Contradictory Fin-de Si` ecle Reform: German Masculinity, the Academic Honor Code, and the Movement against the Pistol Duel in Universities, 1890–1914 Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker The pistol remains the weapon of cripples, the senile, and those infected with a communicable disease. The murder instrument of the highwayman, the dastardly, insidious pistol, is the preferred weapon of the officer. 1 —Hugo B ¨ ottger, Editor of the Burschenschaftliche Bl ¨ atter Even though fraternity men glorified their duels with swords, a series of frivolous pistol duels with deadly ends led students to organize a movement against pistol duels that swept German universities in 1902 and 1903. Students argued that pistol duels violated the rules of reason, morality, and religion—and were thus also purportedly un-German. Male students organized assemblies, made passionate speeches, and passed resolutions in opposition to the pistol duel. They then sent these resolutions to the War Ministers in Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony. Burschenschaft fraternity men built on their long tradition of liberal political activism and convened assemblies in Berlin, Bonn, Breslau, Freiburg, Giessen, Greifswald, Halle, Kiel, K ¨ onigsberg, Leipzig, Mar- burg, Munich, Rostock, and T ¨ ubingen and passed resolutions inspired by the movement. Some of these assemblies drew large numbers of students, for example, 600 students in attendance in Leipzig, 1,500 in Munich, and 1,500 in Freiburg. In Berlin, leaders of 67 organizations representing 2,400 members signed petitions against the pistol duel. Lisa Fetheringill Zwicker is an Associate Professor in the History Department, Indiana University, South Bend, Indiana; e-mail: zwicker@iusb.edu. I would like to thank Ann Goldberg for commenting on an early version of this article at the German Studies Association meeting as well as the two anonymous History of Education Quarterly reviewers for their helpful suggestions. I am also grateful to the Indiana University New Frontiers Program and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for financial support that allowed me to complete this research. 1 “Zur Duelldebatte,” 10.XVI Burschenschaftliche Bl ¨ atter (15 February 1902), 239– 45. History of Education Quarterly Vol. 54 No. 1 February 2014 Copyright C  2014 by the History of Education Society