First I would like to apologize for my bad English in advance. It is not my mother tongue so I hope you will be understanding.
I will be writing a more or less small overview about the German fraternity system that will give you a good understanding of how it works here.
Yeah I know there was a similar thread here but it was missing a lot and in some aspects was inaccurate/false.
Because it will be a bit or work and I have exams upcoming I will be writing it when I have some free time and I will start to give it my all as soon as semester break begins. So please be patient with this and wait for its outcome.
!Warning: This thread is under construction!
Also I will probably edit it several times and add/delete tons of stuff in the process of making this so this will be a bit chaotic at the beginning.
Hopefully you will take part in this and give me some input on what is missing and what you are interested in to know. I will be very happy if you tell me if something isn’t well phrased and hard to understand so I will try to rephrase it better.
What are my goals for making this thread?
1. I would like to raise some awareness of other greek like systems in Germany.
2. I would love to get in touch with greek organization in Amerika and maybe share some good ideas.
Sebastian Werner Z!
A rough overview of what I plan to do:
1. Introduction
You should always keep in mind it’s a rough overview and each “Studentenverbindung” even it’s the same type can be completely different.
To make it a bit easier to understand I will often take my own “Studentenverbindung” as an example.
I will mainly focus on the nowadays active types of “Studentenverbindungen” that originated around the 18 century.
I hope you all know that fraternities and sororities share the same ancestor with “Studentenverbindungen”. They both originated from the European “Studentenorden”.
2. Differences between the “Studentenverbindungen”
Overall there are around 1000 “Studentenverbindungen” active in Germany and each one is pretty unique in some way.
2.2. Explanation of the terminology
You can distinguish “Studentenverbindungen” by the following 3 criteria
2.2.1. Fencing
Pflichtschlagend (ps): You are obligated to learn fencing and do at least one “Mensur”. Usually it is 1 “Mensur” to become a "Bursche" and another one to be inactivated. Also you are not allowed to decline a challenge to a duel (“Mensur”).
Fakultativ schlagend (fs): You are obligated to learn fencing but a “Mensur” is optional.
Nicht schlagend (ns): No fencing at all.
2.2.2. “Couleur”
Farbentragend(ft): They wear the traditional “Couleur” and have chosen colors that represent their “Studentverbindung”. They are the biggest group.
Farbführend(ff): They don’t wear any “Couleur” with colors but have chosen colors that represent their “Studentenverbindung”.
Schwarz (s): Those didn’t choose any colors for their “Studentenverbindung”. Only a small part of the “Studentenverbindungen”.
2.2.3. Gender prerequisite
Men only (m): Only men are recruited.
Women only (w): Only Women are recruited.
Mixed (m/w): Women and men are recruited.
2.3. The different types of “Studentenverbindungen”
There are some more types but I will only explain the most prominent ones that are listed below.
2.3.1.
Burschenschaften (B!)
Fencing: ps, fs, ns
Couleur: ft
Gender: m
History:
2.3.2.
Corps
Fencing: ps
Couleur: ft
Gender: m
History:
2.3.3.
Landsmannschaften (L!)
Fencing: ps
Couleur: ft
Gender: m
History:
2.3.4.
Damenverbindungen
Fencing: ns, fs (There is only one who does fencing but they never did a “Mensur” because men won’t fence with women)
Couleur: ft, ff
Gender: w
History:
2.3.5.
Katholische Studentenverbindungen
It is mandatory to be a catholic.
Fencing: ns
Couleur: ft , ff
Gender: m
History:
2.3.6.
Christliche Studentenverbindungen
It is mandatory to be a christian.
Fencing: ns
Couleur: most of them are ft.
Gender: m
History:
2.3.7.
Sängerschaften
Those are focused on the arts (theater, chore…).
Fencing: fs, ns
Couleur: ft, ff
Gender: m
History:
2.3.8.
Turnerschaften (T!)
Those are focused on sports.
Fencing: ps, fs
Couleur: ft
Gender: m
History:
2.3.9.
Verein Deutscher Studenten
Fencing: ns
Couleur: ff
Gender: m
History:
2.3.10.
Akademische Turnverbindungen
Those are focused on sports.
Fencing: ns
Couleur: ff
Gender: m/w
History:
2.3.11.
Akademische Verbindungen (A.V.)
Fencing: ns
Couleur: ft
Gender: m/w
History:
3. Similarities between the “Studentenverbindungen”.
3.1. Coat of arms
This one is from my "Studentenverbindung". Most of the others look identical. But you can tell them apart by the colors and most importantly the shield. The shield usually contains the "Zirkel" in the middle and is also divided into 4 different quadrants which are unique for each "Studentenverbindung". Fencing ones usually have 2 rapiers with crossing blades on them like you can see on ours in the upper right quadrant on the shield.
3.2. “Zirkel”
3.3. Mission Statement
3.4. Couleur
3.5. Traditions
3.5.1. Biercomment (beer comment)
3.5.2. Leibverhältnis (family)
3.5.3. Music
3.5.4. Couleurbesuch
3.6. Das Lebensbundprinzip (Life covenant principle)
3.7. Structure
3.7.1.The different phases as a member.
3.7.2. The grassroots democracy.
3.8. Housing
3.9. Names
3.10.Salutation
4. Recruitment
5. Die Mensur (sharp fencing)
6. Public opinions on “Studentenverbindungen” in Germany.
7. Interaction with the university.
8. How to pick a “Studentenverbindung”
German fraternities/sororities also know as "Studentenverbindungen" a brief overview.
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