Das Lied der Deutschen
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Das Lied der Deutschen ("The Song of the Germans", also known as Das Deutschlandlied, "The Song of Germany") has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. Outside Germany, the hymn is sometimes informally known by the opening words and refrain of the first stanza, Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, but this was never the title of the original work nor is the first stanza part of the current German national anthem.
The 
music was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 for the anthem of Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire, Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser. The same year, Haydn used it for the second movement of his string quartet no. 62 in C major, op. 76, no. 3 (which is thus also known as Kaiserquartett.)
In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" to Haydn's melody in Helgoland. This and other works were considered as revolutionary by Prussia, and Hoffmann von Fallersleben lost his job as librarian and professor in Breslau. Only after the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states was he rehabilitated.
The song was chosen for the national anthem of Germany in 1922, at the time of the Weimar Republic. It continued to be used in Nazi Germany, but only its first verse, immediately followed by the Nazi Party's Horst-Wessel-Lied. In 1952, West Germany adopted the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied as its national anthem, and took Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit (Unity and justice and freedom) from it for its motto.
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[edit] Tune
See "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser".
The tune of "Das Lied der Deutschen" was written by Haydn in 1797, but not as a national anthem of Germany; Haydn wrote it to provide music to the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Francis the Emperor"), an anthem to Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, and Archduke of Austria. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, "Gott erhalte..." came to be considered the unofficial national anthem of Austria. This tune also is the second movement of one of Haydn's string quartets, the "Kaiserquartett". This string quartet is still widely performed today, still with the second movement containing the tune of the German national anthem along with several variations.
The tune is used in the English-speaking world as a hymn tune, often used for the hymn "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" by John Newton. In this context, the tune is called "Austria" or "Austrian Hymn". [1]
[edit] Historical background
The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, considered the first German Empire, was already weak when the French Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars altered the political map of Central Europe.
Hopes for the Enlightenment, human rights, republics, democracy, freedom after Napoleon's defeat in 1815 were disappointed when the Congress of Vienna re-instated many monarchies. The new German Confederation was still (or again) a collection of more than 30 quarreling monarchies and republican free cities, with their own currencies, laws, armies etc. All sorts of conflicts, from trade tariffs to wars, resulted from that.
In addition, with the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, Chancellor Prince Meternich and his secret police enforced censorship, mainly in universities, to keep a watch on the activities of professors and students, whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberal ideas.
Particularly since hardliners among the monarchs were the main adversaries, demands for freedom of press and other liberal rights were most often uttered in connection with the demand for a united Germany, even though many revolutionaries-to-be had different opinions whether a republic or a constitutional monarchy would be the best solution for Germany, as the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states would show.
[edit] Hoffmann's lyrics
August Heinrich Hoffmann, who called himself von Fallersleben after his home town to distinguish himself from others with the same common name, wrote the text in 1841 on the North Sea island Heligoland, ironically then British. The year after, he lost his job as professor in Prussia due to his revolutionary works, and had to flee.
Hoffmann von Fallersleben evidently intended "Das Lied der Deutschen" to be sung to Haydn's tune, as the first publication of the poem included the music. While it may seem strange today that Hoffmann chose a tune that was strongly associated with Austria and its monarch for his song about the utopia of a united Germany, this would not have seemed strange in 1841. First, at the time other countries likewise borrowed tunes for their patriotic songs, often the tune from Britain's God Save the King. Second, Austria was considered a part of Germany: it was a member of the German Confederation until that was dissolved in 1866 after the Seven Weeks' War. The final separation between southern Germany and Austria did not occur until 1871.
In its historical context, the opening line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt" (Germany, Germany above all, above everything in the world) has to be understood as an appeal to the various German sovereigns to give the creation of a united Germany a higher priority than the independence of their small states. Any claims to German supremacy on an international level, as interpreted nearly a century later by the Nazis, were virtually unthinkable in the international situation of the 1840s. Mainly due to the use by the Nazis, the anthem is still known in most of the English-speaking world by its first line, even though only the third stanza constitutes the official anthem for reasons that are explained below.
