The formerly French Palatinate had been a last resort for liberal authors and intellectuals, who now had to face the reactionary Bavarian policies. In January 1832 a number of journalists established a democratic association for freedom of the press and speech, which was almost immediately banned by the state government. In turn, the initiators called for a "fair" at Hambach Castle, as any demonstrations were prohibited. About 20-30,000 people from all ranks of society—workmen, women, students and members of parliament, as well as from France and Poland. A delegation of 17 to 20 Polish emigrants took part in the procession from the Neustadt market place uphill to the castle ruin. This pro-Polish support expressed in Hambach was the climax of German liberals' enthusiasm for Poland. A participant who had to emigrate later in the United States and became a public figure there described in his memoirs one highlight of the festival in this manner: The main demands of the meeting were liberty, civil and political rights as well as national unity and popular sovereignty against the European system of the Holy Alliance. No consensus was reached in regard to actions, and a few uncoordinated violent acts were carried out by students later. The poet Ludwig Börne, who followed his invitation by the representatives of the banned press association, described his mixed emotions, when Heidelberg students gathered in a clamorous torchlight procession in his honour, declaring him a national hero. Burschenschaft members demanded an open revolt and the implementation of a provisional government, which was strongly rejected by the journalists. Nevertheless, of the four main organizers of the meeting, three fled the country, a fourth chose to stay and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Aftermath
The gathering had no immediate results, but is considered a milestone in German history because it was the first time that a republican movement had made its mark in the country. It was criticized as a missed opportunity, including by Heinrich Heine. The next year, about 50 insurgents tried to start a democratic revolution by charging the Frankfurt guard house, which ultimately failed. Instead the Hambach events prompted the legalist German Federal Convention to issue its order of 28 June 1832 which again tightened the Carlsbad Decrees and completely suppressed freedom of speech. On the anniversary date in 1833, Bavarian military controlled the area and dispersed all attempts to hold another gathering. Many intellectuals retired to a non-political Biedermeier life in the following years. The Festival also confirmed the establishment of the combination of black, red and gold as a symbol of a democratic movement for a united Germany. These colours were later used by democratic revolutionaries in the Revolutions of 1848 as a symbol of German unity, which however was not achieved until the unification of 1871 —then to Bismarck's specifications. After World War I, Black-Red-Gold were adopted by the Weimar Republic as the national colours of Germany and are the colors of the modern German flag. Hambach Castle became an icon of the German democratic movement. A possession of Prince Maximilian II of Bavaria from 1842, it was rebuilt in a Gothic Revival style from 1844 and is today the site of a historical exhibition.
