The Corps Guestphalia Halle is a German Student Corps, founded in 1840 at the United Friedrich University of Halle-Wittenberg and affiliated with the Kösener Seniors Convent Association (KSCV). Its members are known as" Hallenser Westfalen" – "Halle Westphalians". Like all Corps within the KSCV, Guestphalia upholds the principles of Mensur, Couleur and lifelong fraternity; within the KSCV it belongs to the "Green Circle". From 1958 to 2006 the Corps was based in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, before returning in the summer semester of 2006 to Halle/Saale, where it has since once again been affiliated with the Halle Seniors' Convent.
The Corps is best known for its claim to be the oldest German Student Corps. This status, however, is based on the backdating of its foundation to 8 September 1789, approved by the Halle SC in 1926. There is, however, no evidence of continuity with an earlier association of the same name.
Coat of arms and couleur Guestphalia's colors are May green–white–black with silver trim; the cap is May green. Freshmen (germ. "Füchse" = engl. "foxes") wear a May green–white–May green Fuchsenband, also silver-trimmed. In winter, a felt winter cap with embroidered monogram (germ. "Zirkel") and ermine trim replaces the usual cap. Inactive members and alumni wear a Tönnchen. The Corps' mottoes are Neminem time, neminem laede! and Gloria virtutis comes!; the arms motto – abbreviated GUN, a.p.h.c., v.f.i.f.i. – reads Amico pectus hosti cuspidem, Vivant fratres intimo foedere iuncti!Verband Alter Corpsstudenten (ed.): Handbuch des Kösener Corpsstudenten, vol. II, Würzburg, 1985: 1/62. Since the early 20th century, the escutcheon has been quartered: (1) argent, the Corps cipher with Gloria virtutis comes; (2) gules, a rearing Westphalian horse, argent; (3) tierced in the Corps colors, inscribed Neminem time, neminem laede and the date 1789; (4) argent, two sabres in saltire with the arms mottoes. The crest above the helm shows three ostrich feathers in the Corps colors.The composition of the newer coat of arms draws on that of the older students' associations coat of arms from 1838; see Karl Gossel: The Predating of Guestphalia Halle Postponed Once Again (special reprint from the Corps Report of Borusia zu Halle, 1929/30), Hagenow i. M., 1929/30: 3; and Jürgen-Dietrich Bender: Corps Guestphalia Halle, Münster, 1997: 3. The earlier coat of arms was also quartered but differently: eight mullets for the founders, the Guelph horse, the Westphalian colors and the founding date 1840 flanked by "XVIII" and "VII," with a small inescutcheon bearing the cipher at center.Michael Doeberl et al. (eds.): Das Akademische Deutschland, vol. 4: Die Wappen der deutschen Korporationen des In- und Auslandes, Berlin, 1931, pl. II. The coats of arms and mottos were not adopted from predecessor fraternities of the same name but from various other students' associations; Hans Peter Hümmer: "Commentary on Bernhard Baxhenrich, 'Streit um eine Fußnote? Zur Rückdatierung der Guestphalia Halle,'" Einst und Jetzt 50 (2005): 503–519, at 518, n. 27a; and Karl Gossel: Die Vordatierung der Guestphalia Halle nochmals vertagt (offprint from Corpsbericht der Borusia zu Halle, 1929/30), Hagenow i. M., 1929/30: 3.
History of the Corps Early period (1840–1914) The origins of Westphalian associations in Halle can be traced back to the early eighteenth century, when, amid the unrest of 1717, students began organizing along regional lines and formed a Westphalian Landsmannschaft ("natio") for mutual protection. A royal edict issued that same year prohibited such associations. There is no evidence, however, of their covert continuation; only sporadic revivals in 1765 and 1786 point to the persistence of a distinct Westphalian regional consciousness. A new institutional framework emerged from 1777 in the Constantinist Order (a student lodge patterned on the Masonic model), whose internal tensions in 1789/90 gave rise to an independent Westphalian landsmannschaft – the present corps regards this association as its origin. The founding date subsequently claimed for 8 September 1789, however, rests on no documentary evidence whatsoever. A chain of short-lived re-foundings ensued: after its dissolution in 1813, a Teutonia (1814–1817), a General Burschenschaft under the name Guestphalia/Germania (1818/19), renewed foundings in 1819, 1825, and 1835/36 – none demonstrably connected to one another. The immediate precursor was the so-called "Cannibals" society, formed in 1837/38 from the last remaining Westphalians together with a group of Heidelberg students, out of which a short-lived Guestphalia in green-silver-black emerged – again without continuity to what preceded it.Fritz König: Aus zwei Jahrhunderten. Geschichte der Studentenschaft und des studentischen Korporationswesens auf der Universität Halle, Halle, 1894; Hanns Freydank: "Die Landsmannschaft der Schlesier an der Friedrichs-Universität zu Halle." Thüringisch-Sächsische Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kunst 18 (1929): 76–91; Hans Peter Hümmer: "Das 'Hallische Kränzchen'. Ein Experiment des 18. Jahrhunderts." Einst und Jetzt 35 (1989): 39–47; Hans Peter Hümmer: "Stammbuch Carl Davidis (Landsmannschaft Guestphalia Halle 1828–1830)." Einst und Jetzt 48 (2003): 153–180; Holger Zaunstöck: Das Milieu des Verdachts, Berlin, 2010; Robert Soppa: "Der SC zu Halle in den Jahren 1789 bis 1819." In Sebastian Sigler (ed.): Die Vorträge der 