{"id":13134,"date":"2021-07-01T11:44:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T11:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13134"},"modified":"2021-07-01T12:42:52","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T12:42:52","slug":"why-the-german-national-anthem-has-only-one-stanza-wrong-getting-it-wrong-which-one-nationalhymne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/why-the-german-national-anthem-has-only-one-stanza-wrong-getting-it-wrong-which-one-nationalhymne\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The German National Anthem Has Only One Stanza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two days ago, the German <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/euro-2020-can-germany-win-again-france-germany\/\"><em>Fu\u00dfballelf\u00a0<\/em>(f, national football team)<\/a> played England in the Wembley Stadium as part of the Euro 2020. Before the game, each team sings their <em>Nationalhymne <\/em>(f, national anthem). The German one came on, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThatTimWalker\/status\/1409904557983944706\">despite the booing from some disrespectful fans<\/a>, they sang their\u00a0<em>Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit<\/em>. The Dutch subtitles, however, said they sang something else. Something bad! It blew up on twitter, excuses were made, yet it upset quite some people! But why?<\/p>\n<h1><em><strong>Deutschland \u00fcber alles in der Welt<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"nl\" dir=\"ltr\">Dit zingen de Duitsers toch al een tijdje niet meer <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tt888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@tt888<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ulXvarScWn\">pic.twitter.com\/ulXvarScWn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Niels Heithuis (@nielsheithuis) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nielsheithuis\/status\/1409906880261111810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Germany&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Nationalhymne\u00a0<\/em>is a peculiar one. It is a part of the <em>Lied der Deutschen<\/em> also known as\u00a0<em>Deutschlandlied\u00a0<\/em>(n, Germany song). It was first confirmed, with all three stanzas, as the\u00a0<em>Nationalhymne\u00a0<\/em>in 1922, in the Weimar Republic. After World War II, in 1952 in the <em>Bundesrepublik<\/em>, it was decided that the song would remain the German anthem. Only in 1991, after the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/deutsche-wiedervereinigung-25-jahre\/\"><em>Wiedervereinigung <\/em>(f, reunification)<\/a>, it was decided that the third <em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>(f, stanza) is the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesregierung.de\/breg-de\/themen\/die-nationalhymne-der-bundesrepublik-deutschland-461412\"><em>Nationalhymne der Bundesrepublik Deutschland<\/em>.<\/a> This means that the\u00a0<em>Deutschlandlied<\/em>, technically, is not the\u00a0<em>Nationalhymne\u00a0<\/em>anymore, but only a small part of it.<\/p>\n<p>Why was this done? What made the first and second\u00a0<em>Strophen\u00a0<\/em>so bad that they were excluded from the\u00a0<em>Nationalhymne<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>Well. The song begins with\u00a0<em>Deutschland, Deutschland \u00fcber alles\u00a0<\/em>(Germany, Germany above everything). August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (what a mouthful) wrote the song in 1841, when Germany was still a\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-der-flickenteppich\/\">Flickenteppich<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>of tiny\u00a0<em>F\u00fcrstent\u00fcmer\u00a0<\/em>(princedoms). With the French claiming land of these German princedoms, Hoffmann wrote this song to make Germans feel more nationalistic, and put Germany&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Einheit\u00a0<\/em>(unity) before each of the little <em>F\u00fcrstent\u00fcmer<\/em>. Fair enough.<\/p>\n<p>However, later, when Hitler wanted to conquer the entire world, the meaning of the words was interpreted as German <em>Gr\u00f6\u00dfenwahn <\/em>(m, megalomania). As the\u00a0<em>Bundesrepublik\u00a0<\/em>wanted to distance itself as far as it could from the Nazi era, it was obvious that these words couldn&#8217;t be sung anymore. Even if their origin had nothing to do with Nazism, but with German <em>Einheit<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The first\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>isn&#8217;t\u00a0<em>verboten\u00a0<\/em>(forbidden), but it is frowned upon in Germany. So singing it becomes news, like the AfD party-wing <em>der Fl\u00fcgel\u00a0<\/em>did some time ago at their convention:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AfD singt \u201eDeutschland, Deutschland, \u00fcber alles\u201c\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-8P2ab40LaA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Like raising your hand up with the Nazi salute or saying <em>Heil Hitler<\/em>, singing that first\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>is seen as disrespectful and can get people to label you as <em>Nazi<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The second\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>says <em>Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang sollen in der Welt behalten ihren alten guten Klang <\/em>(German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song shall retain in the world their old beautiful chime). It comes across as somewhat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/kultur\/literatur\/deutsche-nationalhymne-die-bloedsinnigste-parole-der-welt-a-422419.html\"><em>schw\u00fclstig\u00a0<\/em>(pompous)<\/a>, when you keep in mind how all things German were seen as the best in Nazi times.<\/p>\n<h1><em><strong>Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit<\/strong><\/em><\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_13135\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/HF-lFqdOMF8\" aria-label=\"German Flag Medium 1024x724\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13135\" class=\"size-large wp-image-13135\"  alt=\"German National Anthem\" width=\"1024\" height=\"724\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-1024x724.