“Deutschland, Deutschland, Du Mein Alles!”: Die Deutschen auf der Suche nach ihrer Nationalhymne 1949–1952.
2019; Oxford University Press; Volume: 37; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/gerhis/ghz077
ISSN1477-089X
Autores ResumoThroughout the twentieth century, questions have swirled around the complex legacy of Hoffmann von Fallersleben’s ‘Lied der Deutschen’, written in 1841 to the melody of Joseph Haydn’s ‘Gott erhalte Franz, den Kaiser’. From its opening line of ‘Deutschland, Deutschland über alles’ to the third strophe’s evocation of ‘Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit’, Hoffmann’s Deutschlandlied has been a powerful and powerfully fraught political symbol of state power and collective identity in Germany. First adopted as a national anthem by the Weimar Republic in 1922, its first verse was subsequently embraced by the Nazi Party, who made it the co-national anthem in combination with the Horst-Wessel-Lied. In the immediate post-war period, the fate of Hoffmann’s anthem was left uncertain, hanging in the balance as the Federal Republic navigated the complex terrain of reconfiguring the symbolic repertory of collective identity amidst a new political and social order. From 1949 until 1952, the Federal Republic did not in fact have an official national anthem. Clemens Escher’s book provides an insightful account of this era of the Deutschlandlied’s history, shedding light on the important role of political symbolism during a critical period in the early years of the Federal Republic. As Escher’s book demonstrates, the Federal Republic’s lack of a national anthem was not taken lightly by its citizens. Thousands of individuals took it upon themselves to write often lengthy letters to Konrad Adenauer, Theodor Heuss and a host of other politicians and media outlets offering their own commentary on what became known as the ‘Hymnenstreit’. Escher’s main focus is an analysis of close to 2000 of these ‘Bürgerbriefe’, most of which are found in the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz. These letters vary widely in tone, content and aim. They range from simple expressions of support or opposition to Hoffmann’s anthem, to suggestions for rewriting parts of the original text, to letters in which the writer submits for consideration their own newly composed anthems, complete with musical notation. Escher concludes his study in 1952, when Heuss agreed to Adenauer’s formal request to declare Hoffmann’s Deutschlandlied the official national anthem, with only the third strophe sung at official events.
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