of nuclear physics and space hope to get a good future job The weekly meetings are char- demic personality '"It is abso-
low-student spoke to me in the patrol young chaps fight a duel through their alumni. acterized by outlining the frater- lutely necessary in a world of ego-
commons hail of our university. ith sharp weapons? nity policy, inter-fraternity dis- tistical diversion from perform-
When I pointed out that I did t Since I have lived for half a ALTHOUGH the multiplicity of courses, guest speakers, drinking- ance of duty." "It means to put
khnw hithedsoutingay Iwid ndtyear in a fraternity on this cam- fraternity organizations does songs, and the subsequent drink- aside the own ego in favor of
know him, he smilingly bowed and pus, I can say that perhaps the not render it possible to give es- ing-bouts where the brothers de- patriotic consciousness and na-
asked whether I had forgotten my nonlyedhingt'hichbl an Americang
best friend. Looking at his face only thing which an Americanvpecial enphasis to the more or your enormous quantities of beer tionhood." "It emphasizes the tra-
I began to understand. I had notit aternity has in common with by established rules which must ditional fairness, chivalry, and
kneata ebln t dntits German counterpart is that it less well-known groups, one can be strictly observed. gallantry towards one's counter-
known that he belonged to a duel- consists of a group of young establish certain similarities of bspart " "We demands one'srcounter-
ling fratcrnity, and the reason I people. The German students' fra- cultural development and spiritual To the casual looker-on it seems pat. "W emn self-conquest,
had not recognized him was his ternities (called Burschenschaf- togetherness, Couleur-wearing unbelievable that there are people f-iscip ine, and suppression of
face resembled a red tomato ten, Korporationen, or Corps) are and duelling associations of st- who swallow beer by commands of fear by means of the Mensur."
stitched in several places. the only social and political - dents from the same provinces, a specific fraternity jargon which
For several years now, I have sociations that have preserved founded about 1830, are linked to- is not understandable to the rare- ANOTHER'type of German fra-
frequently seen students with their existence, their idols and ob- gether in the Coburger Convent. ly ivited non-fraternty guests. ternities are the Catholic cor-
cuts in their faces. Although they jectives for 150 years in spite of They now have approximately The members call themselves by porations (CC) which were found-
carry their decoratively deforming all vicissitudes and the evolution 5000 members and 30000 alumni. Kneipnamen (nicknames) and ed in the middle of the 19th cn-
scars with pride, they refer to of public life in the German his- The Deutschen Burschenschaf- the Senioren (older semesters) tumy, and which now comprise
"motor-cycle accidents" when tory. "Progress is novelty; yet ten emerged during the War of command the Fuechse (younger 13,000 students and 35,000 alumni
questioned by free students or novelty means disavowal of tra- Liberation agaiinst N.apoleon in semesters) to drink inconceivable whose perhaps moat famous mom-
university officials. All German dition and of the past. Sound f' the beginning of the 19th century amounts of beer. The mosat famous ber are Chancellor Konrad Ade-
universities, in accordance with does not call for novelty, it de- After the revolution of 1848 the command is EX, when one or nauer and Foreign Minister Hem-
the resolution of the Tuebingen mands the renovation of our tra- idea of liberty and egalite receded all brothers together jump up, rich von Brentano. Although
Convention of Rectors in 1948, de- dition," Dr. Schomerus, the chair- in favor of national, patriotic, and stand stiffly, and drain their volu- sabre and rapier, couleur and uni-
cline to license fraternities whose man of the association of Corps, sometimes vainglorious attitudes. mnous stens. Women are strictly form, pride and beer, belong to
statutes provide for students' declared in August 1954 Theoldest fraternities, united forbidden. their interesting equipment, they
The sdeny the duel with sharp weapons
duel., in the Koewener Senioren-Con- OTHER weekly seasions are because of reiigious reasons.
