# Corps Guestphalia Halle

The Corps Guestphalia Hall is a student association affiliate of the Kösen Senior Convents Association (KSCV). Presently it is once again located in Halle (Saale) and belongs to the Green Circle. The Corps members are called Hallenser Westfalen.

## History

Although there is no historical continuity between the older student associations and the Guestphalia Halle, Guestphalia traces its origins to an older student association, arbitrarily setting its founding date to September 8, 1789. As early as the beginning of the 18th century, student associations from the Westphalian region of the Kingdom of Prussia existed at the University of Halle. The Westphalian Association was dissolved and banned by royal edict on November 22, 1717, but seems to have continued regardless. In the second half of the 18th century, the old brotherhoods were increasingly replaced by Masonic-influenced student associations. The Order of the Constantists was founded in 1777 within the Westphalian Association. Competing with the Orders, the associations or “circles”, as they were also called, began to regain strength. The Westphalian Association reconstituted itself at the end of the 18th century in the Prussian colors of black and white.
A cartel agreement of 1792 united the associations of the Pomeranians, Märkers, Guestphalians and Silesians into a cartel and regulated their behavior towards each other as well as their appearance to the outside. Despite ongoing conflicts with university and government authorities, this senior convent (SC), which was joined by Saxonia in 1802, continued to exist until the outbreak of the Wars of Liberation. In 1799, a cartel agreement was made with the Guestphalia associations in Jena and Erlangen, combining the black and white colors of the Halle association with the green and white of the other Guestphalia associations into the tricolor of green, white, and black. After the Wars of Liberation, the old Halle associations reconvened as friendly circles on November 1, 1814, and continued until the end of 1818.
At the beginning of 1819, this bond was dissolved, and secret associations reappeared following the old patterns. Guestphalia was reconstituted on February 14, 1819, following the reformation of Marchia and Pomerania two days earlier. A new cartel agreement (S.C.-Comment) was completed and adopted in 1822. In the following decades, the student association life in Halle continued to experience numerous conflicts with government and university authorities. In the 1830s, the association declined and ceased its activities.
On July 18, 1840, a new Landsmannschaft was founded with the name Guestphalia. There was no continuity with the older Landsmannschaft either in terms of personnel or institution, which is why the student association had to “fence itself in” (herrauspauken) and be received into SC, which would undoubtedly not have been necessary if there had been continuity with older Corps or Landsmannschaften. At this time, Guestpahlia was also regarded by the other Halle Corps as the youngest Corps in Halle. The purpose of this newly founded association was to protect the students from the restrictive orders of the authorities, to establish social virtues and genuine friendship, to guarantee the freedom and German honor of each individual and to offer support to members in need. In 1848, the student fraternity became a member of the Kösener Senioren-Convents-Verband (KSCV).
In 1926, after long disputes, the founding date of the older Westphalian association was arbitrarily backdated to September 8, 1789 (a basis for this founding date does not exist), making it overnight the oldest German Corps . The backdating process was fraught with numerous formal errors and deficiencies in evidence. Nevertheless, the backdating was ultimately accepted, despite clear evidence to the contrary. By 1930, the association had 119 alumni and 11 active members.

## Symbols

The members of the Corps are called Hallenser Westfalen. Its motto is: Neminem time, neminem laede! The older Guestphalia adopted the green-white-black tricolor in 1821/1822. Later, the Guestphalia founded in 1840 adopted these same colors..

## Pubs and houses

In 1810, the older student association first occupied a Westphalian pub in the “Cool Fountain” in Halle.
However, it is only from 1840 onwards that evidence of the good public pubs of Guestphalia can be found. The reconstitution of the Corps probably took place in the Gasthaus “Zur Schleuse” on Mansfelder Strasse, where the Corps used to cook at that time. Then the pub was until 1847 in the inn “Zur Stadt Berlin”, 1847-1870 in the “Golden Harrow”, interrupted only from 1857 to 1860 by a short phase in the inn “City of Cologne”. After the reconstitution of 1874, they first puckered [clarification needed] in the restaurant “Für Fürstental” (until 1887, with a short break), then until 1888 in the “Marktschloß”.
The first house owned by the fraternity was handed over to the assets on January 21, 1888, in Georgstraße 1. It was built by the architect Otto Grote from Halle in 1910-1911 according to plans by the Leipzig architect Curt Einert (1863-1928), a new building in Burgstraße 40, which remained until the suspension in October 1935 Domicile of the Corps.
In Münster, Guestphalia first found a house in Königstraße, which later (until 2006) was replaced by the house Mozartstraße (later Nottebohmstraße) 5. With the repurchase of the house Burgstraße 40 in Halle, the Corps returned to his former home.

## Notable members

* Christian Peter Wilhelm Beuth (1781–1853), Prussian statesman, involved in the Prussian reforms
* Rudolf Doehn (1821–1895), German writer and journalist; participated in the American Civil War as a volunteer in the Union Army
* Wolf von Engelhardt (1910–2008), Baltic German geologist and mineralogist
* Heinrich Fritsch (1844–1915), German gynecologist and obstetrician
* Justus von Gruner (28 February 1777-8 February 1820) was a Prussian official who became the first president of the Berlin Police.
* August von Haxthausen (1792–1866), German agricultural scientist, economist, lawyer, writer, and collector of folk songs
* Georg Friedrich Heilmann (1785–1862), Swiss military figure, politician, and landscape painter
* Friedrich Kortüm (1788–1858), German historian
* August Albrecht Meckel (1790–1829), German physician