Von der Waffenbrüderschaft zur ideologischen Anfeindung: Politisierung des universitären Lebens in deutschen Ländern, publizistische Skandale um August von Kotzebue und Alexander von Stourdza und das Russlandbild der nationalen Einheitsbewegung von 1813-1819

Abstract

The study “From military brotherhood to ideological war: politicization of the university life in Germany and Russia’s image among participants of the national movement of the 1813–1819 years” considers the political radicalization of German students’ unions Jena, Berlin, and Giessen after the Napoleonic wars. Based on hitherto unconsidered sources (such as reports of Adam Müller to Metternich), the author carefully restores the political implications of an 1817 students' festival (Wartburgfest 1817), and discloses an anti-Russian motivation in assassinating writer August von Kotzebue as well as in persecuting Russian state official Alexander von Stourdza. These political provocations in Germany were highly reflected in the internal policy in Russia in the early 1820s, whereas Karl Follen’s plans of assassinating the Russian Tsar in a Weimar theatre obviously did not come to the knowledge of state authorities. Ferdinand Massmann’s autodafé in the course of the Wartburgfest event of 1817 is scrutinized micro-historically, as well as Kotzebue’s surprising efforts, - in this respect going hand in hand with Goethe, - to appease the politically dense situation by publicly offering a conciliation with the radical students’ union (Burschenschaft). Evidence is brought forth that anti-Russian elements of the Wartburgfest have been subdued during the government investigations in Weimar.