The "" ("Horst Wessel Song"; ), also known by its opening words "" ("Raise the Flag", ), was the anthem of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
(NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, along with the first stanza of the "".
The "" has been
banned in Germany and Austria since the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
History
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-043-14, Horst Wessel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1978-043-14%2C_Horst_Wessel.jpg)
The lyrics to "Horst-Wessel-Lied" were written in 1929 by ''
Sturmführer
''Sturmführer'' (, "storm leader") was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party which began as a title used by the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) in 1925 and became an actual SA rank in 1928. Translated as "storm leader or assault leader", the origins o ...
''
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Berlin ''Sturmführer'' ("Assault Leader", the lowest commissioned officer rank) of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi Party's stormtroopers. After his killing in 1 ...
, the commander of the Nazi paramilitary "Brownshirts" (''
Sturmabteilung
The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...
'' or "SA") in the
Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjacent to Mitte, Prenzl ...
district of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Wessel wrote songs for the SA in conscious imitation of the
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
paramilitary, the
Red Front Fighters' League
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
, to provoke them into attacking his troops, and to keep up the spirits of his men.
Horst Wessel
Wessel was the son of a
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
and educated at degree level, but was employed as a
construction worker
A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure.
Definition
By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...
. He became notorious among the Communists when he led a number of SA attacks into the
Fischerkiez, an extremely poor Berlin district, which he did on orders from
Joseph Goebbels, who was then the Nazi ''
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a '' Gau'' or '' Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest rank in the Nazi political leadership, subordinate only to '' Reichsleiter'' and to ...
'' (regional party leader) of Berlin. Several of these incursions were only minor altercations, but one took place outside the tavern which the local
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party (german: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports left positions and was an observer member of the European Left. At the end of February 2016 it left the European party.
His ...
(KPD) used as its headquarters. As a result of that melee, five Communists were injured, four of them seriously. Communist newspapers accused the police of letting the Nazis get away while arresting the injured Communists, while Nazi newspapers claimed that Wessel had been trying to give a speech when Communists emerged and started the fight. Wessel's face was printed together with his address on Communist street posters. The slogan of the KPD and the Red Front Fighters' League became "strike the fascists wherever you find them."
Wessel moved with his partner Erna Jänicke into a room on
Große Frankfurter Straße
Karl-Marx-Allee ( en, Karl Marx Alley) is a monumental socialist boulevard built by the GDR between 1952 and 1960 in Berlin Friedrichshain and Mitte. Today the boulevard is named after Karl Marx. It should not be confused with the ''Karl-Mar ...
. The landlady was the widowed Mrs Salm, whose husband had been a Communist. After a few months, there was a dispute between Salm and Wessel over unpaid rent. Salm requested Wessel's partner to leave but Jänicke refused. Salm appealed to Communist friends of her late husband for help. Shortly thereafter on 14 January 1930, Wessel was shot and seriously wounded by two Communist Party members, one of whom was
Albrecht "Ali" Höhler. Wessel died in hospital on 23 February from
blood poisoning
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is foll ...
, which he contracted during his hospitalisation. Höhler was tried in court and sentenced to six years' imprisonment for the shooting. He was taken out of prison under false pretenses by the SA and shot dead three years later, after the Nazi
accession to national power in 1933.
Nazi Party anthem
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi ''Gauleiter'' and owner and editor of the newspaper ''
Der Angriff
''Der Angriff'' (in English "The Attack") is a discontinued German language newspaper founded in 1927 by the Berlin Gau of the Nazi Party. The last edition was published on 24 April 1945.
History
The newspaper was set up by Joseph Goebbels, wh ...
'' (The Attack), had made several attempts to create Nazi martyrs for propaganda purposes, the first being an SA man named Hans-Georg Kütemeyer, whose body was pulled out of a canal the morning after he attended a speech by Hitler at the
Sportpalast
Berlin Sportpalast (; built 1910, demolished 1973) was a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Schöneberg section of Berlin, Germany. Depending on the type of event and seating configuration, the Sportpalast could hold up to 14,000 people ...
