Title
Frish, Frei, Stark und Treu
Description
A variation on the 4F shield was a combination of two F's, an S and T, which represents "Frish, Frei, Stark, und Treu" ("fresh, free, strong, and true"). This variation indicates the Turners’ criticism of religion in the 1850s; they replaced “fromm” (devout) with “stark” (true), even though the term “devout” signified loyalty to the Turner ideals, rather than religious devoutness. Three decades later, the latter expression became the motto of the German Workers Turner Union (see Hofman's “From Jahn to Lincoln: Transformation of Turner Symbols in a New Cultural Setting” in the 'Sources' section of this collection).