View source for Deutschlandlied

{{short description|National anthem of Germany}}
{{Redirect|Über alles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox anthem
| title         = {{lang|de|Deutschlandlied / Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}
| english_title = 'Germany Song' / 'Song of the Germans' 
| image         = Deutschlandlied.jpg
| image_size    =
| alt           =
| caption       = [[Facsimile]] of Hoffmann von Fallersleben's manuscript of "{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}"
| prefix        = National
| country       = Germany
| alt_title     = {{lang|de|Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit|italic=yes}}
| en_alt_title  = 'Unity and Justice and Freedom'
| author        = [[August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben]]
| lyrics_date   = 1841
| composer      = [[Joseph Haydn]]
| music_date    = 1797
| adopted       = 11 August 1922
| until         = 1945
| readopted     = 2 May 1952<br> 29 November 1991 (third stanza)
| predecessor   = {{ubl|"[[Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser]]"<br />([[Holy Roman Empire]], 1797–1806)|"[[Heil dir im Siegerkranz]]" and "[[Die Wacht am Rhein]]"(unoffical)<br />([[German Empire]], 1871–1918)|"[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]" (as co-official of the NSDAP)<br />([[Nazi Germany]], 1933–1945)|"[[Auferstanden aus Ruinen]]"<br />([[East Germany]], 1949–1990)}}
| sound         = Deutschlandlied played by USAREUR Band.ogg
| sound_title   = Instrumental rendition by the [[United States Army Europe Band and Chorus]] in [[E-flat major]]}}

The "'''{{lang|de|Deutschlandlied|italic=no}}'''",{{efn|{{IPA|de|ˈdɔʏtʃlantˌliːt|-|De-Deutschlandlied.ogg}}; {{lit|Germany Song}})}} officially titled "'''{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}'''",{{efn|{{IPA|de|das ˈliːt deːɐ̯ ˈdɔʏtʃn̩}}; {{lit|The Song of the Germans}}}} is a [[Germany|German]] poem written by [[August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben]]. 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 [[Weimar Republic]], replacing the de facto anthem "[[Heil dir im Siegerkranz]]". The first stanza of "Deutschlandlied" was used alongside the "[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]" during the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]] from 1933 until the end of [[World War II]]. On the proclamation of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]], the entirety of the song was still the official anthem, though only the 3rd verse was sung. Since the [[Reunification of Germany]] 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 "{{lang|de|[[Wikt:Einigkeit|Einigkeit]] und [[Wikt:Recht|Recht]] und [[Wikt:Freiheit|Freiheit]]}}" ('Unity and Justice and Freedom') is considered the unofficial [[national motto]] of Germany,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y85XAAAAYAAJ&q=einigkeit+und+recht+und+freiheit+motto+federal+republic|title=The Complete Guide to National Symbols and Emblems|first=James|last=Minahan|date=6 March 2010|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-34498-5 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and is inscribed on modern [[German Army]] belt buckles and the rims of some [[German coins]].

The music is derived from that of "[[Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser]]", composed in 1797 by the Austrian composer [[Joseph Haydn]] as an anthem for the birthday of [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]], Emperor of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and later of [[Austrian Empire|Austria]]. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}" 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 "{{lang|de|Deutschlandlied|italic=no}}" is also well known by the [[incipit]] and refrain of the first stanza, "{{lang|de|Deutschland, Deutschland über alles|italic=no}}" ('Germany, Germany above all'), but this has never been its title. This line originally meant that the most important aim of 19th-century [[Liberalism in Germany|German liberal]] revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (''[[Kleinstaaterei]]'') of then-fragmented Germany, essentially that the ''idea'' of a unified Germany should be above all else.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Toeche-Mittler|first1=Joachim|last2=Probst|first2=Werner|year=2013|editor1-last=Dean|editor1-first=Antony|editor2-last=Mantle|editor2-first=Robert|editor3-last=Murray|editor3-first=David|editor4-last=Smart|editor4-first=David|translator-last1=Dean|translator-first1=Antony|translator-last2=Mantle|translator-first2=Robert|translator-last3=Murray|translator-first3=David|translator-last4=Smart|translator-first4=David|oclc=811964594|title=Tunes of Blood & Iron: German Regimental and Parade Marches from the Age of Frederick the Great to the Present Day|volume=1|publisher=[[Helion (publisher)|Helion & Co. Limited]]|location=Solihull, England|page=16 |isbn=9781909384231}}</ref> 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|Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser}}
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 [[Lorenz Leopold Haschka]]. In its original form, the song was an anthem honouring [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]], emperor of the Austrian Empire. It was intended as an impetus to Austrian patriotism, modelled on Great Britain's "[[God Save the King]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Die Nationalhymne |url=https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/symbole/hymne |access-date=21 February 2025 |website=[[Deutscher Bundestag]] |language=de}}</ref> 

