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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.
music was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 for the anthem of Austria, 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.
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 Heligoland. This and other works were considered as revolutionary by Prussia, and Hoffmann von Fallersleben lost his work 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 the 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. Since 1952, the federal republic of Germany uses the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied for its national anthem, and took Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit from it for its motto.
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.
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, Prince Metternich 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.
Previous German national anthems
At the beginning of the 19th century, the various smaller states considered to be German each had their own anthem, if any. Most anthems praised the monarch, making the song as popular or unpopular as the person currently in charge. For example Heil dir im Siegerkranz — sung to the tune of the British anthem God Save the King — has lyrics originally written in 1790 with the Danish King in mind, but was used as Prussian anthem. Following the unification of the German Empire in 1871, it was used as the national anthem of Germany without being declared so.
The first unofficial pan-German anthem prior to 1866 was Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland ("What is the German's fatherland?"). The lyrics were composed in 1813 by Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769-1860) under the impression of occupation by Napoleon, and set to music by Gustav Reichardt (1797-1884) in 1825.
Lyrics for the song Die Wacht am Rhein ("The watch on the Rhine") were written in 1840, after France had again made claims to the Western shore of the Rhine.
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 today seem strange that Hoffmann chose a tune that was strongly associated with Austria and his 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 anything 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.
Lyrics and translation
The following provides the lyrics of the "Lied der Deutschen" as written by von Fallersleben. The third verse is Germany's National Anthem.
The first line of the first stanza is easy to misunderstand for those who do not have German as a first language. "Deutschland über alles" means "Germany above all", expressing the desire to aim for a unified German national state (Germany at the time the lyrics were written was still split into a diverse number of often minuscule states).
The text does not express a universal territorial claim and does not mean "Germany everywhere" (which would be the proper translation of "Deutschland überall"), nor does it elevate Germany to a higher position than other countries, which would be the proper translation of "Deutschland über allen" ("Germany over all (of them)").
| 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 right and freedom |
Geography
Besides the degree of nationalism, the geography mentioned in the first stanza is open to major criticism and misuse, although all of the claims were German at the time.
In the early 1840s, when the text was written, there was no unified German state and it was uncertain if there would ever be. 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 there is not as much difference to later real boundaries, but the Little Belt between Jutland and Funen is Danish territory now (see first and second war of Schleswig)
- In the West he names the Maas, a river that runs also through the East of Belgium where German is one of three official languages, close to the transition area between German and Dutch dialects
- In the East, East Prussia stretched beyond the Memel river (the part outside of Prussia was called Neman), which represented the easternmost extension of German speakers in East-Prussia around Königsberg, Tilsit and Memel town. As Memel Territory was separated in 1920, the Neman River is now the border between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania
- As Southern border, the Etsch is given, which has its source and longest section in South Tyrol, nowadays an autonomous province of Italy with a majority of German speakers
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. Northern Schleswig joined Denmark after World War I. Germans were expelled from East Prussia after World War II, and few German speakers remain in these areas nowadays.
Use before WW II
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. It 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 and suffered heavy casualties. The official report of the army described the attack as one of young German soldiers heroically sacrificing their lives for the fatherland. In reality the untrained troops were send out to attack the British trenches side by side and were mowed down by machine guns. This report, also known as the "Mythos von Langemarck", 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.
On 11 August 1922, President Friedrich Ebert made the first three stanzas the official German national anthem.
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.
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 victors, due to its use by the Nazis, as were other symbols used by Nazi. The described border near the Memel river in the East was now a thing of the past, having been changed by the victors. 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 five Allies including Poland. As after the war before, some parodies were written.
For some years after its foundation in 1949, West Germany simply did not have a national anthem for official events, but the need for proper diplomatic procedures was growing. Different songs were discussed or used, like Beethoven's Ode An die Freude ("Ode To Joy"). Though the colours of the national flag were taken into Article 22 of the (West) German constitution, a national anthem was not specified in the constitution. On April 29, 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 May 2 1952, but the decision was never formalised. Thus, West Germany officially continued to have no national anthem, but used the third stanza at occasions where a national anthem was needed.
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.
When West Germany won the Football World Cup 1954 in Berne, Switzerland, the lyrics of the first stanza dominated when the crowd sang along. This might have partially been due to lack of knowledge among Germans about the third stanza lyrics, while the first was partially even known by 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, Football) without anyone providing vocals, apart from the attempts of the crowd present. Before international soccer matches, the anthems are played and the players are shown.
In June 2005, German singer Sarah Connor performed the national anthem a cappella at the opening ceremony of the new stadium in Munich, the Allianz Arena, making two mistakes. 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, this (proper) refrain was sung by the crowd during the first half of the FIFA World Cup 2006 game to express joy about the 2:0 lead of Germany over Sweden, possibly the first ever use in such a manner.
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.
In the light of German military aggression and nationalist furore during World War II, it was easy to infer a sinister intent of a German supremacy on a global level behind the exhortation to "Deutschland über Alles in der Welt" ("Germany above all in the world"), and the words were so exploited in Allied propaganda. The song still rings with menace today in the ears of some.
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 sake 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.*
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 establishments 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.
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:
| Third stanza drinking song variant (von Fallersleben) | |
|---|---|
| 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 not part of the Deutschlandlied.
| Stanza by Matthai, 1921 | |
|---|---|
| Deutschland, Deutschland über alles | Germany, Germany above all, |
Many other variants and parodies exist.
External links
- History and development of the Deutschlandlied - Information by the German federal government (in German)
- Mp3 sound file
- Easybyte - free easy piano sheet music for Das Lied der Deutschen
- Sheet music
- Deutsche Welle: Germans Stop Humming, Start Singing National Anthem
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"Das Lied der Deutschen"