The association’s major internal events also served the expansion and deepening of its members’ own knowledge. It is characteristic both of the view of its membership and its position among the fraternities that the association’s regular general meetings were lecture evenings, which took place in the early years in the bigger halls, often in the White, Yellow, and Red Halls of the Crystal Palace. Guest participated in these evenings, and the possibility of a debate was offered. After these lectures, drinking evenings were held according to the established drinking rules. Frequently, the newspapers reported on these general meetings. They were the main focus of the club life. For instance, fourteen such meetings occurred in the winter semester of 1884/85; there were eleven in the summer semester of 1885, fourteen in the winter semester of 1885/86, eleven in the summer semester of 1886, etc. The association’s affairs were dealt with in special general meetings; these were the precursors of the later convents [Konvente], as they have been called since the winter semester of 1893/94, and their attendance figures were much lower than those of the regular general meetings. This was possible because the club committee had far-reaching authority and was not limited to a rigid set of procedural rules; moreover, the governance [of the association] was based on voters’ trust in the personality of the leader, as a result of which only the most important questions were presented to the special general meeting for approval, whereas the committee took care of and decided on everything else.
Apart from the further education of members, other points of emphasis included physical training and sociability. Each semester, various sections were formed. Starting in the winter semester of 1887/88, these were called divisions [Abteilungen]. They were based on the voluntary union of association members who were interested in particular issues. As was stated in the annual report for the summer semester of 1884, “Lively activity developed in six sections during this semester; as a result, there was a meeting held by one of them every evening. These meetings were attended by numerous guests, especially association members.”
II.
In the winter semester of 1884/85, for example, there was a ten-member legal section that had replaced the previous legal and politico-scientific section; additionally, there was a theological section that held its meetings in the club bar “Stadtgarten” and then in a member’s apartment; furthermore, an eight-member fencing section practiced four times a week on Windmühlenstrasse; there was a choral section, whose eight members held weekly quartet evenings, and a gaming section, whose 10-15 members usually gathered on Saturday evenings at the “Plauensche Hof” to play chess, pool, and skat. The following semester, there was also a gymnastics section, and later on a bowling section existed for a while; more frequently there was a rowing section, and sometimes an equestrian section. The individual sections or divisions changed from semester to semester, depending on the availability of suitable leaders and the number of participants. For instance, for a short time in the winter semester of 1886/87, there were only two sections: the theological section and the fencing section. But the next semester already saw a vigorous revival of internal club life, and seven sections were formed. That year, a new 37-member colonial policy section was added, along with a 15-member Low German language section. In the latter section, the science student Langhans delivered a lecture on “The Struggle of the Flemish against the Walloons in Belgium” and one on “The Expansion of the Low German-speaking Area;” the following semester, Langhans lectured in this section on “The Political Conditions in Belgium with regard to the Ethnic Struggle between the Low Germans (Flemish) and the Walloons,” and the history student Witte spoke on “The Distribution of High and Low German in the Polish Regions of Prussia.” Thus, we can see that in addition to national, political, economic, and social questions, the association was already interested early on in issues concerning popular customs and traditions, issues that were entirely unknown to broad circles at the time and even later on.
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