KDStV Sugambria (Jena) zu Göttingen

KDStV Sugambria (Jena) zu Göttingen is a Catholic German student association (Studentenverbindung) belonging to the Cartellverband (CV), the largest umbrella organisation of German student associations. It is non-dueling (nichtschlagend) and colour-wearing (farbentragend), and it unites students and former students of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Its members are known as Sugambrer or Siegerländer. The association carries the colours violet-gold-green with golden percussion, and its motto is "Flectimur, non frangimur" ("We are bent, but not broken"). Within the CV's internal order of member associations, Sugambria holds the number 36, and its official abbreviation is Sb. The association was founded on 30 May 1902 at the University of Jena, at a time when Jena was the last German university without a Catholic association. Its founders, mostly from the Siegerland region, named it after the Germanic tribe of the Sugambri. From the outset it faced hostility from local dueling fraternities and corps, who objected to a colour-wearing Catholic association in Protestant Jena. After violent clashes, the university senate imposed a unique ban on Sugambria wearing its colours, which lasted from 1903 to 1918. The association flourished during the Weimar Republic but was dissolved under National Socialist pressure in 1935, surviving as an underground circle of old members until 1945. After World War II, re-establishment in the Soviet occupation zone was impossible. In 1948, thanks in particular to the initiative of the then Archbishop of Paderborn, Lorenz Cardinal Jäger, and with help from the Göttingen Palatinate member Klaus Stemmer, Sugambria was re-founded at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen. It did not return to the Jena-style Stürmer cap but adopted violet velvet caps as its sole head colour. The 1950s and 1960s became a second heyday; in 1962 the association moved into its own house. Today it remains an active CV association in Göttingen, with a house at Planckstraße 5, a semester programme, and a leadership team (Chargen) of active members.

The Katholische Deutsche Studentenverbindung Sugambria was founded on 30 May 1902 at the University of Jena. Its founders, mostly from the Siegerland region, chose the name in reference to the Germanic tribe of the Sugambri. At that time Jena was the last German university without a Catholic association, and the founding fell during the period of the academic Kulturkampf. Sugambria adopted the colours violet-gold-green with a violet silk Stürmer cap. Its principles were religio, scientia, amicitia; the Cartell principle patria followed in 1907. The Fuxen colours violet-gold-violet were changed to violet-gold in 1919 out of consideration for the Schwarzburg association Alemannia. Controversy surrounded the founding. Local Burschenschaften and the four Corps were determined to deny the association the right to wear colours. They regarded a colour-wearing Catholic student association in Protestant Jena as a provocation and accused Sugambria of "Vaterlandsverrat" (betrayal of the fatherland) and "Romhörigkeit" or "Ultramontanismus" (ultramontanism). In the following months there were repeated, sometimes violent confrontations. At a torchlight procession of the Corps Franconia and Guestphalia on Ash Wednesday 1904, not only the Sugambrians but also the Catholic faith and Church were insulted, and the Sugambria's meeting place was devastated. Because the violent actions of the Protestant dueling students were not well received by Jena's citizenry, the tactic changed. On the initiative of the VDSt Jena, a general student assembly took up the case and protested to the academic authorities against Sugambria, "because the Jena student body considers it a momentous undertaking, contrary to the essence of the German student body and severely damaging to German-national sentiment, that colour-wearing confessional associations should form at German universities." To lend weight to their demand, the students threatened to leave the city if the Rector and Senate did not take measures against Sugambria. The national-liberal Rector and Burschenschafter Friedrich Nippold, a founding member of the anti-Catholic Evangelischer Bund, urged the Senate to impose a colour ban on Sugambria. To avoid further confrontations, the university Senate therefore resolved to impose a colour ban on Sugambria. The Senate's resolution, against which there were only two opposing votes, stated: "Student associations which essentially pursue religious or confessional purposes, as well as those which by statute admit exclusively members of one confession, may not wear colours!" Such an administrative measure against a legally existing, colour-wearing association was unique in all of Germany. The Catholic press subsequently called Jena a "nest of intolerance" and a "rowdy university." The colour ban for Sugambria lasted from 1903 to 1918. Only the shared front experience of students during World War I led to a reconciliation, which finally culminated in 1921 in the Erlanger Verbände- und Ehrenabkommen, which regulated matters of honour between dueling and non-dueling associations. Cheruscia Münster, as Vorort (war Vorort) of the Cartellverband, proposed Sugambria in 1918 as the succeeding Vorortsverbindung. Because of its small number of active members, however, the association had to decline. During the Weimar Republic, Sugambria experienced a heyday of steady growth. For its 25th foundation festival under Senior Georg Diedrich, 40 Cartell associations from Germany, Austria, and Bohemia, led by the Vorort Sauerlandia Münster, appeared in Jena. In 1929 the CV-Altherrentag took place in Jena. A highlight of association life since 1902 were the Rudelsburg festivals with Burgundia Leipzig and Silesia Halle; later Saxo-Thuringia Dresden joined. During the Third Reich, life became increasingly difficult for the association. The National Socialist regime saw corporative student life as an enemy of its ideology. After sustained pressure, the association dissolved in 1935, but continued as a circle of old Sugambrians in the underground until 1945, since the Gestapo had banned all associations outside the NSDStB. After the fall of the Third Reich, re-establishment in the Soviet occupation zone was impossible. Re-establishment in Göttingen: thanks in particular to the initiative of the then Archbishop of Paderborn, Lorenz Cardinal Jäger, and with the help of the Göttingen Palatinate member Klaus Stemmer, Sugambria was successfully re-founded in 1948 at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen. In 1949 Sugambria named Cardinal Jäger its (so far only) honorary member. The association did not return to the Jena Stürmer and chose violet velvet caps as its sole head colour. The 1950s and 1960s became a second heyday. In 1962 Sugambria moved into its own house.

• 1962

  Moves into its own house.

• 1949

  Cardinal Lorenz Jäger named honorary member.

• 1948

  Re-founded at the Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen.

• 1935

  Association dissolved under National Socialist pressure; continues as underground circle until 1945.

• 1929

  CV-Altherrentag held in Jena.

• 1927

  25th foundation festival in Jena with 40 Cartell associations.

• 1921

  Erlanger Verbände- und Ehrenabkommen regulates honour matters between dueling and non-dueling associations.

• 1919

  Fuxen colours changed from violet-gold-violet to violet-gold.

• 1918

  Colour ban ends; Cheruscia Münster proposes Sugambria as succeeding Vorortsverbindung, but it declines due to low active membership.

• 1907

  Adopts the Cartell principle patria.

• 1904

  Violent clashes on Ash Wednesday; meeting place devastated by Corps Franconia and Guestphalia.

• 1903

  University Senate imposes a colour ban on Sugambria, lasting until 1918.

• 1902

  Founded on 30 May at the University of Jena.

A non-dueling, colour-wearing Catholic student association within the Cartellverband (CV), rooted in the traditions of German academic corporatism and open to students and alumni of the University of Göttingen.

1. 1Startseite – K.D.St.V. Sugambria (Jena) zu Göttingensugambria.de
2. 2KDStV Sugambria – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3KDStV Sugambria (Jena) Göttingen – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org