The melody later became the music of the national anthem of [[Austria-Hungary]], prior to the abolition of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] in 1918. 

The re-use of Haydn's melody in the "Deutschlandlied" is one of a great number of later such adaptations and reuses.
{{Listen|type=music
| filename     = ÖSTERREICHISCHE BUNDESHYMNE - 1930.ogg
| title        = 1930 instrumental
| description  = [[National anthem of Austria (1929–1938)]] (Kernstock Anthem)
| filename2    = National anthem of Germany - U.S. Army 1st Armored Division Band.ogg
| title2       = U.S. Army 1st Armored Division Band version
| filename3    = German national anthem performed by the US Navy Band.ogg
| title3       = U.S. Navy Band version
| title4       = Late 1930s vocal (first stanza)
| filename4    = Das Deutschlandlied.ogg}}
<score>
\relative c'
{ \key es \major \time 4/4
\partial 2 \repeat volta 2 { es4. f8 | g4 f as g | f8 (d) es4 c' bes | as g f g8 (es) | bes'2 }
f4 g | f8 (d) bes4 as' g | f8 (d) bes4 bes' as | g4. g8 a4 a8 (bes) | bes2
\repeat volta 2 { es4. d8 | d (c) bes4 c4. bes8 | bes (as) g4 f4. g16 (as) | bes8 [(c)] as [(f)] es4 g8 (f) | es2 } }
\addlyrics {
<<
{ Ei -- nig -- keit und Recht und Frei -- heit
für das deut -- sche Va -- ter -- land!
}
\new Lyrics
{ Da -- nach lasst uns al -- le stre -- ben
brü -- der -- lich mit Herz und Hand! }
>>
Ei -- nig -- keit und Recht und Frei -- heit
sind des Glü -- ckes Un -- ter -- pfand.
Blüh im Glan -- ze die -- ses Glü -- ckes,
blü -- he, deut -- sches Va -- ter -- land!
}</score>

== Historical background ==
{{main|Unification of Germany}}
The [[Holy Roman Empire]], stemming from the [[Middle Ages]], was already disintegrating when the [[French Revolution]] and the ensuing [[Napoleonic Wars]] 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 [[Congress of Vienna]] reinstated many small German principalities. In addition, with the [[Carlsbad Decrees]] of 1819, Austrian Chancellor [[Klemens von Metternich]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=May |first=Arthur J. |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofmetternich10000unse/page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Age of Metternich: 1814–1848 |publisher=[[Holt McDougal#History|Holt, Rinehart, and Winston]] |year=1963 |edition=Revised |location=New York |pages=3–4 |orig-year=1933}}</ref>

The [[German Confederation]] (''Deutscher Bund'', 1815–1866) was a federation of 35 monarchical states and four republican free cities, with a [[Federal Convention (German Confederation)|Federal Assembly]] 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 (''[[Zollverein]]'') 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.von-fallersleben.de/text252.html |title=Schwefelhölzer, Fenchel, Bricken (Der deutsche Zollverein) |work=www.von-fallersleben.de |access-date=27 June 2010 |language=de}}</ref>

After the [[1848 March Revolution]], the German Confederation handed over its authority to the [[Frankfurt Parliament]]. 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 [[Flag of Germany#Revolution and the Frankfurt Parliament|black-red-gold flag]] representing it. However, after 1849, the two largest German monarchies, Prussia and Austria, put an end to this liberal movement towards national unification.