In this third stanza, with his call for Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit, Hoffmann expressed his desire for a united, lawful and free Germany.
In the era after the Congress of Vienna ruled by Prince Metternich and his secret police, Hoffmann's text had a distinctly revolutionary, liberal connotation, since the demand for a united Germany was most often uttered in connection with demands for freedom of press and other liberal rights (see The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states). It can also imply that loyalty to a larger Germany should replace loyalty to one's sovereign personally. This in itself is a revolutionary idea. In fact, Hoffmann lost his job as professor in Breslau in 1842, and had to run and hide until being pardoned only after 1848.
[edit] Lyrics and translation
The following provides the lyrics of the "Lied der Deutschen" as written by von Fallersleben.
Only the third verse currently is the Federal Republic of Germany's National Anthem. The other two stanzas are not part of the National Anthem. Their performance, as a song in general, is not forbidden.
| German lyrics | Approximate translation |
|---|---|
| First stanza | |
|
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, |
Germany, Germany above all, |
| Second stanza | |
|
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, |
German women, German loyalty, |
| Third stanza (Germany's National Anthem) |
|
|
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit |
Unity and justice and freedom |
[edit] Geography
The borders mentioned in the first stanza reflected the breadth of territory across which German speakers were spread at the time of composition, but there were large territories inside the boders which were inhabited mainly by non-German speakers. Now and then, German is spoken at or near three of the four cornerstones given by Hoffmann, but Germans have since been removed from the Memel region.
In the 1840s, when the text was written, there was no unified German state and it was uncertain if there would ever be one. The Napoleonic Wars had helped to give the German people a national identity of sorts, but had not unified them as a state. Hoffmann, who in his research had collected German writings and tales, based his definition of Germany on linguistic criteria: he describes the approximate area where a significant percentage German speakers lived at the time, as encountered in his studies. 19th century nationalists generally relied on linguistic criteria to determine the borders of the nation-states they desired.
|
Von der Maas bis an die Memel, |
From the Meuse River to the Neman River, |
- To the north, the belt between Jutland and Funen is part of Denmark now. The border between Denmark and Germany has fluctuated over the years, with Germany sometimes reaching as far north as the Belt (as after the Second war of Schleswig).
- In the west, the Meuse River runs through what is now France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The river roughly defines the boundary separating the formerly German regions of Alsace (German: Elsass) and Lorraine (Lothringen) from the rest of France, as well the German-speaking areas from the rest of Belgium.
- In the east, the lower part of the Memel was located within Prussia, which actually stretched beyond the river which was called Neman, Niemen or Nemunas in other languages, with the border to Lithuania being stable since 1422.
- In the south, the Adige river runs through South Tyrol, which has had a majority of German speakers for centuries.
In the south and in the west, Hoffmann's definition of Germany coincided with the borders of the German Confederation as it existed then. The southernmost member of the Confederation was Austria; the westernmost members were Luxembourg and Limburg. However, Hoffmann went beyond the Confederation boundaries of 1841 in the north and in the east; neither Schleswig nor East Prussia belonged to it at that time yet, but joined before 1866. Thus, when the German Empire was finally founded in 1871, both were parts of the German Empire, whereas Luxemburg, Limburg, and Austria were not (smaller German solution).
[edit] Use between the World Wars
Das Lied der Deutschen was not played at an official ceremony until Germany and Britain had agreed on the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty in 1890, when it appeared only appropriate to sing it at the ceremony on the now officially German island of Helgoland.
The song became very popular after the 1914 Battle of Langemarck during World War I, when several German regiments, consisting mostly of students no older than 16, attacked the British lines singing this song, suffering heavy casualties. The official report of the army embellished the event as one of young German soldiers heroically sacrificing their lives for the fatherland. In reality the untrained troops were sent out to attack the British trenches side by side and were mowed down by machine guns. This report, also known as the "Langemarck Myth", was printed on the first page in newspapers all over Germany.
