The Verband der Vereine Deutscher Studenten (VVDSt), previously the Kyffhäuserverband or ''Kyffhäuser Association'' (VVDSt-KV), is an umbrella organization of fraternities called Verein Deutscher Studenten (VDSt)) that are located in 40 cities in Germany and Austria. Its members are non-dueling and non-color-bearing student associations. VVDSt was established in 1881.

History

The first Verein Deutscher Studenten were founded in 1881 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Halle,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Breslau,

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

und

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

as non-dueling, color-bearing studentenverbindung or student associations as various academies. Kyffhäuserverband was established on August 6, 1881, under the leadership of Diederich Hahn and

Friedrich Naumann Friedrich Naumann (25 March 1860 – 24 August 1919) was a German Liberalism in Germany, liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor. In 1896, he founded the National-Social Association that sought to combine liberalism, nationalism and ...

as an association for these groups. Its guiding principles were Germanness, Monarchy, and Christianity. Its motto was translated as “With God for Emperor and Empire”. Its publication, ''Akademische Blätter,'' was founded in 1886. Kyffhäuserverband name changed to Verband der Vereine Deutscher Studenten (VVDSt) or the Association of German Student Association after World War II.

Symbols

Ribbons and hats are not traditionally worn. However, the association does have colors which are black, white, and red. These colors have been used by German student associations since 1871 as a symbol of national unification, coming from the federal flag of the Northern German Confederation and, later, the national colors of the German Empire. The association's emblem is a triangle with the point pointing downwards and has the colors black, white, and red from the outside to the inside. It is used as the association's pin that is worn on the left lapel. This "KV pin" was introduced in 1922 and featured the black, white, and red triangle with a silver border.. Its principles and goals are lifelong bonds, tolerance, democracy, tradition, policy, scientific nature, friendship, and Christian values.

Member associations

As of 2024, the member associations of VVDSt include: * VDSt Aachen-Breslau II * VDSt Berlin & Charlottenburg * VDSt Bielefeld * VDSt Bonn * VDSt Braunschweig * VDSt zu Bremen * VDSt Breslau-Bochum * VDSt Clausthal * VDSt Dresden * VDSt Erlangen * AV! Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen * VDSt Freiberg, in Freiberg * VDSt Freiburg, in Freiburg im Breisgau * VDSt Fünfkirchen * VDSt Gießen * VDSt Göttingen * VDSt Graz * VDSt Greifswald * DSt Halle-Wittenberg * DSt Hannover * VDSt Heidelberg * VDSt Karlsruhe * VDSt Kiel * VDSt Cologne * VDSt Königsberg-Mainz * VDSt Leipzig * VDSt Leoben * VDSt Linz * VDSt Magdeburg * VDSt Mannheim * VDSt Marburg * VDSt Munich * VDSt Münster * VDSt Osnabrück * VDSt Straßburg-Hamburg-Rostock * VDSt Stuttgart * VDSt Tübingen * VDSt Vienna “Philadelphia” * VDSt Würzburg-Jena

Notable members of VVDSt associations

Otto Dibelius Friedrich Karl Otto Dibelius (15 May 1880 – 31 January 1967) was a German bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg, a self-described anti-Semite and up to 1934 a conservative, who became a staunch opponent of Nazism and com ...

(1880–1967) *

Johannes Dieckmann Johannes Dieckmann (19 January 1893 – 22 February 1969) was a German journalist and politician who served as the 1st President of the Volkskammer, the parliament of East Germany, from 1949 to 1969. Biography Dieckmann was born in Fischerhude i ...

(1893–1969) *

Hermann Ehlers Hermann Ehlers (1 October 1904 – 29 October 1954) was a German politician. He was the second president of the Bundestag from 19 October 1950 to 29 October 1954. He was a member of the Christian Democratic Union. Early life Ehlers was born ...

(1904–1954) *

Wolfgang Finkelnburg Wolfgang Karl Ernst Finkelnburg (5 June 1905 – 7 November 1967) was a German physicist who made contributions to spectroscopy, atomic physics, the structure of matter, and high-temperature arc discharges. His vice-presidency of the Deutsche ...

(1905–1967) *

Ferdinand Friedensburg Ferdinand Friedensburg (17 November 1886 in Schweidnitz (present-day Świdnica) – 11 March 1972) was the interim Mayor of Berlin due to the illness of mayor Louise Schroeder during the Berlin Blockade in 1948. Biography The son of a judge gra ...

(1886–1972) *

Hans Fritzsche August Franz Anton Hans Fritzsche (21 April 1900 – 27 September 1953) was a German journalist and broadcaster who was the ''Ministerialdirektor'' at the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda of Nazi Germany. He was the preemin ...

(1900–1953) *

Heinrich George Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz (9 October 1893 – 25 September 1946), better known as Heinrich George (), was a German stage and film actor. Early life George was born in Pomerania to August Friedrich Schulz, a former Deck Officer in t ...

(1893–1946) *

Hellmut von Gerlach Hellmut Georg von Gerlach (2 February 1866 – 1 August 1935) was a German journalist and politician. Life Hellmut von Gerlach, the son of landowner Max von Gerlach, was born in Mönchmotschelnitz in Silesia. He studied law at the universiti ...

(1866–1935) *

Helmut Hasse Helmut Hasse (; 25 August 1898 – 26 December 1979) was a German mathematician working in algebraic number theory, known for fundamental contributions to class field theory, the application of ''p''-adic numbers to local class field theory and ...

(1898–1979) *

Wolfgang Heine Wolfgang Heine (3 May 1861 – 9 May 1944) was a German jurist and social democratic politician. Heine was a member of the Imperial parliament and the Weimar National Assembly, he served as Minister President of the Free State of Anhalt and ...

