"Was es ist" (What it is) is a song written and recorded by the German pop and rock band

MIA. MIA. (alternative spelling: Mia.) is a German Punk music, punk/New Wave music, new wave/Rock music, rock/Pop music, pop band from Berlin. Biography MIA. originally formed in 1997 when TV host Sarah Kuttner introduced schoolmates Mieze Katz ( ...

, released in 2003 and later included on the album ''Stille Post''. Although only reaching number 50 in the German charts, it caused a fierce controversy within German society because of its underlying

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

message.

Background

The song's theme is a positive interpretation of the German

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or to one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

re-awakening in a positive and tolerant way, thus allowing young

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

to identify with their country: "Fragt man mich jetzt, woher ich komme, / Tu ich mir nicht mehr selber leid" (''If I am asked now where I'm from, / I no longer pity myself''). The lyrics, based on a reference to

Erich Fried Erich Fried (6 May 1921 – 22 November 1988) was an Austrian-born poet, writer, and translator. He initially became known to a broader public in both Germany and Austria for his political poetry, and later for his love poems. As a writer, he mo ...

's 1983 love poem of the same name, feature further romantic references to

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 ...

and the colours of the

German flag The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (german: Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederatio ...

that are also represented by the band's black, red and gold dresses. When the song was released on an EP of the same title in 2003, the band was heavily criticized for its patriotic tone which many considered inappropriate due to Germany's difficult history, culminating in accusations of promoting

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

claimed that the song was meant to provoke a discussion about Germany as a home and as a place to change and design; furthermore, they considered themselves politically on the left. The lead singer, Mieze Katz, who was even pelted with eggs, said about the topic: "This was grotesque for we aren't nationalists. I'm a leftist. But I have never fully understood the negation of the German national identity. I was born here, and German is the language I use to express myself. We must never forget the crimes, but this heritage is also a chance to build something good."Interview
with the lead singer in ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'' online, 5 March 2012. Original German: "Das war grotesk, wir sind ja keine Deutschnationalen, ich bin links. Aber die Verneinung des Deutschseins habe ich nie ganz begriffen. Ich bin hier zur Welt gekommen, Deutsch ist die Sprache, in der ich mich ausdrücke. Die Verbrechen dürfen wir nie vergessen, aber dieses Erbe ist auch eine Chance, etwas Gutes aufzubauen."

References

External links

''Was es ist''
on the band's website. {{German patriotic songs German patriotic songs German pop songs 2003 songs

Background

See also

References

External links