Die Wacht am Rhein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of "die Wacht am Rhein" see Watch on the Rhine (disambiguation). For the World War II German offensive, see Battle of the Bulge.

Die Wacht am Rhein (English: The Watch/Guard on the Rhine) is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in historical conflicts with France, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.

Contents

[edit] History

In the Rhine Crisis of 1840, French prime minister Adolphe Thiers advanced the claim that the Rhine River should serve as France's "natural eastern border." Germans feared that France was planning to annex the left bank of the Rhine, as it had sought to do under Louis XIV, and had temporarily accomplished during the Napoleonic Wars a few decades earlier. In the two centuries from the Thirty Years' War to the final defeat of Napoleon, the German-speaking inhabitants of these lands suffered from repeated major and minor French invasions (see French-German enmity).

Nikolaus Becker answered to these events by writing a poem called "Rheinlied", in which he swore to defend the Rhine. The Swabian merchant Max Schneckenburger, inspired by the German praise and French opposition this received, then wrote the poem "Die Wacht am Rhein".

In the poem, with five original stanzas, a "thunderous call" is made for all Germans to rush and defend the German Rhine, to ensure that "no enemy sets his foot on the shore of the Rhine" (4th stanza). Two stanzas with a more specific text were added by others later.

Unlike the older Heil dir im Siegerkranz which praised a monarch, Die Wacht am Rhein and other songs written in this period, such as the Deutschlandlied (Germany's national anthem) and Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland? (What is the Germans' Fatherland?) by Ernst Moritz Arndt, called for Germans to unite, to put aside sectionalism and the rivalries of the various German kingdoms and principalities, to establish a unified German state, (not least) in order to be able to defend Germany.

Author Max Schneckenburger worked in Switzerland, and his poem was first set to music in Berne by Swiss organist J. Mendel, and performed by tenor Methfessel for the Prussian ambassador, von Bunsen. This first version did not become very popular. Schneckenburger died in 1849 and never heard the more famous tune.

When the musical director of the city of Krefeld, Karl Wilhelm, received the poem in 1854, he wrote a version of his own, and performed it with his men's choir on June 11, the day of the silver anniversary of the marriage of Prinz Wilhelm von Preussen, who would later become German Emperor Wilhelm I. This version was spread in song festivals.

In response to the Ems Dispatch incident, which occurred in Bad Ems, not far from the Rhine, France initiated the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. In the aftermath of the subsequent French defeat the German Empire was established in 1871. The song became famous, and both the composer and the family of the author were honoured, and granted an annual pension by Bismarck.

Today, the lands along the left bank of the Rhine between Switzerland and the Netherlands are mainly part of Germany. The Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia are German federal states; Alsace and northern Lorraine are parts of France with a mixed French-German background.

[edit] Text

The following is the complete text of the original five verses of the Die Wacht am Rhein, plus additions:

German lyrics Approximate translation
1st stanza

Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall,
wie Schwertgeklirr und Wogenprall:
Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein,
wer will des Stromes Hüter sein?

A call roars like thunderbolt,
like clashing swords and splashing waves:
To the Rhine, the Rhine, to the German Rhine,
who wants to be the stream's guardian?
refrain
Lieb' Vaterland, magst ruhig sein,
lieb' Vaterland, magst ruhig sein,
fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhein!
Fest steht und treu die Wacht, die Wacht am Rhein!

Dear fatherland, put your mind at rest,
dear fatherland, put your mind at rest,
solid stands, and staunch, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!
Solid stands, and staunch, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!
2nd stanza

Durch Hunderttausend zuckt es schnell,
und aller Augen blitzen hell;
der Deutsche bieder,[1] fromm und stark,
beschützt die heil'ge Landesmark.

Through hundreds of thousands it quickly twitches,
and everybody's eyes brightly flash;
the German, respectable[2], pious, and strong,
protects the sacred county border.
3rd stanza

Er blickt hinauf in Himmelsau'n,
wo Heldenväter niederschau'n,
und schwört mit stolzer Kampfeslust:
Du Rhein bleibst deutsch wie meine Brust!