== Lyrics ==
[[August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben]] wrote the text in 1841 while on holiday on the North Sea island [[Heligoland]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Rüger |first=Jan |title=Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea |year=2017 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKyuDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=9780199672462}}</ref> then a possession of the United Kingdom (now part of Germany).

Hoffmann von Fallersleben intended "{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}" to be sung to Haydn's tune; the first publication of the poem included the music. The first line, "{{lang|de|Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt|italic=no}}" ('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 "{{lang|de|Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit|italic=no}}" (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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bundestag.de/blickpunkt/103_Parlament/0502/0502014.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906081233/http://www.bundestag.de/blickpunkt/103_Parlament/0502/0502014.html |archive-date=6 September 2011 |title=Staatssymbole Zeichen politischer Gemeinschaft |first=Nadja |last=Bareth |work=[[Bundestag|Blickpunt Bundestag]] |date=February 2005 |access-date=1 December 2009 |language=de}}</ref>

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 [[Wrocław]], 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bleiker |first=Carla |date=6 September 2023 |title=The German national anthem and its pitfalls |url=https://www.dw.com/en/the-german-national-anthem-and-its-pitfalls/a-40102655 |access-date=21 February 2025 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>

<poem lang="de" style="float:left;">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,
{{Music repeat|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 –
{{Music repeat|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 –'''
{{Music repeat|'''Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes,'''
'''Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!'''}}</poem>
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Germany, Germany above all,
Above all in the world,
When it always stands united
Brotherly in protection and defence.
From the [[Meuse]] to the [[Neman]],
From the [[Adige]] to the [[Little Belt]],
{{Music repeat|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 –
{{Music repeat|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 –'''
{{Music repeat|'''Bloom in the radiance of this happiness,'''
'''Bloom, German fatherland!'''}}</poem>{{clear|left}}

== 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 [[House of Habsburg]], and was intended to rival in merit the British "God Save the King".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=National Anthem of Slovenia and Its Historical Context |url=https://slovenija30let.si/en-himna.html |access-date=26 November 2023 |website=slovenija30let.si}}</ref>

After the [[dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire]] in 1806, "{{lang|de|Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser|italic=no}}" became the official anthem of the emperor of the [[Austrian Empire]]. 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.<ref name=":0" />

"{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}" was not played at an official ceremony until Germany and the United Kingdom 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 Heligoland. During the time of the German Empire, it became one of the most widely known patriotic songs.<ref name=":0" />

The song became very popular after the [[First Battle of Ypres#Battle of Langemarck|1914 Battle of Langemarck]] 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 [[Langemark German war cemetery]] in Belgium.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mosse |first=George L. |title=Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1991 |pages=70–73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwzIUz8aIk4C&pg=PA70 |isbn=978-0-19-507139-9 |access-date=25 February 2014 }}</ref>

By December 1914, according to [[George Haven Putnam]], 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". [[Morris Jastrow Jr.]], then an American apologist for Germany, maintained that it meant only "that Germany is dearer to Germans than anything else".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Evening Post 19 December 1914 — The NYS Historic Newspapers |url=https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=evpo19141219-01.1.22 |access-date=6 September 2023 |website=nyshistoricnewspapers.org |date=19 December 1914 |first=Morris |last=Jastrow, Jr. }}</ref> [[J. William White]] wrote into the ''[[Public Ledger (Philadelphia)|Public Ledger]]'' to confirm Putnam's view.<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=James William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MHNMAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA238 |title=A Text-book of the War for Americans |date=1915 |publisher=J. C. Winston}}</ref>

