BURSCHENSCHAFT, an association of students at the German universities. It was formed as a result of the German national sentiment awakened by the War of Liberation, its object being to foster patriotism and Christian conduct, as opposed to the particularism and low moral standard of the old Landsmann sclia ften. It originated at Jena, under the patronage of the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and rapidly spread, the Allgemeine deutsche Burschenscha f t being established in 1818. The loud political idealism of the Burschen excited the fears of the reac tionary powers, which culminated after the murder of Kotzebue (q.v.) by Karl Sand in 1819, a crime inspired by a secret society among the Burschen known as the Blacks (Schwarzen). Nomi nally suppressed by the Carlsbad Decrees (q.v.) and again in 1833, it lived on until, in 1848, all laws against it were abrogated. The Bursclienscha f ten henceforth became purely social and non political societies.