Deutschlandlied

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"Über alles" redirects here. For other uses, see

Deutschlandlied / Das Lied

der Deutschen

English: 'Germany Song' / 'Song of the

Germans'

of Hoffmann von Fallersleben's

manuscript of "

Das Lied der Deutschen

National anthem of Germany

Also known as

Einigkeit und Recht und

Freiheit

(English: 'Unity

and Justice and Freedom')

Lyrics

, 1841

Music

, 1797

Adopted

11 August 1922

Readopted

2 May 1952

29 November 1991 (third

stanza)

Relinquished

1945

Preceded by

(

, 1797–

1806)

and "

(unofficial)

(

, 1871–1918)

" (as co-

official of the NSDAP)

(

, 1933–1945)

(

, 1949–1990)

Audio sample

Instrumental rendition by the

The "

Deutschlandlied

officially titled "

Das Lied der Deutschen

is a

poem written by

. A

popular song which was made for the cause of creating a unified German state,

it was adopted in its entirety in 1922

by the

, replacing the

de facto anthem "

". The first stanza of

"Deutschlandlied" was used alongside the "

" during the

from 1933 until the end of

. On the proclamation of the

, the entirety of the song was still the official

anthem, though only the 3rd verse was sung. Since the

in 1991, only the third stanza was reconfirmed as the national anthem. It is

discouraged, although not illegal, to perform the first stanza (or to some

degree, the second), due to the perceived association with the Nazi regime.

Its phrase "

und

" ('Unity and Justice and

Freedom') is considered the unofficial

of Germany,

and is

inscribed on modern

belt buckles and the rims of some

The music is derived from that of "

", composed in

1797 by the Austrian composer

as an anthem for the birthday of

, Emperor of the

and later of

. In 1841,

the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote

the lyrics of "

Das Lied der Deutschen

" as a new text for that music,

counterposing the national unification of Germany to the eulogy of a monarch:

lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.

Title

[

]

The "

Deutschlandlied

" is also well known by the

and refrain of the

first stanza, "

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles

" ('Germany, Germany above

all'), but this has never been its title. This line originally meant that the

most important aim of 19th-century

revolutionaries should be a

unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms,

principalities, duchies and palatines (

) of then-fragmented

Germany, essentially that the

idea

of a unified Germany should be above all

else.

Later, and especially in Nazi Germany, these words came to more

strongly express not only German superiority over and domination of other

countries in particular, but also the

idea

of Germany being ranked foremost of

all possible idealism among Germans.

Melody

[

]

Main article:

The melody of the "Deutschlandlied" was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 to

provide music to the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God save Francis

the Emperor") by

. In its original form, the song was an

anthem honouring

, emperor of the Austrian Empire. It was intended

as an impetus to Austrian patriotism, modelled on Great Britain's "

The melody later became the music of the national anthem of

prior to the abolition of the

in 1918.

The re-use of Haydn's melody in the "Deutschlandlied" is one of a great number

of later such adaptations and reuses.

(Kernstock Anthem)

Problems playing these files? See

Historical background

[

]

Main article:

The

, stemming from the

, was already disintegrating when the

and the

ensuing

altered the political map of Central Europe. However, hopes for human rights and republican

government after Napoleon's defeat in 1815 were dashed when the

reinstated many small German

principalities. In addition, with the

of 1819, Austrian Chancellor

and his

secret police enforced censorship, mainly in universities, to keep a watch on the activities of teachers and students,

whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberalist ideas. Since reactionaries among the monarchs were the

main adversaries, demands for freedom of the press and other liberal rights were most often uttered in connection with

the demand for a united Germany, even though many revolutionaries-to-be held differing opinions over whether a

republic or a constitutional monarchy would be the best solution for Germany.