77. deutschen Studentenhistorikertagung Halle an der Saale 2017, München, 2018: 37–58. In 1840 six students at the University of Halle-Wittenberg – five theologians and one law student, from the provinces of Saxony, Anhalt and Mecklenburg – joined together to found a student association. After an attempt to recruit a member of Borussia Corps had failed, they won over the law student Viktor Pfannschmidt (Corps Thuringia Jena), who constituted the Corps Guestphalia on 18 July 1840; the choice of name over "Pommerania" probably goes back to him. On 6 August 1840 it was admitted to the Hallenser SC as the youngest Corps alongside Saxonia, Borussia and Marchia. It was demonstrably a new foundation without continuity with earlier student associations of the same nameFor a summary of these events, see Wilhelm Eckhardt: Historische Untersuchungen über den Bestand einer Guestphalia in Halle 1832–1840 (= Onolden-Zeitung, special issue, May 1929), Erlangen, 1929: 16–19. See also Karl Gossel: Zur Vordatierung der Guestphalia zu Halle, II (offprint from Corpsbericht der Borussia zu Halle, 1928, no. 3, April–June), Berlin, 1928: 2–4; and Martin Weigl, Zur Rückdatierung der Guestphalia zu Halle auf den 8. September 1789, Erlangen, 1929: 34–35. – shown by the necessary fencing out "Herauspauken,"Hans Peter Hümmer: "Wer genehmigte die Vordatierung des Corps Guestphalia Halle von 1840 auf 1789." Einst und Jetzt 49 (2004): 368–377, at 376 n14. the non-participation of old-Westphalians, and the later statement in the SC-Comment of 1853 that it was a "new Corps [...], but independent of the previous one.""[N]eues Corps, wieder unter dem Namen Guestphalia, aber unabhängig von dem vorigen"; Excerpt cited in: Martin Weigl: Zur Rückdatierung der Guestphalia zu Halle auf den 8. September 1789, Erlangen, 1929: 36. A reconstitution would, in any case, have been impossible under §7.4 of the then applicable SC-Comment, since more than one year had elapsed since the dissolution of the last Guestphalia (1819/38).The SC-Constitutionen then in force stated in §7.4 with regard to the re-establishment of a corps: "Ein Corps, das sich aufgelöst hat, aber vor Ablauf eines Jahres sich wieder auftut, hat dieses dem S.C. anzuzeigen und braucht nicht wieder rezipiert werden, sondern tritt ganz an die Stelle des früheren Corps ein. Es müssen aber doch wenigstens drei Corpsburschen des früheren Corps dabei sein." Quoted from Karl Gossel: Zur Vordatierung der Guestphalia zu Halle, II (offprint from Corpsbericht der Borussia zu Halle, 1928, no. 3, April–June), Berlin, 1928: 3; Hans Peter Hümmer: "Wer genehmigte die Vordatierung des Corps Guestphalia Halle von 1840 auf 1789." Einst und Jetzt 49 (2004): 368–377, at 376 n14.In the following decades the Corps experienced several upheavals. In 1843/44 a split in the SC occurred; Guestphalia stood on one side together with Saxonia and the new Pomerania, before the Corps reunited in 1844. In 1848 Guestphalia took part in the Jena Seniors' Convent Deputies' Assembly, and in 1855 in the founding of the KSCV. Under the German Empire the Corps concluded cartel relations with Hansea Bonn, Marchia Berlin, Borussia Greifswald and Hasso-Borussia.Sebastian Sigler: "Bemerkungen zum Hallenser SC im 19. Jahrhundert", in idem (ed.), Die Vorträge der 77. Deutschen Studentenhistorikertagung Halle an der Saale 2017, Munich, 2018: 59–68. Repeated it became involved in conflicts: in 1862, a dispute with Halle journeymen escalated in the run-up to the planned torchlight procession on the occasion of the reactor replacement at the university. Violent street battles ensued in which members of Guestphalia were taking part as ringleaders. The instigators were severely punished by the university authorities. Jürgen Kloosterhuis: "Generalmarsch! Die Straßenschlacht zwischen Hallenser Korporationsstudenten und Arbeitern beim Rektoratswechsel 1862." Einst und Jetzt 47 (2002): 167–173 In 1867 the dispute over the anniversary of the University of Halle-Wittenberg led to a temporary ban on the Hallenser Corps. The corps had expected preferential treatment during the university's anniversary celebrations. When this did not occur, the Corps members brutally attacked the festive procession led by the university director and prevented the groupe from entering the banquet hall, compelling the organizers to move the event to another location.Describing these events in a manner that is at times mocking and at times dismissive, see Fritz König: Aus zwei Jahrhunderten: Geschichte der Studentenschaft und des studentischen Korporationswesens auf der Universität Halle, Halle/Saale, 1894: 79–81.
In 1870 the Corps suspended activity because of the German-French war, reconstituted in 1874, and at the end of the 1870s moved from the Black Circle to the Green Circle.Jürgen-Dietrich Bender: "Guestphalia von der Stiftung 1789 bis zur Einweihung des Corpshauses 1911." in Westphalenverein e.V. Halle/SaaleIn (ed): 200 Jahre Corps Guestphalia Halle zu Münster. 1789–1989, Münster, 1989: 61–78, here 74–76. In 1888 it acquired its first dedicated Corps house, and in 1911 the new building at Burgstrasse 40 followed.Torsten Lehmann: "Die Hallenser Corps im Kaiserreich – eine Kulturgeschichtliche Betrachtung." in Hermann-Josef Rupieper (ed): Beiträge zur Geschichte der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. 1502–2002, Halle/Saale, 2002: 315–376, here 333.
War, political radicalization and the construction of tradition (1914–1933)