Research Symposium

BIO

Victoria Pivatelli is a sophomore at Florida State University, double majoring in political Science and Psychology. She will obtain her Bachelor of Social Sciences in the spring of 2028. She aspires to become an attorney, and will attend law school upon graduation. She conducted research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at FSU, investigating the extent to which August von Kotzebue's death led to press censorship, crackdowns on dissent, and restrictions on academia across the German Confederation.

The Continental Consequences of theAssassination of August von Kotzebue

Abstract

On March 23, 1819, August von Kotzebue, a German playwright famous across Europe for his conservative commentaries on culture, was assassinated by University of Jena student Karl Sand. This assassination reflected the deep rivalry between conservative royalists and liberal nationalists, where the European ruling class feared a rise in revolutionary anti-monarchist thought after Napoleon’s rampage across Europe. Our research focuses on the extent to which this event was used to justify silencing dissent, censoring the press, and restricting academia across the German Confederation. Our team analyzed, transcribed, annotated, and translated archived materials from English and French diplomatic envoys. To transcribe and translate, we adjusted image exposure and brightness and used Google dictionary to decipher French and English text. The main topic discussed was the tense situations in universities where political fraternity groups hostile to monarchies were organizing. Our research suggests that many German students sought a united German state, which they operated clandestinely in universities to oppose the monarchies. Although authorities believed few students adhered to these radical revolutionary ideas, they still proposed extensive restrictions on universities through the Carlsbad Decrees. The study of government responses to political violence is important to the stability of our political systems, as the potential for the exploitation of chaos threatens the permanent regression of civil liberties.

Keywords: Politics, Germany, History