== 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 [[Friedrich Ebert]], 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).{{sfn|Geisler|2005|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLVaSxt-sV0C&pg=PA70 70]}}

During the Nazi era, only the first stanza was used, followed by the [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] song "[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]".{{sfn|Geisler|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLVaSxt-sV0C&pg=PA71 71]}} It was played at occasions of great national significance, such as the opening of the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in Berlin, when [[Hitler]] and his entourage, along with Olympic officials, walked into the stadium amid a chorus of three thousand Germans singing "{{lang|de|Deutschland, Deutschland über alles|italic=no}}". In this way, the first stanza became closely identified with the Nazi regime.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-olympics.htm |title=The Triumph of Hitler |work=The History Place |year=2001 |access-date=9 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911233549/http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/triumph/tr-olympics.htm |archive-date=11 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Use after World War II ==
After its founding in 1949, [[West Germany]] 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 "[[Trizonesien-Song]]", a self-deprecating [[German carnival|carnival]] song, were used at some sporting events. A variety of musical compositions was used or discussed, such as the finale of [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], which is a musical setting of [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s poem "An die Freude" ("[[Ode to Joy]]"). Though the black, red and gold colours of the national flag had been incorporated into Article 22 of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|(West) German constitution]], no national anthem had been specified. On 29 April 1952, Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] asked President [[Theodor Heuss]] in a letter to accept "{{lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}" 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 "{{lang|de|Deutschlandlied|italic=no}}" thus became the national anthem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.protokoll-inland.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/PI/DE/Allgemeines/briefwechsel1952.html |title=Briefwechsel zur Nationalhymne von 1952, Abdruck aus dem Bulletin der Bundesregierung Nr.&nbsp;51/S. 537 vom 6.&nbsp;Mai 1952 |language=de |publisher=[[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)]] |date=6 May 1952 |trans-title=Exchange of letters from 1952 regarding the national anthem, as published in the bulletin of the federal government, Nr.&nbsp;51/p. 537, 6 May 1952 |access-date=12 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924082940/http://www.protokoll-inland.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/PI/DE/Allgemeines/briefwechsel1952.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Meanwhile, [[East Germany]] had adopted its own national anthem, "[[Auferstanden aus Ruinen]]" ("Risen from Ruins"). As the lyrics of this anthem called for "Germany, united Fatherland", they were no longer officially used from approximately 1972 onwards,<ref>{{cite book |page=135 |title=Diskursgrenzen: Typen und Funktionen sprachlichen Widerstands auf den Straßen der DDR |trans-title=Boundaries of discourse: Types and functions of linguistic resistance on the streets of the GDR |first=Philipp |last=Dreesen |isbn=9783110365573 |date=2015 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]]}}</ref> when East Germany abandoned its goal of uniting Germany under communism. By design, with slight adaptations, the lyrics of "{{lang|de|Auferstanden aus Ruinen|italic=no}}" can be sung to the melody of the "{{lang|de|Deutschlandlied|italic=no}}" and vice versa.

In the 1970s and 1980s, efforts were made by [[conservatism in Germany|conservatives in Germany]] to reclaim all three stanzas for the national anthem. The [[Christian Democratic Union of Germany|Christian Democratic Union]] of [[Baden-Württemberg]], for instance, attempted twice (in 1985 and 1986) to require German high school students to study all three stanzas, and in 1989, CDU politician [[Christean Wagner]] decreed that all high school students in [[Hesse]] were to memorise the three stanzas.{{sfn|Geisler|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLVaSxt-sV0C&pg=PA72 72]}}

[[File:Boucle de Ceinturon de la Bundeswehr.jpg|thumb|Bundeswehr belt buckle]]
[[File:2-EUR-Muenze-de-freiheit.png|thumb|The word "FREIHEIT" (freedom) on Germany's [[2 euro coin]]]]