. Goebbels attempted to spin this into an
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
by Communists, but the overwhelming evidence showed it to have been
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
, and he had to drop the matter. Thus, Goebbels put considerable effort into mythologizing Wessel's story, even as the man lay dying. He met with Wessel's mother, who told him her son's life story, his hope for a "better world", and his attempt to rescue a prostitute he had met on the street. Goebbels saw Wessel as an "idealistic dreamer".
Wessel himself had undergone an operation at St. Joseph's Hospital which stopped his
internal bleeding
Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity dep ...
, but the surgeons had been unable to remove the bullet in his
cerebellum
The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...
. Wessel was brought to his mother's home to die. In his diary, Goebbels described Wessel's entire face as being shot up and his features distorted, and claimed that Wessel told him "One has to keep going! I'm happy!" After a period where his condition stabilized, Wessel died on 23 February.
Goebbels consulted
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
and others in the party on how to respond to Wessel's death. They declared a period of mourning until 12 March, during which party and SA members would avoid amusements and Wessel's name would be invoked at all party meetings. Wessel's unit was renamed the Horst Wessel Storm Unit 5.
From a mashup of fact and fiction, Goebbels' propaganda created what became one of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
's central
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
-figures of their movement. He officially declared Wessel's march, renamed as the "" ("Horst Wessel Song"), to be the Nazi Party anthem, which aided in promoting Wessel as the first of many in the Nazi cult of martyrdom. Wessel was buried on 1 March 1930. Contrary to Nazi claims, there were no attacks on the
funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...
. His
funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
was filmed and turned into a major propaganda event by the NSDAP. The "Horst Wessel Song" was sung by the SA at the funeral, and was thereafter extensively used at party functions, as well as sung by the SA during
street parades.
Co-national anthem
When
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
became the
Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the "Horst Wessel Song" became a
national symbol
A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an ...
by law on 19 May 1933. The following year, a regulation required the right arm be extended and raised in the "
Hitler salute
The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. T ...
" when the (identical) first and fourth verses were sung. Nazi leaders can be seen singing the song at the finale of
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda.
A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...
's 1935 film ''
Triumph of the Will
''Triumph of the Will'' (german: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 German Nazi propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his n ...
.'' Hitler also mandated the
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
at which the song had to be played.
Some Nazis were extremely sensitive about the uses to which the "Horst Wessel Song" was put. For instance, a
bandleader who wrote a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
version of the song was forced to leave Germany, and when
Martha Dodd
Martha Eccles Dodd (October 8, 1908 – August 10, 1990) was an American journalist and novelist. The daughter of William Edward Dodd, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first Ambassador to Germany, Dodd lived in Berlin from 1933–1937 an ...
, the daughter of
William E. Dodd, at the time the
US ambassador to Germany, played a recording of an unusual arrangement of the song at her birthday party at the Ambassador's residence in 1933, a young Nazi who was a liaison between the
German Foreign Ministry
, logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg
, logo_width = 260 px
, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
and
Hitler's Chancellery
Hitler's Chancellery, officially known as the ''Kanzlei des Führers der NSDAP'' (" Chancellery of the Führer of the Nazi Party"; abbreviated as KdF) was a Nazi Party organization. Also known as the ''Privatkanzlei des Führers'' ("Private Chanc ...
, turned off the
record player
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
, announcing "This is not the sort of music to be played for mixed gatherings and in a flippant manner." The song was played in some
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
places of worship, as some elements of the
Protestant Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United (e.g. Prussian Union) Protestant regional churches and denominations in Germany, ...
had accepted the Horst Wessel cult, built as it was by Goebbels on the model of Christian martyrs of the past.
Post World War II
With the end of the Nazi regime in May 1945, the "Horst Wessel Song" was banned. The lyrics and tune are
now illegal in Germany, with some limited exceptions. In early 2011, this resulted in a
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
State Police investigation of
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...
and
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
for offering the song for sale on their websites. Both Apple and Amazon complied with the government's request, and deleted the song from their offerings.
A special marine commando unit within the
Chilean Navy
The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso.
History
Origins and the War ...
uses the same melody as the Horst-Wessel-Lied with different lyrics called "Himno de la Agrupación de Comandos IM no. 51".
Lyrics
The words to the "Horst Wessel Song" were published in September 1929 in the Nazi Party's Berlin newspaper, ''Der Angriff'' (The Attack) which Joseph Goebbels owned and ran.
Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen!
SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt.
Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen,
Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit.
Die Straße frei den braunen Bataillonen.
Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann!
Es schau'n aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen.
Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an!
Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm geblasen!
Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit!
Schon flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen.
Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit!
(repeat first stanza)
Raise the flag! The ranks tightly closed!
The SA marches with calm, steady step.
Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries
March in spirit within our ranks.
Clear the streets for the brown battalions,
Clear the streets for the storm division man!
Millions are looking upon the hooked-cross full of hope,
The day of freedom and of bread dawns!
For the last time, the call to arms is sounded!
For the fight, we all stand prepared!
Already Hitler's banners fly over all streets.
The time of bondage will last but a little while now!
The ''Rotfront'', or "Red Front", was the ''
Rotfrontkämpferbund'', the paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany. The Nazi SA, also known as the "brown shirts" and the Communist Red Front fought each other in violent
street confrontations, which grew into almost open warfare after 1930. The "reactionaries" were the
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
political parties and the
liberal democratic
Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into di ...
German government
The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...
of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
period, which made several unsuccessful attempts to suppress the SA. The "time of bondage" refers to the period after the 1919
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
, in which the victorious powers imposed huge
reparations
Reparation(s) may refer to:
Christianity
* Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation
* Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin
History
*War reparations
**World War I reparations, made from G ...
on Germany, stripped her of her colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Ocean, some of which became
League of Nations mandate
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administ ...
s, gave parts of Germany to Belgium, Denmark, France, Poland, and Lithuania, and
occupied the Rhineland.
The line is technically ambiguous. It could either mean ''Kameraden, die von Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen wurden'' ("Our comrades who were shot dead by the Red Front and Reactionaries") or ''Kameraden, welche die Erschießung von Rotfront und Reaktion durchführten'' ("Our comrades who have shot the Red Front and Reactionaries dead"). In spite of this obvious
syntactic
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), ...
problem, which was mentioned by
Victor Klemperer
Victor Klemperer (9 October 188111 February 1960) was a German scholar who also became known as a diarist. His journals, published in Germany in 1995, detailed his life under the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the Germa ...
in his ''
LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii
''LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii: Notizbuch eines Philologen'' (1947) is a book by Victor Klemperer, Professor of Literature at the Dresden University of Technology. The title, half in Latin and half in German, translates to "''The Language of th ...
'', the line was never changed. The following line (March in spirit within our ranks) however indicates that the aforementioned comrades are deceased, advocating the first interpretation.
Some changes were made to the lyrics after Wessel's death:
After Wessel's death, new stanzas were added, composed in his honour. These were frequently sung by the SA but did not become part of the official lyrics used on party or state occasions.
Melody
After Wessel's death, he was officially credited with having composed the music as well as having written the lyrics for the "Horst Wessel Song". Between 1930 and 1933, however, German critics disputed this, pointing out that the melody had a long history. "
How Great Thou Art
"How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on an original Swedish hymn entitled "" written in 1885 by Carl Boberg (1859–1940). The English version of the hymn and its title are a loose translation by the English missionary Stuart K. Hine ...
" is a well-known
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
of
Swedish origin with a similar tune for example. Criticism of Horst Wessel as author became unthinkable after 1933, when the Nazi Party took control of Germany and criticism would likely be met with severe punishment.
The most likely immediate source for the melody was a song popular in the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, which Wessel would no doubt have heard being sung by World War I veterans in the Berlin of the 1920s. The song was known either by its opening line as or as the "", after the German cruiser , which is mentioned in one version of the song's lyrics. The opening stanza of the song is:
In 1936, the German music critic Alfred Weidemann published an article, in which he identified the melody of a song composed in 1865 by
Peter Cornelius
Carl August Peter Cornelius (24 December 1824 – 26 October 1874) was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator.
Life
He was born in Mainz to Carl Joseph Gerhard (1793–1843) and Friederike (1789–1867) Cornelius, actors i ...
as the "Urmelodie" (source-melody). According to Weidemann, Cornelius described the tune as a "Viennese folk tune". This appeared to him to be the ultimate origin of the melody of the "Horst Wessel Song".
