A Karzer was a designated lock-up or detention room to incarcerate students as a punishment, within the jurisdiction of some institutions of learning in Germany and German-language universities abroad. The American writer Mark Twain wrote about the karzer in Heidelberg in his book, A Tramp Abroad (1880).[1]
Karzers existed both at universities and at gymnasiums (similar to a grammar school) in Germany until the beginning of the 20th century. Marburg's last Karzer inmate, for example, was registered as late as 1931.[2]
Graffiti in the Heidelberg Karzer
Responsible for the administration of the Karzer was the so-called Pedell (English: bedel), or during later times Karzerwärter (a warden). While Karzer arrest was originally a severe punishment, the respect for this punishment diminished with time, particularly in the 19th century, as it paradoxically became a badge of honour of sorts to have been incarcerated at least once during one's time at university. At the end of the 19th century, as the students in the cell became responsible for their own food and drink and the receiving of visitors became permitted, the "punishment" would often turn into a social occasion with excessive consumption of alcohol.
Engraving by Winthrop Pickard Bell on a cell-door in the Karzer of Göttingen University
At the start of World War I, Canadian philosophy student Winthrop Pickard Bell, who was attending Göttingen to study under Edmund Husserl, was detained for several months as potential belligerant. He would spend most of the war at Ruhleben internment camp.[8]
References
^Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad. (With reference to the Karzer at Heidelberg University)
^Bickert, Hans Günther / Nail, Norbert: Marburger Karzer-Buch. Kleine Kulturgeschichte des Universitätsgefängnisses. Dritte, neu bearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage. Marburg 2013
