EISENACH, Germany — The fusty world of German nationalist secret societies was at odds Thursday over racial purity demands from a faction that objects to an ethnic Chinese man joining one of the clubs.
Formed in the 19th century, the student fraternities used to exclude Jews and were sworn t
o defend the Fatherland.
The fraternity members wear military-style uniforms, fight duels, sing drinking songs, and of course drink. Initiates help one another lifelong after university, forming shadowy old-boy networks in business. Women may not join.
The 120 fraternities met this week in the central city of Eisenach and had a debate about one comparatively liberal club, Hansea Mannheim, which has admitted a man who is committed to the fraternity ideology, although both his parents were Chinese.
The most conservative clubs were enraged. A Bonn club demanded Hansea’s expulsion from the federation for admitting a “non-German.” The new member is a German citizen and has served in the German army.
Army service is esteemed by German conservatives. Economy Minister Philipp Roesler, whose parents were Vietnamese but who was raised in Germany as an adoptive child, has won acceptance in such circles through the fact that he is a former German Army doctor.
While the fraternities deny any connection to Nazi ideology, historians contend both drew on the same well of 19th-century German chauvinist ideas about blood and honor. Hitler required Germans to prove they had pure “Aryan” ancestry.
“A split in the federation over the issue is conceivable,” a federation spokesman, Michael Schmidt, said before the meeting.
However demands to change the rules, making German race a requirement for membership, were withdrawn without being put to a vote when the proponents realized they would not win majority support, he said. More debate is expected Saturday.
The fraternities are estimated to comprise 1,300 students, backed by more than 10,000 former members.
Politicians voiced shock at the debate. Astrid Rothe-Beinlich, a Green Party member and deputy speaker of the Thuringia state parliament, said the clubs were “racist” and “a group of far-right students pretending to be conserving tradition.”
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