Far-right use outside Germany
During the 1930s and 1940s, the "Horst Wessel Song" was adapted by fascist groups in other European countries.
British Union of Fascists
One of the marching songs of the
British Union of Fascists, known as ''The Marching Song'' or ''Comrades, the Voices'' was set to the same tune, and its lyrics were to some extent modelled on the song, though appealing to
British Fascism. Instead of referring to martyrs of the party, it identifies Britain's war dead as those marching in spirit against the "
red front and
massed ranks of reaction".
Comrades, the voices of the dead battalions,
Of those who fell, that Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
might be great,
𝄆 Join in our song, for they still march in spirit with us,
And urge us on to gain the fascist state
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
! 𝄇
We're of their blood, And spirit of their spirit,
Sprung from that soil, for whose dear sake they bled,
𝄆 Against vested powers, Red Front, and massed ranks of reaction,
We lead the fight for freedom and for bread! 𝄇
The streets are still, the final struggle's ended;
Flushed with the fight, we proudly hail the dawn!
𝄆 See, over all the streets, the fascist banners waving,
Triumphant standards of our race reborn! 𝄇
Croatian Fascists
In modern
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, members of various
far-right movements consider the adaptation written by
Jan Zadravec, called "
Hrvatski Stijeg" (The Croatian Banner), to be their unofficial anthem.
Falange fascist movement
In
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, the
Falange
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...
fascist movement sang ''Camisa azul'' to the same tune:
(Note that this was a traditional Falange march, not a march of the original Falange. It was sung by some of the volunteers of the 250th division, the
División Azul, after the death of
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish politician who founded the falangist Falang ...
.)
Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
In
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
the members of the
Légion des volontaires français
The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (french: Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchévisme, LVF) was a unit of the German Army during World War II consisting of collaborationist volunteers from France. Officially desi ...
sang:
Golden Dawn
In modern Greece,
Golden Dawn, an
extreme right-wing party, uses the "Horst Wessel Song" with Greek lyrics in its gatherings or events such as the occasional public distribution of food "to Greeks only", while its leader,
Nikolaos Michaloliakos
Nikolaos G. Michaloliakos ( el, Νικόλαος Γ. Μιχαλολιάκος, ; born 11 December 1957) is a Greek politician and convicted criminal. He is the founder and leader of the far-right party Golden Dawn. In October 2020, he and 67 oth ...
, often uses the song's key stanzas (e.g. "The flags on high!") in his speeches.
The lyrics of their version are:
All-Russian Fascist Organisation
The
All-Russian Fascist Organisation, founded in 1933, largely consisted of
émigrés of the White Movement. It was led by
Anastasy Vonsiatsky and was based in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, USA. The organisation dissolved after the United States entered World War II. Vonsyatsky was arrested for violating the
1917 Espionage Act.
The lyrics of their version are:
Patriotic People's Movement
The fascist
Lapua Movement and its successor
Patriotic People's Movement
Patriotic People's Movement ( fi, Isänmaallinen kansanliike, IKL, sv, Fosterländska folkrörelsen) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1 ...
of Finland sang a song to the tune of Horst Wessel Lied, translated by
Otto Al’Antila:
[Otto Al'Antila, Lakeus, 15.07.1936, nro 157, s. 1, Kansalliskirjaston digitaaliset aineistot]
/ref>
Parodies
Before 1933, the German Communists and the Social Democrats
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
sang parodies of the "Horst Wessel Song" during their street battles with the SA. Some versions simply changed the political character of the song:
''Der Stahlhelm
' (German, 'The Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers'), commonly known as ''Der Stahlhelm'' ('The Steel Helmet'), was a German First World War veteran's organisation existing from 1918 to 1935. It was part of the "Black Reichswehr" and ...
'', or "The Steel Helmet", was a nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
veterans' organisation closely aligned with the German National People's Party
The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
.
The Communist Party of Germany substituted completely new lyrics:
Ernst Thälmann was the KPD leader.
These versions were banned once the Nazis came to power and the Communist and Social Democratic parties prohibited. However, during the years of the Third Reich the song was parodied in underground versions, poking fun at the corruption of the Nazi elite. There are similarities between different texts as underground authors developed them with variations. Below are several versions.