In 1921, a stanza was written that reflected the situation after Germany's defeat (see below for lyrics). This stanza was popular at that time, but never became part of the official anthem. Today this stanza is largely forgotten.
As a result of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart. The remaining German-speaking part declared the Republic of German Austria and intended to join Germany. With this, the united Germany as described 80 years earlier in the Deutschlandlied would have been achieved.
Yet, the Treaty of Saint-Germain prohibited this, and required the use of the name Austria instead. In addition, South Tyrol was occupied and annexed by Italy which now controlled the river Etsch in its full length. Also, among other territories, the Treaty of Versailles stripped Germany of areas near the other borders that were described 80 years earlier in the Deutschlandlied:
- in the North, Northern Schleswig at the Belt was ceded to Denmark after the Schleswig Plebiscites
- in the West, the cities Eupen and Malmedy located well East of the Maas, became part of Belgium in 1925 after plebiscites that required names and addresses of the voters
- in the East, the Memelland beyond the Memel was put under control of France and later transferred to Lithuania without plebiscite, making the Memel the new border
- in the South, Italy annexed South Tyrol, and thus all of the river Etsch
On 11 August 1922, President Friedrich Ebert made all three official stanzas of Das Lied der Deutschen the official German national anthem. This choice certainly also served as a reminder of the lost areas.
During the Nazi era, the first stanza was heavily used, unlike the second and especially the third, which did not fit at all into the agenda with its "freedom and justice". Instead, the Horst-Wessel-Lied was played after the first stanza.
In the Anschluss of 1938, Hitler added Austria to the German Empire, and in 1939, pressured Lithuania into returning the Memelland. His deal with Mussolini regarding South Tyrol required the population there to choose the Option in South Tyrol: either emigrating to neighboring Nazi Germany or remaining in South Tyrol and being forcefully integrated in to the mainstream Italian culture, losing their language and cultural heritage. Thus Hitler himself not only ignored the heritage of the Deutschlandlied, but actively started the series of expulsions of Germans from their traditional home lands that was later continued in the East.
[edit] Use after WW II
In 1945, after the end of World War II, singing Das Lied der Deutschen was banned for some time by the allies, due to its use by the Nazis, as were other symbols used by Nazi Germany. The described border near the Memel river in the East was now a thing of the past, with Germans being expelled by about 500km behind the Oder and Neisse rivers. Also, the call for "protection and defiance" and even for "unity and justice and freedom" was not welcome, as Germany was occupied, under martial law and split among four Allies plus Poland. As after the first war, some bitter parodies were written to reflect the situation.
After its foundation in 1949, West Germany simply did not have a national anthem for official events for some years despite the growing need for proper diplomatic procedures. Different songs were discussed or used, like Beethoven's Ode An die Freude (Ode To Joy). Though the black, red and gold colours of the national flag had been taken into Article 22 of the (West) German constitution, a national anthem was not specified in the constitution. On 29 April 1952, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer asked President Theodor Heuss in a letter to accept Das Lied der Deutschen as the national anthem, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. President Heuss agreed to this on 2 May 1952. This exchange of letters was published in the Bulletin of the Federal Government.[1] Since it was viewed as the traditional right of the president as head of state to set the symbols of the state, the Lied der Deutschen thus became national anthem.
The GDR adopted its own national anthem, Auferstanden aus Ruinen, which was written to fit the same melody, but later got its own. As the lyrics called for "Germany, united Fatherland", they were not sung anymore when this idea was dropped in the 1970s.
When West Germany won the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final in Berne, Switzerland, the lyrics of the first stanza dominated when the crowd sang along to celebrate the surprise victory that was later dubbed The Miracle of Bern. This might have been due to a lack of knowledge among Germans about the third stanza lyrics, while the first stanza was still well known, even among foreigners.
On 7 March 1990, months before reunification, the Constitutional Court declared only the third stanza of von Fallersleben's poem to be protected as a national anthem under criminal law; Section 90a of the Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) makes defamation of the national anthem a crime, but does not specify what the national anthem is.
