Max Schneckenburger (17 February 1819 – 3 May 1849) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

. The patriotic hymn "

Die Wacht am Rhein "" (, ''The Watch on the Rhine'') is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in the historical French–German enmity, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War. The origi ...

" uses the text of a poem Schneckenburger wrote in 1840. Schneckenburger was born in Talheim near

Tuttlingen Tuttlingen ( Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia ea ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. The younger brother of Matthias Schneckenburger, he was a co-owner of an

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheri ...

company, and his business sent him across the

Rhine River ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Due to this connection, a first version of his poem was set to music and performed there in 1840 by local musicians. This

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

version is now largely forgotten. Schneckenburger died in Burgdorf near Bern. The well-known music to his poem was composed by Karl Wilhelm in 1854, five years after his death. After the use of the song in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 made him and Wilhelm famous, his widow and two sons were granted an annual pension of 3,000

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

Reichskanzler The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

amt. The rest of his German songs were published in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

in 1870. On 18 July 1886, Schneckenburger's remains were returned to his native town Talheim in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

Quote

In a political essay of Schneckenburger in 1840, he calls for a re-arrangement of the "patch work" European borders into national areas, according to languages spoken, similar to the ideas espoused by

Ernst Moritz Arndt Ernst Moritz Arndt (26 December 1769 – 29 January 1860) was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Swe ...

. :''Bei der ersten neuen Regulierung Europas muß die Schuhflickerorganisation des Wiener Congresses durch die einzig vernünftige und fürderhin einzig zulässige Eintheilung nach nationalen Grundlagen ersetzt werden. Und einer solchen Eintheilung ist es vorbehalten, Deutschland alle seine nach und nach entfremdeten Provinzen wiederzugeben, wobei Arndts Soweit die deutsche Zunge klingt als das richtige Schema für die Gründung eines neuen Deutschland angenommen wird.'' He also called for secure borders with neighboring countries. :''The Watch on the Rhine'' :A voice resounds like thunder-peal, :'Mid dashing waves and clang of steel: — :The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine! :Who guards to-day my stream divine? :Chorus :Dear Fatherland, no danger thine: :Firm stand thy sons to watch the Rhine! :They stand, a hundred thousand strong, :Quick to avenge their country's wrong; :With filial love their bosoms swell, :They'll guard the sacred landmark well! :The dead of a heroic race :From heaven look down and meet their gaze; :They swear with dauntless heart, O Rhine, :Be German as this breast of mine! :While flows one drop of German blood, :Or sword remains to guard thy flood, :While rifle rests in patriot hand, — :No foe shall tread thy sacred strand! :Our oath resounds, the river flows, :In golden light our banner glows; :Our hearts will guard thy stream divine: :The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine! *Max SchneckenburgerLibrary of the world's best literature, ancient and modern Vol XI p. 16437
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References

* Hans Jürgen Hansen. ''Heil Dir im Siegerkranz - Die Hymnen der Deutschen''. Gerhard-Stalling-Verlag, Oldenburg und

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. 1978.

External links

* 1819 births 1849 deaths People from Tuttlingen (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg German poets People from Burgdorf, Switzerland German male poets 19th-century poets 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers {{Germany-poet-stub