On 7 March 1990, months before reunification, the [[Federal Constitutional Court]] 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 (''[[Strafgesetzbuch]]'') makes defamation of the national anthem a crime, but does not specify what the national anthem is.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/transnational/work_new/german/case.php?id=631 |title=Case: BVerfGE 81, 298 1 BvR 1215/87 German National Anthem – decision |date=7 March 1990 |access-date=18 January 2015 |website=Institute for Transnational Law – Foreign Law Translations |publisher=[[University of Texas School of Law]] / Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft}}</ref> 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 [[Richard von Weizsäcker]] and Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] agreed in an exchange of letters to declare the third stanza alone to be the national anthem of the reunified republic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/Amt-und-Aufgaben/Wirken-im-Inland/Repraesentation-und-Integration/repraesentation-und-integration-node.html |title=Repräsentation und Integration |author=Bundespräsidialamt |author-link=Bundespräsidialamt |language=de |access-date=24 May 2013 |quote=Nach Herstellung der staatlichen Einheit Deutschlands bestimmte Bundespräsident von Weizsäcker in einem Briefwechsel mit Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl im Jahr 1991 die dritte Strophe zur Nationalhymne für das deutsche Volk.}}</ref> 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, "{{lang|de|Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit|italic=no}}" ('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 on [[Bundeswehr]] soldiers' belt buckles (replacing the earlier "[[Gott mit uns]]" ('God with us') of the [[German Army (German Empire)|Imperial German Army]] and the Nazi-era [[Wehrmacht]]) and on [[2 euro coin]]s minted in Germany, and on the edges of the obsolete 2 and 5 [[Deutsche Mark]] coins.

== Criticisms ==
===Geographical===
[[File:Deutschlandlied_Karte_(deutsch).png|thumb|320px|Contemporary German conceptions of the "German language", political frameworks and the text's geographic references (bold blue):
{{legend|#ebeed4|The German language area as imagined by the German linguist [[Karl Bernhardi]] in 1843 (in which he also included Dutch, Frisian and the Scandinavian languages as "German")}}
{{legend|#ff0404|Borders of the [[German Confederation]] in 1815}}
{{legend|#44c66d|Borders of the [[Zollverein|German Customs Union (Zollverein)]] 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 [[Meuse]] (''Maas'' in German), [[Adige]] (''Etsch'') and [[Neman]] (''Memel'') Rivers and the [[Little Belt]] 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 as [[Pan-Germanism|irredentist]] or misleading.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kitchen|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Kitchen|title=A History of Modern Germany: 1800 to the Present|year=2011|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0470655818|page={{page needed|date=June 2023}}}}</ref> 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 [[German Empire]] 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 [[Duchy of Schleswig]] (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, [[Venetian language|Venetian]] and [[Gallo-Italian]] speakers, and the area around the Neman was not homogeneously German, but also accommodated [[Prussian Lithuanians]]. If taken as referencing the [[Duchy of Limburg (1839–1867)|Duchy of Limburg]], nominally part of the German Confederation for 28 years due to the political consequences of the [[Belgian Revolution]] then the Meuse was ethnically Dutch, with few Germans.{{Clarify|date=February 2025|reason=Sentence appears to contains a markup error}}

Nevertheless, such nationalistic rhetoric was relatively common in 19th-century public discourse. For example, [[Georg Herwegh]] in his poem "The German Fleet" (1841) gives the Germans as the people "between the [[Po (river)|Po]] and [[Øresund|the Sound]],"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gedichte.xbib.de/Herwegh_gedicht_Die+deutsche+Flotte.htm |title=Herwegh: Die deutsche Flotte |website=gedichte.xbib.de |access-date=12 October 2019}}</ref> and in 1832 Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer, a noted journalist, declared at the [[Hambach Festival]] that he considered all "between the [[Alps]] and the [[North Sea]]" to be ''[[Deutschtum]]'', or the ethnic and spiritual German community.<ref>''Music and German National Identity'' (2002) by C. Applegate. p. 254</ref>

