Hambacher Fest

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The Hambacher Fest was a national democratic festival, similar to the Wartburg festival of 1817, celebrated at Hambach Castle near Neustadt an der Weinstraße (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany), on May 27-May 30, 1832 with about 30 000 participants.

People came from all ranks of society, workmen, students and members of parliament, as well as from different nations as France and Poland. Amongst the Polish there were many who fled after the November Uprising (1830 - 1831) from Poland to Germany and further on to France.

At that time under the control of Bavaria, the local population suffered from high taxes and censorship. The main demands of the meeting that had been disguised as a non-political county fair were Liberty, Civil rights and National Unity (against the sectionalism that had prevailed in Germany since the Thirty Years' War).

No consensus was reached in regard to actions, and a few uncoordinated violent acts were carried out by students later on. This was criticized as missing a chance, e.g. by poet Heinrich Heine. The meeting had no immediate results, but the meeting is a milestone in German history, and saw the establishment of the colors Black-Red-Gold as a symbol of a German democratic movement (Flag of Germany).