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-350x248.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium.jpg 1086w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13135\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@maheshkumar_painam?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Maheshkumar Painam<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/german-flag?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p>That leaves us with the third\u00a0<em>Strophe<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><em>Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit<\/em><br \/>\n<em>F\u00fcr das deutsche Vaterland!<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Danach lasst uns alle streben<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Br\u00fcderlich mit Herz und Hand!<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Sind des Gl\u00fcckes Unterpfand \u2013<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Bl\u00fch im Glanze dieses Gl\u00fcckes,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Bl\u00fche, deutsches Vaterland!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(Unity and justice and freedom<br \/>\nFor the German fatherland!<br \/>\nTowards these let us all strive<br \/>\nBrotherly with heart and hand!<br \/>\nUnity and justice and freedom<br \/>\nAre the safeguards of fortune;<br \/>\nFlourish in the radiance of this fortune,<br \/>\nFlourish, German fatherland!<br \/>\nFlourish in the radiance of this fortune,<br \/>\nFlourish, German fatherland!)<\/p>\n<p>So striving for unity, justice and freedom sounds pretty nice. Especially because, when the <em>Bundesrepublik\u00a0<\/em>was founded, East and West Germany weren&#8217;t united. So the\u00a0<em>Hymne\u00a0<\/em>pointed to that, too.<\/p>\n<p>And even after\u00a0the\u00a0<em>Wiedervereinigung<\/em>, it was seen as the right way to go, making this the official German national anthem.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Fix the National Anthem!<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"US-S\u00e4nger singt &quot;Deutschland \u00fcber alles&quot; - Deutschlandlied - Hymnen-Skandal Fed-Cup auf Hawaii \/ USA\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PZdl09sKrzo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So after all this, you&#8217;d think that it&#8217;s pretty easy to simply sing the third\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>and you&#8217;re done. However, like you can see in the video above and the mishap of the Dutch subtitlers, getting it wrong can be very painful. While the American singer is belting the first <em>Strophe<\/em>, the German team and their fans are singing the third one as loud as they can against it. Also note the mistake in the video that the first\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>was only sung during Nazi rule. It gives you an idea how the original intention of those words is gone entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Why does this happen? Well, when you Google &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=deutsche+Nationalhymne&amp;oq=deutsche+Nationalhymne&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.184j0j1&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\">deutsche Nationalhymne<\/a>&#8220;, you get the <a href=\"https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Deutsche_Nationalhymne\">German Wikipedia page<\/a> first. The link to the official website of the\u00a0<em>Bundesrepublik\u00a0<\/em>follows right after. What happens when you google &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=German+national+anthem&amp;oq=German+national+anthem&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.495j0j1&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\">German national anthem<\/a>&#8220;? You get a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Deutschlandlied\">Wikipedia link to the\u00a0<em>Deutschlandlied<\/em><\/a>. You scroll down and boom &#8211; there are the three\u00a0<em>Strophen<\/em>. The English page does note that only the third\u00a0<em>Strophe\u00a0<\/em>is sung as the national anthem, but it gets buried in the text. The German solution is better, with a unique Wikipedia page for the anthem and a unique one for the\u00a0<em>Deutschlandlied<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose this is a lesson that, even when things seem obvious, it is always a good idea to double check that you&#8217;re not missing something important!<\/p>\n<p>With all this confusion, perhaps it&#8217;s time to change it up? There is some discussion about it:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nationalhymne \u00e4ndern? Bl\u00f6dsinn! #mirkosmeinung\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AZOiUtVj5tU?start=33&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"248\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-350x248.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"German National Anthem\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-350x248.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/07\/German-flag-Medium.jpg 1086w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Two days ago, the German Fu\u00dfballelf\u00a0(f, national football team) played England in the Wembley Stadium as part of the Euro 2020. Before the game, each team sings their Nationalhymne (f, national anthem). The German one came on, and despite the booing from some disrespectful fans, they sang their\u00a0Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit. The Dutch subtitles&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/why-the-german-national-anthem-has-only-one-stanza-wrong-getting-it-wrong-which-one-nationalhymne\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":13135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8,108,913],"tags":[551794,937,504018,376026],"class_list":["post-13134","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","category-music","category-traditions","tag-anthem","tag-german-anthem","tag-german-songs","tag-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13134"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13137,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions\/13137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}