===Textual===
The anthem has frequently been criticised for its generally [[German nationalism|nationalistic]] tone, the immodest geographic definition of Germany given in the first stanza, and an alleged [[Male chauvinist|male-chauvinistic]] attitude in the second stanza.<ref name="malzahn">{{cite magazine|last=Malzahn|first=Claus Christian|author-link=:de:Claus Christian Malzahn|title=Deutsche Nationalhymne: 'Die blödsinnigste Parole der Welt'|magazine=[[Der Spiegel]]|language=de|date=24 June 2006|url=http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/0,1518,422419,00.html|access-date=1 December 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2065774,00.html?maca=en-tagesschau_englisch-335-rdf-mp |title=Germans Stop Humming, Start Singing National Anthem |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |date=24 June 2006 |access-date=2 March 2010}}</ref> A relatively early critic was [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], who called the grandiose claim in the first stanza "{{lang|de|die blödsinnigste Parole der Welt|italic=yes}}" (the most idiotic slogan in the world), and in ''[[Twilight of the Idols]]'' said, "{{lang|de|Deutschland, Deutschland über alles|italic=no}}—I fear that was the end of German philosophy".<ref name="malzahn" /> The pacifist [[Kurt Tucholsky]] 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 {{lang|de|über alles}}, i.e. above all else, and {{lang|de|über alle[n]}}, meaning "above everyone else". However, for propaganda purposes, the latter translation was endorsed by [[Allies of World War I|the Allies]] during World War I.<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Falsehood in War-Time]]: Containing an Assortment of Lies Circulated Throughout the Nations During the Great War|chapter=Chapter XI: Deutschland über alles|first=Arthur |last=Ponsonby|author-link=Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede|isbn=1162798653|year=2010|publisher=[[Kessinger Publishing]]|orig-year=1928}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=10 May 2019|title=Row over German anthem erupts amid nationalism debate|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190510-row-over-german-anthem-erupts-amid-nationalism-debate|access-date=20 June 2021|website=France 24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=German national anthem outcry re-inflames East-West divide|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]]|date=10 May 2019|url=https://www.dw.com/en/german-national-anthem-outcry-re-inflames-east-west-divide/a-48691497|access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Huggler|first=Justin|date=5 March 2018|title=Row over 'sexist' German national anthem|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/05/row-sexist-german-national-anthem/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/05/row-sexist-german-national-anthem/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=20 June 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Although the first stanza is not forbidden within Germany based on the [[Law of Germany|German legal system]], any mention of the first stanza is considered to be incorrect, inaccurate, and improper during official settings and functions, within Germany or abroad.<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 February 2017|title=Deutschlandlied: Ist die erste Strophe verboten?|language=German|work=[[Die Welt]]|url=https://www.welt.de/geschichte/article162022962/Ist-die-erste-Strophe-des-Deutschlandliedes-verboten.html|access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Skandal beim Fed-Cup: Ist die erste Strophe unserer Nationalhymne verboten?|url=https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/geschichte/deutschegeschichte/hymnen-eklat-beim-fed-cup-gefeiert-missbraucht-abgelehnt-warum-das-mit-der-nationalhymne-in-deutschland-so-schwierig-ist_id_6645412.html|access-date=20 June 2021|website=[[Focus (German magazine)|Focus]]|language=de}}</ref>

In 1974, the singer [[Nico (German singer)|Nico]] released a recording of all three verses as the last track on her album ''[[The End...]]''. In 1977, the German pop singer [[Heino]] 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.<ref>Michael Jeismann: "Die Nationalhymne". In: Etienne Francois, Hagen Schulze (ed.): ''Deutsche Erinnerungsorte. Vol. III''. C. H. Beck, München 2001, {{ISBN|3-406-47224-9}}, p. 663. [http://www.zeit.de/1978/14/natuerliches-verhaeltnis "Natürliches Verhältnis. Deutschlandlied – dritte oder/und erste Strophe?"], ''[[Die Zeit]]'', 31 March 1978.</ref>

