The Biographical Dictionary of the German Burschenschaft (Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft) is a biographical dictionary written by Austrian historian Helge Dvorak (1927âÂÂ2017) on the subject of Burschenschaften (student fraternities in Germany).
A biographical dictionary of the Deutschen Burschenschaft was proposed in 1910. The project was begun in 1996 by Helge Dvorak (1927âÂÂ2017) after three decades of preparation. Dvorak studied law and economics in Innsbruck and was a member of the Academical Olympia Burschenschaft of Vienna. For his work researching the history of Burschenschaften, he was awarded the Herman-Haupt-Plakette in 1982.
The work consists of around nine volumes, including supplemental volumes. They contain biographies of Burschenschaft members who became politicians and artists. Examples include Robert Blum, Heinrich Wuttke, Robert Schumann, as well as August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben who wrote Deutschlandlied.
It was commissioned by the Gesellschaft für burschenschaftliche Geschichtsforschung and published in the Winter Verlag. The first six volumse were published by Christian Hünemörder, starting in 1996. Two supplements were published in 2013 and 2014 by Klaus Oldenhage. The work contains around 5000 biographies.
The second part, dedicated to artists, was published in 2018 by Peter Kaupp. Further additions were published online.
The work is divided into two volumes. The first of which ("Politiker", lit. "politicians") spans 6 sub-volumes that were published from 1996 to 2005, aswell as two supplements and one for further additions. The second volume ("Künstler), lit. "artists") was published posthumously in 2018.