The Katholischer Studentenverein Arminia (Catholic Students Society Arminia) is one of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

's oldest

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

male student societies.

History

Arminia is a student association founded on 6 November 1863 at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. The name was chosen in reference to

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

, the chief of the

Cherusci The Cherusci were a Germanic tribe that inhabited parts of the plains and forests of northwestern Germany in the area of the Weser River and present-day Hanover during the first centuries BC and AD. Roman sources reported they considered themsel ...

who drove the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

out of Germany and thus became a symbol of the – not yet unified –

fatherland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

in the 19th century. In 1865 ''Arminia'', among four other Catholic corporations, became the founder of the Kartellverband katholischer deutscher Studentenvereine (KV), Germany's second oldest umbrella organisation of Catholic male student societies. In accordance with the Roman Catholic faith and teachings, ''Arminia'' strictly refuses

academic fencing Academic fencing (german: link=no, akademisches Fechten) or is the traditional kind of fencing practiced by some student corporations () in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia, and, to a minor extent, in Belgium, Lithuania, and Pol ...

. Its members do not wear

couleur Couleur (from French, meaning ''colour'' in English language, English) is the expression used in Central European ''Studentenverbindungen'' for the various headgear and distinctive ribbons worn by members of these student societies. There are thr ...

. ''Arminia's''

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

is ''Treu, frei!'' (English: ''Loyal, straightforward!''). ''Arminia's''

principle A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a Legal rule, rule that has to be or usually is to be followed. It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, suc ...

s are (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

) ''religio'', ''scientia'' and ''amicitia''. Because of its history and its large number of prominent members, ''Arminia'' is one of the most distinguished student corporations. Like all German student corporations ''Arminia'' is much smaller than American

fraternities A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, "brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in ...

usually are; it has approx. 350 members, including "Aktive" (students) and "Alte Herren" (

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

Famous members

German Chancellors

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...

(1876–1967), first postwar

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ger ...

, German Minister of Foreign Affaires, Father of the House (Bundestag), President of the Parliamentary Council, President of the Prussian Council of State * Georg Count Hertling (1843–1919),

Chancellor of the German Empire The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

Minister President of Prussia The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the Allie ...

Foreign Minister of Prussia This article lists Foreign Ministers of Prussia. After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, the Imperial Chancellor was normally also Foreign Minister of Prussia. However, during the chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe (1894–1900), the po ...

, Minister-President of Bavaria *

Wilhelm Marx Wilhelm Marx (15 January 1863 – 5 August 1946) was a German lawyer, Catholic politician and a member of the Centre Party. He was the chancellor of Germany twice, from 1923 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1928, and he also served briefly as the ...

(1863–1946),

, Minister of Justice of the German Empire

Others

Michael F. Feldkamp Michael F. Feldkamp (born 23 April 1962) is a German historian and journalist. Career Feldkamp was born in Kiel. After completing his high school studies at the Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück, he studied history, Catholic theology, teaching, ...

(born 1962) German historian and journalist on the staff of the German

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

* Adolf Fritzen (1838–1919),

Archbishop of Strasbourg {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 These persons were bishop, archbishop or prince-bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg (including historically Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg): Bishops and prince-bishops *Amandus *Justinus vo ...

* Karl Trimborn (1854–1921), Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior of the German Empire * Hans Müller (CSU) (1884–1961), President of the

Federal Finance Court of Germany The Federal Fiscal Court (''Bundesfinanzhof'') is one of five federal supreme courts of Germany, established according to Article 95 of the Basic Law. It is the federal court of appeal for tax and customs matters in cases which have already bee ...

* Joseph Schneider (1900–1986), first President of the

Federal Social Court of Germany The Federal Social Court (''Bundessozialgericht'') is the German federal court of appeals for social security cases, mainly cases concerning the public health insurance, long-term care insurance, pension insurance and occupational accident ins ...

* Ludwig Pastor Baron Camperfelden (1854–1928), one of the most important Catholic historians, ambassador of the

Republic of Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine States of Austria, states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, th ...

to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

Rainer Ludwig Claisen Rainer Ludwig Claisen (; 14 January 1851 – 5 January 1930) was a German chemist best known for his work with condensations of carbonyls and sigmatropic rearrangements. He was born in Cologne as the son of a jurist and studied chemistry at the u ...

(1851–1930), famous German chemist *

August Everding August Everding (; 31 October 1928; Bottrop, Germany – 26 January 1999; Munich) was a German opera director and administrator. He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, where launching his career in the 1950s. He was a member of the Ro ...

(1928–1999), outstanding German opera director and administrator of the 20th century whose productions were performed in all major international houses * Karl Albrecht, director of

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

, son of

Karl Albrecht Karl Hans Albrecht (; 20 February 1920 – 16 July 2014) was a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo. He was for many years the richest person in Germany. In February 2014, he was ranked the 2 ...

(born 1920), the wealthiest man in Germany * Heinrich Weitz (1890–1962), President of the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (german: Deutsches Rotes Kreuz ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. With 4 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within ...

A number of members participated in the Widerstand (English: resistance) against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

; two of them, Leo Trouet and Benedikt Schmittmann, were arrested and killed.

Quotation

"Last week Adenauer's college days became a topic of national discussion. Addressing a nostalgic reunion of Alte Herren (old grads) (note: at ''Arminia's'' hundredth anniversary celebration), the Chancellor defended Germany's tradition of fraternities, which are widely accused of fostering authoritarianism. Though at 87 Adenauer has seen most if not all of his old fraternity classmates die, he is still a loyal member of ''Arminia''. ��Adenauer is supposed to confine himself to being ��the oldest surviving member of ''Arminia''." (Germany. The Oldest Grad, in: ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' (Atlantic Edition) 82 (1963) No. 4, July 26, 1963, 26–27.)

External links

K.St.V. Arminia – Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arminia, K.St.V. Kartellverband Catholic Church in Germany Student religious organisations in Germany Organisations based in Bonn University of Bonn 1863 establishments in Prussia Student organizations established in 1863 Youth organisations based in Germany