In 2009, the English rock musician [[Pete Doherty]] sang "Deutschlandlied" live on radio at [[Bayerischer Rundfunk]] in Munich with all three stanzas. As he sang the first stanza, he was booed by the audience.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rnw.nl/nl/nederlands/article/rockzanger-pete-doherty-schoffeert-duitsers |title=Rockzanger Pete Doherty schoffeert Duitsers |work=[[Radio Netherlands Worldwide]] |date=29 November 2009 |access-date=1 December 2009 |language=nl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607104627/http://www.rnw.nl/nl/nederlands/article/rockzanger-pete-doherty-schoffeert-duitsers |archive-date=7 June 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Doherty Über Alles: Rocker Offends Germans with Nazi-Era Anthem|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/doherty-ueber-alles-rocker-offends-germans-with-nazi-era-anthem-a-664282.html|access-date=20 June 2021|magazine=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=30 November 2009}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://au.eurosport.com/olympicgames/london-2012/2012/germans-appalled-by-gaffe_sto2916606/story.shtml |title='Nazi anthem' played at canoe championship |publisher=[[Eurosport]] |date=22 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029215213/http://au.eurosport.com/olympicgames/london-2012/2012/germans-appalled-by-gaffe_sto2916606/story.shtml |archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|zdVJNBH1z5M|Deutschlandlied – 1. Strophe bei Siegerehrung [1st verse at the medal ceremony]}}</ref> [[Eurosport]], under the headline of "Nazi anthem", erroneously reported that "the first stanza of the piece [had been] banned in 1952 ".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nieuwsblad.be/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20110822_110 |title=Nazivolkslied op WK kajak |work=[[Het Nieuwsblad]] |date=22 August 2011 |language=nl}}</ref>

Similarly, in 2017, the first stanza was mistakenly sung by Will Kimble, an American soloist, during the welcome ceremony of the [[2017 Fed Cup World Group|Fed Cup]] tennis match between [[Andrea Petkovic]] (Germany) and [[Alison Riske]] (U.S.) at the Center Court in [[Lahaina, Hawaii]]. In an attempt to drown out the soloist, German tennis players and fans began to sing the third stanza instead.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/feb/12/us-tennis-nazi-era-anthem-germany-fed-cup-match-deutschlandlied "US Tennis says sorry for using Nazi-era anthem before Germany Fed Cup match"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 12 February 2017</ref>

Also, in 2018, during the [[2018 World Masters Athletics Championships]] in [[Málaga]], [[Spain]], 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.<ref>https://masterstrack.blog/2018/09/banned-nazi-version-of-german-national-anthem-played-2-days-at-malaga-medal-ceremonies/</ref>

== Variants and additions ==

=== Additional or alternative stanzas ===
Hoffmann von Fallersleben also intended the text to be used as a [[drinking song]]; the second stanza's toast to German [[wine, women and song]] is typical of this genre.<ref>[http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/hoffmann-von-fallersleben-auf-helgoland-wie-die-deutsche.1001.de.html?dram:article_id=364148 "Wie die deutsche Nationalhymne nach feucht-fröhlicher Runde entstand"] by Claus-Stephan Rehfeld, [[Deutschlandfunk]], 26 August 2016</ref> The original Heligoland manuscript included a variant ending of the third stanza for such occasions:
{|
|<poem lang="de">...
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;
&nbsp;{{music repeat|Stoßet an und ruft einstimmig,
&nbsp;Hoch, das deutsche Vaterland.}}</poem>
|style="padding-left:2em;"|<poem>...
Are the pledge of fortune.
&nbsp;{{music repeat|Lift your glasses and shout together,
&nbsp;Prosper, German fatherland.}}</poem>
|}

An alternative version called "{{lang|de|[[Kinderhymne]]|italic=no}}" (Children's Hymn) was written by [[Bertolt Brecht]] 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 [[Hanns Eisler]] 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:<ref name=Geisler75>{{harvnb|Geisler|2005|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLVaSxt-sV0C&pg=PA75 75]}}</ref>
<!-- Please do not change the lyrics here, as they are Geisler's—see the source cited above -->
<poem lang="de" style="float:left;">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.</poem>
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Grace spare not and spare no labour
Passion nor intelligence
That a decent German nation
Flourish as do other lands.

