Karl Ludwig Sand (
Wunsiedel, then in
Prussia, 5 October 1795 -
Mannheim, 20 May 1820) was a
German university student and member of a liberal
Burschenschaft (student association). He was executed in 1820 for the murder of the
conservative dramatist
August von Kotzebue the previous year in
Mannheim. As a result of his execution, Sand became a martyr in the eyes of many German nationalists seeking the creation of a united German national state.