This is the first attempt ever made to provide a comprehensive portrayal of the Deutsche Tischgesellschaft founded by Achim von Arnim (1781-1831) and existing from 1811 to at least 1834. This Berlin society contributed decisively to the 'invention of the German nation'. Prominent representatives of leading circles in society were united in a Christian German, Prussian nationalist and German nationalist ideology. Women and Jews were excluded. The speeches that have come down to us testify to a major cultural program with which Arnim and Clemens von Brentano continued the politicization of aesthetics that they initiated with »Des Knaben Wunderhorn«.