The

(

Deutscher Bund

, 1815–1866) was a federation of 35 monarchical states and four republican

free cities, with a

in Frankfurt. The federation was essentially a military alliance, but it was also

abused by the larger powers to oppress liberal and national movements. Another federation, the German Customs Union

(

) was formed among the majority of the states in 1834. In 1840, Hoffmann wrote a song about the

Zollverein

also to Haydn's melody, in which he ironically praised the free trade of German goods which brought Germans and

Germany closer.

After the

, the German Confederation handed over its authority to the

. For a

short period in the late 1840s, Germany was united with the borders described in the anthem, and a democratic

constitution was being drafted, and with the

representing it. However, after 1849, the two largest

German monarchies, Prussia and Austria, put an end to this liberal movement towards national unification.

Lyrics

[

]

wrote the text in 1841 while on holiday on the North Sea island

then a possession of the United Kingdom (now part of Germany).

Hoffmann von Fallersleben intended "

Das Lied der Deutschen

" to be sung to Haydn's tune; the first publication of the

poem included the music. The first line, "

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt

" ('Germany,

Germany above all, above all in the world'), was an appeal to the various German monarchs to give the creation of a

united Germany a higher priority than the independence of their small states. In the third stanza, with a call for

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

" (unity and justice and freedom), Hoffmann expressed his desire for a united and free

Germany where the rule of law, not arbitrary monarchy, would prevail.

In the era after the Congress of Vienna, influenced by Metternich and his secret police, Hoffmann's text had a

distinctly revolutionary and at the same time liberal connotation, since the appeal for a united Germany was most

often made in connection with demands for freedom of the press and other civil rights. Its implication that loyalty to

a larger Germany should replace loyalty to one's local sovereign was then a revolutionary idea.

The year after he wrote "Das Deutschlandlied", Hoffmann lost his job as a librarian and professor in Breslau, Prussia

(now

, Poland) because of this and other revolutionary works, and was forced into hiding until he was pardoned

following the revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

Only the third stanza, in bold, is used as the modern German national anthem.

German original

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,

Über alles in der Welt,

Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze

Brüderlich zusammenhält.

Von der Maas bis an die Memel,

Von der Etsch bis an den Belt,

𝄆 Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,

Über alles in der Welt! 𝄇

Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,

Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang

Sollen in der Welt behalten

Ihren alten schönen Klang,

Uns zu edler Tat begeistern

Unser ganzes Leben lang –

𝄆 Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,

Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang! 𝄇

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Für das deutsche Vaterland!

Danach lasst uns alle streben

Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

Sind des Glückes Unterpfand –

𝄆

Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,

Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!

𝄇

English translation

Germany, Germany above all,

Above all in the world,

When it always stands united

Brotherly in protection and defence.

From the

to the

From the

to the

𝄆 Germany, Germany above all,

Above all in the world! 𝄇

German women, German loyalty,

German wine and German song

Shall retain in the world

Their old, beautiful sound,

Inspiring us to noble deeds

Throughout our entire lives –

𝄆 German women, German loyalty,

German wine and German song! 𝄇

Unity and justice and freedom

For the German fatherland!

Let us strive for this together,

Brotherly with heart and hand!

Unity and justice and freedom

Are the foundation of happiness –

𝄆

Bloom in the radiance of this happiness,

Bloom, German fatherland!

𝄇

Use before 1922

[

]

The melody of the "Deutschlandlied" was originally written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 to provide music to the poem "Gott

erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ('God save Franz the Emperor') by Lorenz Leopold Haschka. The song was a birthday anthem to

Francis II of the

, and was intended to rival in merit the British "God Save the King".

After the

in 1806, "

Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser

" became the official anthem of

the emperor of the

. After the death of Francis II new lyrics were composed in 1854,

Gott erhalte, Gott

beschütze

, that mentioned the Emperor, but not by name. With those new lyrics, the song continued to be the anthem of

Imperial Austria and later of Austria-Hungary. Austrian monarchists continued to use this anthem after 1918 in the

hope of restoring the monarchy. The adoption of the Austrian anthem's melody by Germany in 1922 was not opposed by

Austria.

