Hambach Festival

Procession to Hambach Castle, with the future Flag of Germany upside-down

Hambach Castle today.

The Hambacher Fest was a German national democratic festival celebrated from 27 May to 30 May 1832 at Hambach Castle near Neustadt an der Weinstraße (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany).

About 30,000 participants came from all ranks of society, workmen, students and members of parliament, as well as from different nations such as France and Russian Poland. Amongst the Polish there were many who fled after the November Uprising (1830–1831) from Poland to Germany and further on to France.

The Palatinate on the west bank of the Rhine was at that time under the control of Bavaria, and the local population suffered from high taxes and censorship. The main demands of the meeting that had been disguised as a non-political county fair were liberty, civil rights and national unity.

No consensus was reached in regard to actions, and a few uncoordinated violent acts were carried out by students later. It was criticized as a missed opportunity, including by the poet Heinrich Heine.^[1]

The gathering had no immediate results, but is considered a milestone in German history. It also confirmed the establishment of the combination of black, red and gold as a symbol of a democratic movement for a united Germany. These colours, which were later used by democratic revolutionaries in the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, were adopted after 1918 by the Weimar Republic as the national colours of Germany, and used in the modern flag of Germany.

See also

• Wartburg festival

Notes

1. ^ See Heine, Ludwig Börne: A Memorial, trans. J.L. Sammons (Camden House, 2006), pp. 69–72.

Links

• Johann August Wirth at the Hambach Festival (May 1832)

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