Wilhelm Frick was the Interior Minister, Baldur von Schirach was the Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
leader and Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and police.
Another version was:
Die Preise hoch, die Schnauze fest geschlossen,
Hunger marschiert in ruhig festem Schritt.
Hitler und Göbbels, uns're beiden Volksgenossen,
Hungern im Geist mit uns Proleten mit.
Im Arbeitsamt wird SOS geblasen,
Zum Stempeln steh'n wir alle Mann bereit.
Statt Brot und Arbeit gibt der Führer uns nur Phrasen,
Und wer was sagt, lebt nur noch kurze Zeit.
Die Straße stinkt nach braunen Batallionen,
Ein Pöstchen winkt dem Sturmabteilungsmann.
Vielleicht verdient als Bonze morgen er Millionen,
Doch das geht uns 'nen braunen Scheißdreck an!
The prices high, the snouts firmly closed,
Hunger marches with a quiet, steady step.
Hitler and Göbbels, our two comrades,
Starve in spirit along with us proles.
In the unemployment benefits
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
office SOS is sounded,
All we men stand prepared to register as unemployed.
Instead of bread and work, the Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...
gives us just phrases,
And whoever says anything lives but a little while.
The street stinks of the brown battalions,
A cushy job winks at the Stormtrooper.
Perhaps tomorrow he'll be a fat cat and get millions,
But that means jack-shit to us.
In the first year of Nazi rule radical elements of the SA sang their own parody of the song, reflecting their disappointment that the socialist element of National Socialism had not been realised:
Kurt Schmitt
Kurt Paul Schmitt (7 October 1886 – 2 November 1950) was a German jurist versed in economic matters. A supporter of the Nazis since 1930, he joined the Nazi party in 1933, becoming also an honorary SS. He presided over Allianz insurance compa ...
was Economics Minister between 1933 and 1935.
One of the best-known parodies was included in Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
's play ''Schweik in the Second World War
''Schweyk in the Second World War'' (''Schweyk im Zweiten Weltkrieg'') is a play by German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht. It was written by Brecht in 1943 while in exile in California, and is a sequel to the 1923 novel ''The Good Soldier Šve ...
'' (1943). Hanns Eisler
Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
composed a score for the "Kälbermarsch" (Calves' March):
After Nazi Germany's capitulation on 8 May 1945, which ended World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, as well as Germany's occupation of Eastern Europe, Germany was divided into four occupation zones (British, French, US-American and Soviet). In the Soviet zone, a version of 'Die Preise hoch' became popular, targeting Communist functionaries:
The most notable English-language parody was written by Oliver Wallace
Oliver George Wallace (August 6, 1887 – September 15, 1963) was an English composer and conductor.''Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans During Wartime'', Volume 3, ed. Benjamin F. Shearer (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 200 ...
to a similar melody and titled "Der Fuehrer's Face
''Der Fuehrer's Face'' (originally titled ''A Nightmare in Nutziland'' or ''Donald Duck in Nutziland'' ) is a 1943 American animated anti-Nazi propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, created in 1942 and released on January 1, ...
" for the 1942 Donald Duck cartoon of the same name. It was the first hit record for Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...
. The opening lyrics give the flavor of the song:
When der Fuehrer says we is de master race
We "Heil!" (pffft), "Heil!" (pffft) right in der Fuehrer's face
Not to love der Fuehrer is a great disgrace
So we "Heil!" (pffft), "Heil!" (pffft) right in der Fuehrer's face
Each "Heil!" is followed by a Bronx cheer.
In popular culture
*The New York Youth Symphony
The New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), founded in 1963, is a tuition-free music organization for the youth in New York City, widely reputed to be one of the best of its kind in the nation and world. Its programs include its flagship Orchestra, Cha ...
, after it discovered that a piece it had commissioned included a 45-second musical quote of the "Horst Wessel Song", abruptly canceled a Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
performance of ''Marsh u Nebuttya'' (Ukrainian: "March to Oblivion"), a 9-minute piece composed by Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
n-born Jonas Tarm, a 21-year-old junior at the New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The conservatory is located on H ...
. The composer would not explain his purpose in using the song in his piece, saying " can speak for itself", but the orchestra said that the usage was not appropriate.