(1861–1944) * Richard Heinze (1867–1929) * Rudolf Heinze (1865–1928) * Sepp Helfrich (1900–1963) *

Otto Hoetzsch Otto Hoetzsch (14 February 1876 – 27 August 1946), was a German academic and politician (German Conservative Party, German National People's Party, DNVP and Conservative People's Party (Germany), KVP). At the beginning of the 20th century, he was ...

(1876–1946) *

Joachim Hossenfelder Joachim Hossenfelder (29 April 1899, Cottbus – 28 June 1976, Lübeck) was a German Protestant theologian. He led the Nazi German Christians in the ecclesiastical ministry of the Reich Evangelical Church until 1933. Works * ''Die Richtlinien de ...

(1899–1976) *

Wolfgang Huber Wolfgang Huber (born 12 August 1942 in Strasbourg, Germany) is a prominent German theologian and ethicist. Huber served as bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia until November 2009. Huber succeeded Manf ...

(1942–) *

Georg Kelling Georg Kelling (7 July 1866 – 14 February 1945) was a German internist and surgeon who was a laparoscopy pioneer and in 1901 performed the first laparoscopic surgery on a dog. He studied medicine at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin. He ...

(1866–1945) *

Gerhard Kittel Gerhard Kittel (23 September 1888 – 11 July 1948) was a German Lutheran theologian and lexicographer of biblical languages. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis and an open antisemite. He is known in the field of biblical studies for hi ...

(1888–1948) *

Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a German Nazi politician and official who served as the '' Generalkommissar'' of '' Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' in the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' from 1941 to 1943. Kube was invol ...

(1887–1943) * Rudolf Lehmann (1890–1955) *

Hanfried Lenz Hanfried Lenz (22 April 1916 in Munich1 June 2013 in Berlin) was a German mathematician, who is mainly known for his work in geometry and combinatorics. Hanfried Lenz was the eldest son of Fritz Lenz an influential German geneticist, who is ...

(1916–2013) *

Hubertus, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg Prince Hubertus zu Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (October 14, 1906 – November 28, 1984) was a German historian and political figure who was an early opponent of Adolf Hitler. He fled Germany and helped to promote anti-Nazism in the Uni ...

(1906–1984) *

Max Maurenbrecher Max Heinrich Maurenbrecher (17 July 1874 – 30 April 1929) was a German publicist, pastor and politician. He served as a pastor in the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces until 1907. From 1909 to 1916, he preached for the f ...

(1874–1929) * Ernst Meumann (1862–1915) *

Joachim Mrugowsky Joachim Mrugowsky (15 August 1905 – 2 June 1948) was a Nazi bacteriologist who committed medical atrocities at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was Associate Professor, Medical Doctorate, Chief of Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS, ...

(1905–1948) *

Ludwig Müller Johan Heinrich Ludwig Müller (23 June 1883 – 31 July 1945) was a German theologian, a Lutheran pastor, and leading member of the pro-Nazi " German Christians" () faith movement. In 1933 he was appointed by the Nazi Party as ''Reichsbischof'' ...

(1883–1945) *

Rudolf Nadolny Rudolf Nadolny (12 July 1873 – 18 May 1953) was a military intelligence officer under German Foreign Office cover. During the First World War, he worked in a branch of the German General Staff that experimented in biological warfare. He was the ...

(1873–1953) *

(1860–1919) *

Karl Ernst Osthaus Karl Ernst Osthaus (15 April 1874, in Hagen – 25 March 1921, in Merano) was an important German patron of avant-garde art and architecture. Life Osthaus was born to a wealthy banking family, who also owned several businesses in the textile a ...

(1874–1921) *

Otto Peltzer Otto Paul Eberhard Peltzer (8 March 1900 – 11 August 1970) was a German middle distance runner who set world records in the 1920s. Over the 800 m Peltzer improved Ted Meredith's long-standing record by 0.3 seconds to 1:51.6 min in London in J ...

(1900–1970) *

Kurt Scharf Kurt Scharf (October 21, 1902 – March 28, 1990) was a German clergyman and bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. Career Kurt Scharf was born in Landsberg an der Warthe in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg (now Gorz ...

(1902–1990) *

Gustav Adolf Scheel Gustav Adolf Scheel (22 November 1907 – 25 March 1979) was a German physician and Nazi Party official. He served as a "multifunctionary" in Nazi Germany, including posts as the Reich Student Leader leading both the National Socialist German Stu ...

(1907–1979) *

Otto Tumlirz Otto Tumlirz, or Ota Tumlíř (23 July 1890, Rožmberk nad Vltavou – 3 January 1957, Graz) was a Czech- Austrian psychologist, researcher for pedagogy. He taught as a professor at the Graz University. Tumlirz joined the Nazi Party The Naz ...

(1890–1957) *

Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (; 16 July 1896 – 8 August 1969) was a German-Dutch human biologist and geneticist, who was the Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Münster until he retired in 1965. A member of the Dutch noble Vers ...

(1896–1969) * Ernst Wahle (1889–1981) *

Augusto Weberbauer Augusto Weberbauer (birth name "August" – Breslau, 26 November 1871 – died in Lima, 1948) was a German naturalist, botanist and university professor. He conducted systematic exploration of Peru in search of new plant species. Weberbauer recei ...

(1871–1948) *

Kuno von Westarp Count Kuno Friedrich Viktor von Westarp (12 August 1864 – 30 July 1945) was a conservative politician in Germany. Life and career Westarp was born in Ludom (present-day Ludomy, Poland) in the Prussian Province of Posen, the son of a senior f ...

(1864–1945)

References

External links

Webpage of the VVDSt

{{Authority control Student societies in Germany 1881 establishments in Germany