Except for the Free University THIRTEEN years ago, when the ventverbsnd and WeinheimerO marked by preparations for In Munich, the stronhold of
of Berlin, all other German uni- students returned from a cata- Senioren-Convent are the Corps the Mensur (duel) with sharp student tradition, we find 4
veraities, however, concede to the clysmal war, ill or wounded, hun- which trace their origin back as 'abres or rapiers, so-called C tholic fratrnities 23 Corps. 15
student the right to belong to any gry and haggard, their uniforms far as the knight orders of the Schlaeger. Although the students Burschenchaften,as.2or ,han
fraternity as a private organiza- torn and soiled, they stood before Middle Ages. For a very long time wear fencing-gloves, helmets, and 100 single groups and more than
tion. The West Berlin university their slha t t e r e.d lecture-halls these Corps carried feudal and uilted acket for training pur- have their own houses and are
demands that during the matricu- These chaps of 1945-46 had semi- aristocratic features, and Prus- poses, the estimmunmensren allied in greater duelling associa-
lation ceremony every freshman nars aid laboratories in ice-cold sian princes and other members (yearly duels a student has to tions. Approximately 52000 West
sign a statement which obligates makeshift rooms, cleaned the of the highest nobility belonged fence) are fought either with German stud ts out of the total
him to esteem the university laws rubble and dust from the cori- to them. It is difficult to present chet acd neck padding.hor with of 12000 currently belong to
and not to join a duelling frater- dors of their colleges, did some the correct number of present naked upper part of the body. some kind of fraternity. It is im-
nity, brick-work in between, and bar- membership of this type of fra-
gained with American cigarettes ternity, but the estimation runs The fencer wears goggles in ev- portant to stress the fact that
IT IS A well-known fact that in order to live. up to 7000 students and 40000 ery case to protect the eyes, duelling as well as non-duelling
these laws are broken all too The professors now look at 20- alumni whereas cheeks and head are free fraternities exist not only in Ger-
often. Disciplinary proceedings, year-old faces, the average age of to hit. This duel with sharp sabres many, but also in Switzerland,
outbreaks of scuffles between the students has declined from ALL THESE groups are distin- or rapiers, according to the Ger- Austria, Belgium, and Holland.
free and fraternity students, ac- year to year. Very many of these A guished by their colors, called man Federal Court entirely legal While Switzerland is the only
cusations of militaristic and man- younger fellows in prosperous couleurs, which are worn daily as and not punishable, is commonly Central European country where
arcistic revie throtgh feat'r- We.st Germany avoid. additional watch ribbons or badges, or for carried out at a secret place in a fraternities have uninterrupted-
nities, and vehement public con- intellectual burdens such as ccs- cthe weekly sessions as wide striped forest or - in unfavorable weath- ly existed ever since the beginning
currence or disapproval are unde- pation with problematical politi- ribbons around waistcoats and er - on secret restaurant base- of the 19th century, they were dis-
sirable results of the emergence cal questions, because they have caps. The dashing uniforms withbuilt fecin-floors rnted and solved by Hitler in Germany after
of post-war fraternities. Even the an aversion to the inevitable loss hi h shinv hon.. nb ess a iemhelli.hA
ruling of the German Federal of time for learning and are jackets are confined to outstand- The duel is directed by an "Un- afraid of a possible upsetting of
Court that the students' duel with afraid of a possible deterioration ing occasions like yearly convents, parteiischen" (impartial person), his youth organization by the
drawn sharp sabres or rapiers is of their financial situation. Polt- while each one of the two "Pauk- aristocratic fraternities which
no punishable "duel with deadly tical students clubs and student anten" (duellists) has a "Sekund- loathed the rowdy behaviour of
weapons" has aroused consider- government councils have very Erhard Lippiann, an ex- ant" (second) and a "Testant" his National Socialist German
able argumentation and clashing little magnetism, a fruitful situ- change student with the Free (assistant of the second). After Workers' party in spite of appar-
of attitudes which is still impetu- ation for fraternities. At present, University of Berlin in Ger- the impartial person has called ent similarities in the chauvinis-
ously going on among the stu- many key positions within the many, is studying economics the words "Auf die Mensur - tic philosophy of both groups.
dent bodies, student councils are held by fra- at the University. While not fertig - los" (Get set for the duel The present revival of reac-
Many of the foreign students in ternity members. a member of the fraternities - ready - go) the fencing starts tionary tradition and colourful
Germany, making up eight per The continuous increment in he discusses in his articles, he rapidly whereby each duellist at- display of fraternities in German
cent of all enrolled students at membership of these Korpora- has closely observed them as tempts to incapacitate the other academic life is an important fact
West German universities today, tionen has two main causes: the a student for many years. This by hitting his head or face, or - which cannot be overlooked by
frequently ask why this passion- wish of the "old man" that his son is his first contribution to the if the chest is naked - wounding anybody who wants to gain in-
ate argument over fraternities. must carry on the old tradition Daily magazine. this part of the body. sight into the social climate of
Why has this importance been as- and the students look for social . The honor code says that the German universities.
i
4
I
lk
-4