He looks up to the meadows of heaven,
where ancient heroes glance down,
and swears with proud pugnacity:
You Rhine will remain German like my chest!
4th stanza

Solang ein Tropfen Blut noch glüht,
noch eine Faust den Degen zieht,
und noch ein Arm die Büchse spannt,
betritt kein Feind hier deinen Strand!

As long as a drop of blood still glows,
a fist still draws the dagger,
and one arm still holds the rifle,
no enemy will here enter your shore!
Additional stanza inserted between 4th and 5th

Und ob mein Herz im Tode bricht,
wirst du doch drum ein Welscher nicht.
Reich, wie an Wasser deine Flut,
ist Deutschland ja an Heldenblut!

And even if my heart breaks in death,
You'll never ever become a French.
As rich in water is your flood,
is Germany in heroes' blood.
5th stanza

Der Schwur erschallt, die Woge rinnt
die Fahnen flattern hoch im Wind:
Am Rhein, am Rhein, am deutschen Rhein
wir alle wollen Hüter sein.

The oath rings out, the billow runs
the flags wave high in the wind:
On the Rhine, on the German Rhine
we all want to be the guardian.
Additional 7th stanza on war postcards of the First World War

So führe uns, du bist bewährt;
In Gottvertrau'n greif' zu dem Schwert!
Hoch Wilhelm! Nieder mit der Brut!
Und tilg' die Schmach mit Feindesblut!

So lead us, you are approved;
With trust in God, grab the sword!
Hail Wilhelm! Down with all that brood!
Erase the shame with foes' blood!
  1. ^ alternative: der deutsche Jüngling, fromm und stark
  2. ^ alternative: the German youth, pious, and strong

[edit] Trivia

The Watch on the Rhine was, after and in two World Wars until 1945, one of the most popular songs in Germany, almost rivaling the Deutschlandlied as the de-facto national anthem.

The so-called German-French hereditary hostility ended in 1963 with the Elysée treaty, so that the danger of a French invasion that loomed for centuries over Germany no longer existed. Today, the song has only historical significance in Germany and is rarely sung or orchestrally performed. Singer Heino performed it on a record, though.

The Wacht am Rhein was sung by German soldiers in the movie Casablanca, who then were "drowned out" by exile French singing the "Marseillaise". Originally the Horst-Wessel-Lied was slated to be used in the scene as the German song, since it was at that time the de facto national anthem of Nazi Germany. However, the producers realized that the Horst Wessel Lied was under copyright protection. While it would not have been a problem in the United States, the UK or other Allied nations, a copyright dispute would have hurt or prevented showings in neutral nations which still upheld German copyrights. Therefore the producers went with Die Wacht am Rhein.

The expression Er/sie hat einen Ruf wie Donnerhall is used for describing someone who has a very strong, intimidating reputation.

In several fictional settings, the song plays a role. When it is sung in the movie Casablanca, it is drowned out by "La Marseillaise" which is sung in response; these two songs were juxtaposed in exactly the same way five years earlier, in Jean Renoir's 1937 film La Grande Illusion. It provides the title for Lillian Hellman's cautionary pre-World War II play Watch on the Rhine. Its melody is adapted by Kander and Ebb in their musical play and movie Cabaret as a fictional Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", meant to be reminiscent both of Die Wacht am Rhein and the Horst-Wessel-Lied. In the forst and second part of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1980 epic film adaptation of Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz, Franz Biberkopf starts singing the song. He also sings it in the novel.

The song's title was also used as the codename for the World War II German offensive in 1944 known today as the Battle of the Bulge.

After the end of World War II, the song's popularity in Germany dropped sharply.

The tune for the alma mater of Yale University, "Bright College Years" [1] was taken from Carl Wilhelm's "Die Wacht am Rhein", with new lyrics written by Henry Durand, a "Grey Friar" in Wolf's Head Society, in 1881 to the "splendid tune" [2].

[edit] External links