August Daniel von Binzer

• Name — August Daniel von Binzer • Born — 30 May 1793 • Birthplace — Kiel, Duchy of Holstein (now Germany) • Died — 20 March 1868 • Place of death — Neisse, Silesia, Prussia (now Poland) • Occupation — Writer • Years Active — 1817 - 1868

Binzer was born in Kiel and studied at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel and the University of Jena. In 1817 he was the founding father of the Burschenschaftlichen movement in Kiel, where he became a member of the fraternity Teutonia in Kiel. In Jena, he joined the Urburschenschaft. He took part in the Wartburg Festival of 1817.

He became known through two of his songs, "Impact!" (Stoßt an!, 1817) and "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" (1819). The second song was written to dissolve the Jena Burschenschaft and contains the line "The Band is Cut / Was Red Black and Gold", in which the three colors of the fraternity were first recorded in writing. The latter song was immortalized much later (1881) by Johannes Brahms as a trumpet theme in his Academic Festival Overture. Its tune is now used in the Micronesian national anthem. As a journalist and writer von Binzer worked in many German cities, including Altenburg, Glücksburg (Baltic Sea), Flensburg, Leipzig, Cologne and Augsburg. He wrote for newspapers, edited encyclopaedias and published stories and short stories.

In 1822 von Binzer married the writer, Emilie Henriette Adelheid von Gerschau, who survived him by 21 years. A street in Linz is named after her. Their son, Carl, became a well known landscape painter and author.

His last years he spent in Linz and Styria. He died in Neisse, Silesia.

• Illustration — Memorial plaque in Linz. • Binzer, August Daniel von. 1820. • Report on the celebrations that took place during the laying of the foundation stone of the German Bookstore Exchange in Leipzig on 26 October 1834. • August Daniel von Binzer. Venice in 1844. 1845