Das Lied der Deutschen

" was not played at an official ceremony until Germany and the United Kingdom had agreed on the

in 1890, when it appeared only appropriate to sing it at the ceremony on the now officially

German island of Heligoland. During the time of the German Empire, it became one of the most widely known patriotic

songs.

The song became very popular after the

during World War I, when, supposedly, several German

regiments, consisting mostly of students no older than 20, attacked the British lines on the Western front while

singing the song, suffering heavy casualties. They are buried in the

in Belgium.

By December 1914, according to

, the song had "come to express the ... war spirit of the

Fatherland" and "the supremacy of Germans over all other peoples", despite being, in past years, "an expression simply

of patriotic devotion".

, then an American apologist for Germany, maintained that it meant only

"that Germany is dearer to Germans than anything else".

wrote into the

to confirm

Putnam's view.

Official adoption

[

]

The melody used by the "Deutschlandlied" was still in use as the anthem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its demise

in 1918. On 11 August 1922, German President

, a Social Democrat, made the "Deutschlandlied" the

official German national anthem. In 1919 the black, red and gold tricolour, the colours of the 19th century liberal

revolutionaries advocated by the political left and centre, was adopted (rather than the previous black, white and red

of Imperial Germany). Thus, in a political trade-off, the conservative right was granted a nationalistic composition,

although Ebert continued to advocate the use of the third stanza only (as after World War II).

During the Nazi era, only the first stanza was used, followed by the

song "

It was played at

occasions of great national significance, such as the opening of the

in Berlin, when

and

his entourage, along with Olympic officials, walked into the stadium amid a chorus of three thousand Germans singing

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles

". In this way, the first stanza became closely identified with the Nazi

regime.

Use after World War II

[

]

After its founding in 1949,

did not have a national anthem for official events for some years, despite a

growing need for one for the purpose of diplomatic procedures. In lieu of an official national anthem, popular German

songs such as the "

", a self-deprecating

song, were used at some sporting events. A variety

of musical compositions was used or discussed, such as the finale of

, which is a

musical setting of

's poem "An die Freude" ("

"). Though the black, red and gold colours of

the national flag had been incorporated into Article 22 of the

, no national anthem had been

specified. On 29 April 1952, Chancellor

asked President

in a letter to accept "

Das Lied

der Deutschen

" as the national anthem, with only the third stanza to be sung on official occasions. However, the first

and second stanzas were not outlawed, contrary to popular belief. President Heuss agreed to this on 2 May 1952. This

exchange of letters was published in the Bulletin of the Federal Government. Since it was viewed as the traditional

right of the President as head of state to set the symbols of the state, the "

Deutschlandlied

" thus became the

national anthem.

Meanwhile,

had adopted its own national anthem, "

" ("Risen from Ruins"). As the

lyrics of this anthem called for "Germany, united Fatherland", they were no longer officially used from approximately

1972 onwards,

when East Germany abandoned its goal of uniting Germany under communism. By design, with slight

adaptations, the lyrics of "

Auferstanden aus Ruinen

" can be sung to the melody of the "

Deutschlandlied

" and vice versa.

In the 1970s and 1980s, efforts were made by

to reclaim all three stanzas for the national

anthem. The

, for instance, attempted twice (in 1985 and 1986) to

require German high school students to study all three stanzas, and in 1989, CDU politician

decreed

that all high school students in

were to memorise the three stanzas.

Bundeswehr belt buckle

The word "FREIHEIT" (freedom) on

Germany's

On 7 March 1990, months before reunification, the

declared only the third stanza of Hoffmann's poem to be legally protected as a

national anthem under German criminal law; Section 90a of the Criminal Code

(

) makes defamation of the national anthem a crime, but does not

specify what the national anthem is.

This did not mean that stanzas one and two

were no longer part of the national anthem, but that their peculiar status as "part

of the [national] anthem but unsung" disqualified them for penal law protection,

since the penal law must be interpreted in the narrowest manner possible.