In November 1991, President Richard von Weizsäcker and Chancellor Helmut Kohl agreed in an exchange of letters to declare the third stanza alone the national anthem of the enlarged republic. On official occasions, only Haydn's music is used, and the third stanza is supposed to be sung. For other uses, all stanzas may be performed. The singing of the first stanza may, however, considered by some as an expression of right-wing or nationalist political views, depending on the context.
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit ("unity and justice and freedom") from the third stanza is also the state's motto, appearing on soldiers' belts and in similar places. It was engraved into the rim of former 5-Deutsche Mark coins, and is shown on current 2-Euro coins minted in Germany.
Apart from highly official state visits, the music of Haydn is mainly played after German victories in sports contests (e. g. Michael Schumacher in Formula One, Winter Olympics) or before games of the Germany national football team without anyone providing vocals, apart from the attempts of the crowd present or the athletes involved.
As customary in sports events in the USA, an artist was invited to perform the national anthem a cappella at the opening ceremony of the new Allianz Arena stadium in Munich in June 2005. German singer Sarah Connor made two mistakes, though. In anticipation of the later "brüderlich" (brotherly) and possibly impressed by the floodlight, instead of "Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes" (Prosper in this fortune's blessing) she sang "Brüh im Lichte dieses Glückes" (Boil in the light of this fortune). In June 2006 at the same stadium, the proper refrain was spontaneously sung by the crowd during the first half of the FIFA World Cup 2006 playoff game to express joy about the early 2:0 lead of Germany over Sweden, possibly the first ever use of this refrain in such circumstances.
[edit] Criticism
The song has frequently been criticised because of its generally nationalist theme, and because of the geographic definition of Germany given in the first stanza. The main negative associations come from the use by the Nazi Party, about 100 years after it was written.
Unlike many other anthems (e.g., La Marseillaise, God Save the Queen, The Star Spangled Banner), it does not praise nor even mention war in any way, which could have played a role in Germany's decision to continue using it after World War II. It was originally also thought of as a simple drinking song, which explains the reference to German wine and women in the second stanza.
However valid the propagandists' interpretation may have been in regard to the Nazis, it does not reflect Hoffmann's original intentions. He had actually meant that in times of strife, Germany's welfare must be put "above all else in the world." There was no real united Germany at that time, only a large number of scattered German states, and these were the real "world" above which Germany was supposed to be ranked, while no international claims were made. Hoffmann and many Germans longed for them all to finally unite, a wish that only came true (except for Austria) when the German Empire was proclaimed in Versailles in 1871. [2]
During the century after the song was written, the concept of nationalism changed drastically. In the middle of the 19th century, nationalism was a liberal, progressive idea aimed at overcoming monarchy and the often transnational borders these states had. By the middle of the 20th century, after two World Wars and the establishment of states often according to the nationality of people, nationalism had become, to the opinion of some, a conservative, chauvinist, jingoist or even fascist concept aimed at territorial expansion.
[edit] Variants and additions
Von Fallersleben also intended the text to be used as a drinking song; the second stanza's toast to German women and wine are typical of this genre. The original Heligoland manuscript includes a variant ending of the third stanza for such occasions:
|
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit |
Unity and justice and freedom |
In 1921, Albert Matthai wrote a stanza in reaction to Germany's losses in and after World War I. This stanza was never used as a national anthem and was not part of the Deutschlandlied.
| Stanza by Matthai, 1921 | |
|---|---|
|
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles |
Germany, Germany above all, |
The German musician Nico would sometimes perform the national anthem at concerts and dedicate it to Andreas Baader, leader of the Red Army Faction who had died in a German prison. Her version was thought to be an attempt to re-interpret the anthem in a similar way to Jimi Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner. She included a version of Das Lied der Deutschen on her 1973 album The End.
Many other variants and parodies exist. in example
| Estonian variant joking about separating of germany | |
|---|---|
|
Deutschland Deutschland über alles |
Germany Germany Above all |
[edit] External links
- National Anthem of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Third stanza) Mp3 sound file
- Sheet music
- Deutsche Welle: Germans Stop Humming, Start Singing National Anthem
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