August Freiherr von Binzer (30 May 1793 – 20 March 1868) was a German poet, journalist, and Urburschenschafter.
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Early life and education
Binzer was born in Kiel and studied at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel and the University of Jena. In 1817 he was the founding father of the Burschenschaftlichen movement in Kiel, where he became a member of the fraternity Teutonia in Kiel. In Jena, he joined the Urburschenschaft. He took part in the Wartburg Festival of 1817.
Career
He became known through two of his songs, "Impact!" (Stoßt an!, 1817) and "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus" (1819). The second song was written to dissolve the Jena Burschenschaft and contains the line "The Band is Cut / Was Red Black and Gold", in which the three colors of the fraternity were first recorded in writing. The latter song was immortalized much later (1881) by Johannes Brahms as a trumpet theme in his Academic Festival Overture. Its tune is now used in the Micronesian national anthem.