In November 1991, President

and Chancellor

agreed in an exchange of letters to

declare the third stanza alone to be the national anthem of the reunified republic.

Hence, as of then, the national

anthem of Germany is unmistakably the third stanza of the "Deutschlandlied", and only this stanza, set to Haydn's

music.

The incipit of the third stanza, "

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

" ('Unity and Justice and Freedom'), is widely

considered to be the national motto of Germany, although it has never been officially proclaimed as such. It appears

soldiers' belt buckles (replacing the earlier "

" ('God with us') of the

and the Nazi-era

) and on

minted in Germany, and on the edges of the obsolete 2 and 5

coins.

Criticisms

[

]

Geographical

[

]

Contemporary German conceptions of the

"German language", political frameworks and

the text's geographic references (bold

blue):

The German language area as imagined by

the German linguist

in 1843

(in which he also included Dutch, Frisian and

the Scandinavian languages as "German")

Borders of the

1815

Borders of the

in 1828

The first stanza, which is no longer part of the national anthem and is not

sung on official occasions, names three rivers and one strait – the

(

Maas

in German),

(

Etsch

) and

(

Memel

) Rivers and the

strait. The song was written before German unification, and there was

no intention to delineate borders of Germany as a nation-state.

Nevertheless, these geographical references have been variously criticised

or misleading.

Today, no part of any of these four

natural boundaries lies in Germany. The Meuse and the Adige were parts of

the German Confederation when the song was composed, and were no longer

part of the

as of 1871; the Little Belt strait and the Neman

became German boundaries later (the Belt until 1920, and the Neman between

1920 and 1939).

None of these natural boundaries formed a distinct ethnic border. The

(to which the Belt refers)

was inhabited by both Germans and Danes, with the Danes forming a clear majority near the strait. Around the Adige

there was a mix of German,

and

speakers, and the area around the Neman was not homogeneously

German, but also accommodated

. If the Meuse is taken as referencing the

nominally part of the German Confederation for 28 years due to the political consequences of the

then German was only spoken there as a foreign language.

Nevertheless, such nationalistic rhetoric was relatively common in 19th-century public discourse. For example,

in his poem "The German Fleet" (1841) gives the Germans as the people "between the

and

in 1832 Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer, a noted journalist, declared at the

that he considered all

"between the

and the

" to be

, or the ethnic and spiritual German community.

Textual

[

]

The anthem has frequently been criticised for its generally

tone, the immodest geographic definition of

Germany given in the first stanza, and an alleged

attitude in the second stanza.

A relatively

early critic was

, who called the grandiose claim in the first stanza "

die blödsinnigste Parole der

Welt

" (the most idiotic slogan in the world), and in

said, "

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles

—

I fear that was the end of German philosophy".

The pacifist

was another critic, who published in

1929 a photo book sarcastically titled

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles

, criticising right-wing groups in Germany.

German grammar distinguishes between

über alles

, i.e. above all else, and

über alle[n]

, meaning "above everyone else".

However, for propaganda purposes, the latter translation was endorsed by

during World War I.

Modern use of the first stanza

[

]

As the first stanza of the "Deutschlandlied", despite its use in the Weimar Republic, is historically associated with

the Nazi regime and its crimes, the singing of the first stanza is considered taboo within modern German

society.

Although the first stanza is not forbidden within Germany based on the

, any

mention of the first stanza is considered to be incorrect, inaccurate, and improper during official settings and

functions, within Germany or abroad.

In 1974, the singer

released a recording of all three verses as the last track on her album

. In 1977,

the German pop singer

produced a record of the song which included all three stanzas for use in primary schools

in Baden-Württemberg. The inclusion of the first two stanzas was met with criticism at the time.

In 2009, the English rock musician

sang "Deutschlandlied" live on radio at

in Munich

with all three stanzas. As he sang the first stanza, he was booed by the audience.