*German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
's electronic and concrete work titled, ''Hymnen
''Hymnen'' (German for "Anthems") is an electronic and concrete work, with optional live performers, by Karlheinz Stockhausen, composed in 1966–67, and elaborated in 1969. In the composer's catalog of works, it is No. 22.
The extended work is ...
'' includes a sample recording of the "Horst Wessel Song". It premiered in Cologne, Germany, on 30 November 1967. It was also performed in New York's Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall
David Geffen Hall is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 2,200-seat auditorium opened in 1962, and is the home of the New York Philharmonic.
The facility, designe ...
) and London's English Bach Festival The English Bach Festival was an annual UK classical music festival which ran from 1963 to 2009. It was founded by the Greek-born harpsichordist and singer Lina Lalandi (1920–2012) and the English musicologist Jack Westrup who were co-directors d ...
among other international performances.
*The tune is used in Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor.
Career
Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...
' ''Elegy for Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...
'' (1989) as a contorted march about three-quarters of the way through the work. This leads to an abrupt silence after which the earlier theme returns.
*The neofolk band Death in June
Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the grou ...
released a recording of the "Horst Wessel Song" under the name "Brown Book" on their 1987 album of the same name.
*The title theme for ''Wolfenstein 3D
''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game '' Castle Wolfe ...
'' has a rendition of the "Horst-Wessel-Lied", recomposed by Bobby Prince
Robert Caskin Prince III, known professionally as Bobby Prince, is an American video game composer and sound designer. He has worked as an independent contractor for several gaming companies, most notably id Software and 3D Realms. Some of his m ...
and released for DOS
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...
on 5 May 1992.
*In 2003, a high school marching band from Paris, Texas
Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020.
History
Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River Co ...
, played the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" while waving a Nazi flag
The flag of Nazi Germany, officially the flag of the German Reich, featured a red background with a black swastika on a white disc. This flag came into use initially as the banner of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) after its foundation. Following the ap ...
at a football match at Hillcrest High School in Dallas. The performance coincided with the Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...
of Rosh Hashanah. The performance, which was meant to symbolize the history of World War II and also included musical selections and flags from Japan, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, was greeted with boos from the audience which threw objects at the band. The school superintendent apologized to the Dallas school district and removed the flag from future performances of the composition.
See also
* "Giovinezza
"Giovinezza" ( – ) is the official hymn of the Italian National Fascist Party, regime, and army, and was an unofficial national anthem of the Kingdom of Italy between 1924 and 1943.Farrell, Nicholas. 2005. ''Mussolini: a New Life''. Sterling Pub ...
", hymn of the Italian National Fascist Party
The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. Th ...
* "Cara al Sol
(English: Facing the Sun) is the anthem of the Falange Española de las JONS. The lyrics were written in December 1935 and are usually credited to the leader of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The music was composed by Juan Tellerí ...
", anthem of the fascist Spanish Falange
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...
* "Maréchal, nous voilà !
"Maréchal, nous voilà !" ("Marshal, here we are!") is a 1941 French song dedicated to Marshal Philippe Pétain. The lyrics were composed by André Montagard; its music was attributed to André Montagard and Charles Courtioux but actually plagi ...
", unofficial anthem of unoccupied Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
* Music in Nazi Germany
* Nazi songs
Nazi songs are songs and marches created by the Nazi Party. In modern Germany, the public singing or performing of songs exclusively associated with the Nazi Party is now illegal.
Background
There is often confusion between songs written specifica ...
* German laws against modern use of Nazi songs
* " Sturmlied"
* "Vorwärts! Vorwärts!
Nazi songs are songs and marches created by the Nazi Party. In modern Germany, the public singing or performing of songs exclusively associated with the Nazi Party is now illegal.
Background
There is often confusion between songs written specifica ...
", anthem of the Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
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*
*
*
Further reading
*Boderick, George
"Das Horst-Wessel-Lied: A Reappraisal"
''International Folklore Review'', vol. 10 (1995): 100–127.
External links
(MIDI format)
song
(MP3 format)
song
(OGG format)
Text of the German Criminal Code – Section 86 and Section 86a
(in English)
{{authority control
1930 songs
Horst Wessel
Nazi songs
Symbols of Nazi Germany
Nazi symbolism
Fascist symbols
Historical national anthems