That the people{{efn-ua|name=people|1="people", "folk": or '[other] peoples' or '[other] nations'}} give up flinching
At the crimes which we evoke
And hold out their hand in friendship
As they do to other folk.{{efn-ua|name=people}}

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.<ref name=Geisler75 /></poem>{{clear|left}}
{{notelist-ua}}

=== Notable performances and recordings ===
The German musician [[Nico_(singer)|Nico]] sometimes performed the national anthem at concerts and dedicated it to militant [[Andreas Baader]], leader of the [[Red Army Faction]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Rockwell |first=John |author-link=John Rockwell |title=Cabaret: Nico is back |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=21 February 1979}}</ref> She included a version of "{{Lang|de|Das Lied der Deutschen|italic=no}}" on her 1974 album ''The End...''. In 2006, the Slovenian industrial band [[Laibach]] incorporated Hoffmann's lyrics in a song titled "Germania", on the album ''Volk'', which contains fourteen songs with adaptations of national anthems.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/art772,1975298 |title=Völker, hört die Fanale! |last=Hesselmann |first=Markus |work=[[Der Tagesspiegel]] |date=7 December 2006 |access-date=1 December 2009 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/laibach-volk/ |title= Rev. of Laibach, ''Volk'' |last=Schiller |first=Mike |work=[[PopMatters]] |date=6 December 2007 |access-date=1 December 2009}}</ref>

=== Influences ===

The German composer [[Max Reger]] quotes the "Deutschlandlied" in the final section of his collection of organ pieces [[Sieben Stücke, Op. 145|''Sieben Stücke'', Op. 145]], composed in 1915–16 when it was a patriotic song but not yet the national anthem.

An Afrikaans patriotic song, "[[Afrikaners Landgenote]]", 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.

== See also ==
*"[[Auferstanden aus Ruinen]]", the national anthem of [[East Germany]] until the [[German reunification]] in 1990

*The [[Kaiserquartett]] is the third of the six [[String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)|String Quartets, Op. 76]], which Haydn composed in 1797, containing four variations on the musical theme used for the Deutchslandlied.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

'''Sources'''
* {{cite book |editor-last=Geisler |editor-first=Michael E. |title=National Symbols, Fractured Identities: Contesting the National Narrative |publisher=[[University Press of New England]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58465-437-7}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource|Das Deutschlandlied}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090901203143/http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_774/Content/DE/StatischeSeiten/Breg/die-nationalhymne-der-bundesrepublik-deutschland.html Die Nationalhymne der Bundesrepublik Deutschland], German Federal Government {{in lang|de}}
* [http://ingeb.org/Lieder/deutschl.html "Das Lied der Deutschen"], ingeb.org
* [http://www.brandenburghistorica.com/page5.html "Das Lied der Deutschen"] at Brandenburg Historica
* {{IMSLP|work=Das Kaiserlied, Hob.XXVIa:43 (Haydn, Joseph)|cname="Das Kaiserlied" (Haydn)}}
* {{YouTube|VZaW63EJKKc|Singing of the German national anthem}}, during the official [[German Unity Day]] ceremony on 3 October 1990
* {{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/deutschland-uber-alles-and-america-first-in-song |title='Deutschland über alles' and 'America First', in Song |author=Daniel A. Gross |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=18 February 2017 |ref=none}}

{{Germany topics}}
{{National Anthems of Europe}}
{{German patriotic songs}}

{{Authority control}}

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