The Coburger Convent is the umbrella association of the Landsmannschaften and Turnerschaften at German and Austrian universities. Each year, one member fraternity takes over the chair for a year and gives the association a motto. Saxo-Suevia was allowed to take on this task twice, and both times we put Europe at the centre.
1976/77: A Goal Without Alternative
The motto “Family of European Nations – A Goal Without Alternative” went back largely to our late fellow member, retired General Johannes Steinhoff, who also gave the keynote speech at the Kommers in 1977. Steinhoff barely survived the Second World War and later played a major part in building up the air force of the Federal Republic. At the end of his career this work took him to NATO's highest military position as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. Steinhoff knew what war means. That is why the unification of Europe was so close to his heart.
2022/23: One Destiny, One Future
“Family of European Nations – One Destiny, One Future” Motto of our presidential year 2022/23
With this motto we deliberately picked up the thread from the presidential year 1976/77 in order to spin it further. A lot has happened in the 46 years in between. Back then, in the middle of the Cold War, most of us could hardly have imagined what we have since experienced: the fall of the Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the admission of our eastern neighbours to the EU and NATO. Much of what was imagined as a goal in 1977 has thus been achieved.
Europe with its many peoples remains of decisive importance for all of us and for the Coburger Convent. Our continent has seen countless wars and was largely devastated by two world wars in the 20th century. Nevertheless, after 1945 the Europeans succeeded in turning their shared destiny for the better over many decades and in concentrating more on what unites them than on what divides them. All the more are we appalled that, barely 80 years after the end of the Second World War, a brutal war has once again broken out in Europe.
In Coburg we experienced the politically enforced division of Germany and Europe until 1989 and called for unity every year at a commemoration on the Coburg market square. After the fall of the Iron Curtain we came a big step closer to this unity of Europe. This concerns us very directly, because many of our fraternities, like ours, have roots in places that are no longer in Germany but are still in Europe. Today, unlike almost 50 years ago, we can travel to Breslau and Prague again. More than that: we once again have fellow members from cities such as Breslau and Prague.
That is a success of free movement. Our young members can decide freely where in Europe they want to study and work; nobody forces them to leave their home. We in Erlangen know what we are talking about: Erlangen is to a large extent a settlement of refugees, namely French Huguenots, who had to leave their homeland for religious reasons from 1686 onwards and were guaranteed freedom of settlement and religion here. The renowned Faculty of Protestant Theology at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität bears witness to this history to this day.
The destiny of Europe has always very directly affected the Coburger Convent, its fraternities and their university towns. In the light of globalisation and with a view to other great powers outside Europe, it is becoming ever clearer that the peoples of Europe have more in common than divides them, and that we can rightly call them a family of nations. This is the result of three thousand years of shared culture and history, shared developments in business and science, and the many connections between people across borders.
To express that we look ahead while considering the view into the past important, our motto combines the words “destiny” and “future”. “Destiny” points to a connection given from outside, for example by geographical proximity. With the word “future” we show that we want to shape the future of our continent actively and together. We Germans in the middle of Europe in particular have a vital interest in a peaceful and flourishing family of European nations that shares a common destiny and looks together towards a good future, hopefully soon once again throughout Europe. We want to do our part.
The speeches at the 2023 Whitsun Congress
At the 155th Whitsun Congress in Coburg, four members of Saxo-Suevia gave the main speeches. The Coburger Convent has published them (PDF, in German):
- Commemoration of the dead: Prof. Dr. Markus Witte
- Academic ceremony: Rafael Arutjunjan
- Festive Kommers: Prof. Dr. Berthold Seitz
- Ceremony on the market square: Dr. Michael Schramm
