"Wir sind wir (ein Deutschlandlied)" ("We Are We" (i.e. "We are who we are"), a Germany song) was released as a stand-alone single by

Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

in 2004. Unlike most of his other singles, this was not released on any official studio album by van Dyk. The song features

Peter Heppner Peter Heppner (born 7 September 1967 in Hamburg) is the former lead singer of the German electronica/synth pop band Wolfsheim, and has collaborated with many other electronic music acts, such as Paul van Dyk, Schiller, and Goethes Erben. Caree ...

on vocals, and was only recorded in German, presumably because it speaks directly to Germans and Germany. ''Are we the land of poets and thinkers, the land of the Wirtschaftswunder conomic wonder the land of two world wars, the land which was divided and thereafter reunited?'

"Wir sind wir" deals with the deep feeling of emotional insecurity that permeates the German society in the early 21st century. In 2004, Germany was in an economic slump, the controversial

Hartz IV The Hartz concept, also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations went ...

law had diminished the state welfare programs, and there was a lingering feeling of division between the one-time West German and East German provinces. The fact that Germany had turned itself from a one-time pariah into a valuable friend of the Western great powers (Britain, France, the United States) and had reunited itself with the end of the Cold War were suddenly unimportant. There was little pride in being German, and patriotism was a suppressed emotion. This is reflected in the lyrics: despite having turned "ash into gold", people were feeling angst and fear of the future (''40 Jahre zogen wir an einem Strang, aus Asche haben wir Gold gemacht/ (...) was vorher war ist heute nichts mehr wert''). Heppner and Van Dyk then ask, where do the Germans stand, and answer "we are we, we are one, this is just a bad period, and we won't give up" (''wir sind wir/ wieder eins in einem Land/ das ist doch nur ein schlechter Lauf/ so schnell geben wir doch jetzt nicht auf''). The song is a powerful statement for all Germans that they are neither bad nor good, but just themselves (we are we). For 40 years, everything went well, and now after some bad years, it is time to stand united and face the future together. The lyrics highlight the positive qualities of German culture and society and stand as a beacon of hope.

Music video

The video shows Peter Heppner as an ageless camera man who films well-known images of German history: * The destroyed Reichstag * Bombed-out cities, a one-legged man limping on his crutches * ''Trümmerfrauen'' (rubble women) salvaging scraps in a bombed-out post-World War II city * The US "Raisin Bombers" dropping food into the starving

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

during the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

* The soccer Miracle of Bern 1954, widely considered as a watershed moment for West Germany * The building of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, families crying as they were divided, the East German soldier

Conrad Schumann Hans Konrad Schumann (often anglicized to Hans Conrad Schumann in English-language sources; 28 March 1942 – 20 June 1998) was an East German border guard who escaped to West Germany during the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Early ...

jumping over barbed wire to defect into West Berlin (a timeless still image that captured the desperation of German Cold War division) * The German

Wirtschaftswunder The ''Wirtschaftswunder'' (, "economic miracle"), also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II (adopting an ordoliberalism-based social marke ...

, with new housings, cars and a new level of luxury * The Oil Crisis * The Fall of the

* The rebuilt Reichstag in central Berlin The video is a mix of new footage, and original footage where Heppner has been inserted by

chroma key Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...

. Paul van Dyk appears only twice, fleetingly on both occasions, initially reading a newspaper, and later in a bar.

Track listing

CD Version

# "Wir sind wir" (Radio Edit) # "Wir sind wir" (PvD Club Mix) # "Wir sind wir" (Dub Mix) # "Wir sind wir" (Video)

12" Version

# "Wir sind wir" (Club Mix) # "Wir sind wir" (Dub Mix) # "Wir sind wir" (Ambient Mix)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Paul Van Dyk's Official Website
{{Authority control 2004 singles Paul van Dyk songs 2004 songs Songs written by Paul van Dyk Songs written by Peter Heppner