Three days later, Doherty's

spokesperson declared that the singer was "not aware of the historical background and regrets the misunderstanding". A

spokesperson for Bayerischer Rundfunk welcomed the apology, noting that further cooperation with Doherty would not

have been possible otherwise.

When the first stanza was played as the German national anthem at the canoe sprint world championships in Hungary in

August 2011, German athletes were reportedly "appalled".

, under the headline of "Nazi anthem",

erroneously reported that "the first stanza of the piece [had been] banned in 1952 ".

Similarly, in 2017, the first stanza was mistakenly sung by Will Kimble, an American soloist, during the welcome

ceremony of the

tennis match between

(Germany) and

(U.S.) at the Center Court in

. In an attempt to drown out the soloist, German tennis players and fans began to sing the third stanza

instead.

Also, in 2018, during the

, the first stanza was mistakenly

played when Thomas Stewens, a German athlete, won a gold medal in a decathlon. He instead sang the third stanza.

Variants and additions

[

]

Additional or alternative stanzas

[

]

Hoffmann von Fallersleben also intended the text to be used as a

; the second stanza's toast to German

is typical of this genre.

The original Heligoland manuscript included a variant ending of the

third stanza for such occasions:

German original

...

Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;

𝄆 Stoßet an und ruft einstimmig,

Hoch, das deutsche Vaterland. 𝄇

English translation

...

Are the pledge of fortune.

𝄆 Lift your glasses and shout together,

Prosper, German fatherland. 𝄇

An alternative version called "

" (Children's Hymn) was written by

shortly after his return

from exile in the U.S. to a war-ravaged, bankrupt and geographically shrunken Germany at the end of World War II, and

set to music by

in the same year. It gained some currency after the 1990 unification of Germany, with a

number of prominent Germans calling for his "antihymn" to be made official:

German original

Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe

Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand

Dass ein gutes Deutschland blühe

Wie ein andres gutes Land.

Dass die Völker nicht erbleichen

Wie vor einer Räuberin

Sondern ihre Hände reichen

Uns wie andern Völkern hin.

Und nicht über und nicht unter

Andern Völkern wolln wir sein

Von der See bis zu den Alpen

Von der Oder bis zum Rhein.

Und weil wir dies Land verbessern

Lieben und beschirmen wir's

Und das Liebste mag's uns scheinen

So wie anderen Völkern ihr's.

English translation

Grace spare not and spare no labour

Passion nor intelligence

That a decent German nation

Flourish as do other lands.

That the people

give up flinching

At the crimes which we evoke

And hold out their hand in friendship

As they do to other folk.

Neither over nor yet under

Other peoples will we be

From the sea to the Alps

From the Oder to the Rhine.

And because we'll make it better

Let us guard and love our home

Love it as our dearest country

As the others love their own.

"people", "folk": or '[other] peoples' or '[other] nations'

Notable performances and recordings

[

]

The German musician

sometimes performed the national anthem at concerts and dedicated it to militant

, leader of the

She included a version of "

Das Lied der Deutschen

" on her 1974 album

The

End...

. In 2006, the Slovenian industrial band

incorporated Hoffmann's lyrics in a song titled "Germania", on

the album

Volk

, which contains fourteen songs with adaptations of national anthems.

Influences

[

]

The German composer

quotes the "Deutschlandlied" in the final section of his collection of organ pieces

, composed in 1915–16 when it was a patriotic song but not yet the national anthem.

An Afrikaans patriotic song, "

", has been written with an identical melody and similarly

structured lyrics to the "Deutschlandlied". The lyrics of this song consist of three stanzas, the first of which sets

the boundaries of the Afrikaans homeland with the means of geographical areas, the second of which states the

importance of "Afrikaans mothers, daughters, sun, and field", recalling the "German women, loyalty, wine, and song",

and the third of which describes the importance of unity, justice, and freedom, along with love.