At 2:24 there is a song in the background. Is this the anthem of the GDR?
Yes - Auferstanden aus Ruinen. Catchy little number, isn’t it?
No wonder, as the tune was allegedly plagiarized by Hans Eisler from the 1939 Filmschlager"Goodbye Johnny". (and yes, Hans Albers couldn’t sing for shit, but he was a great actor)
It really is! Makes one want to live in the GDR if it weren’t for Stasi, no way out, and a myriad of other factors
I learned the East German national anthem from the documentary film Top Secret-
"Hail, Hail, East Germany!
Land of wine and grape!
Land where you will seriously regret
Any attempt to escape.
Don’t try to tunnel under the wall
Or even crash right thru.
Forget it. The guards will get you,
Even if the electrified fence doesn’t first."
Cite.
Regards,
Shodan
Fun fact #1: The lyrics to the East German anthem (“Auferstanden aus Ruinen”, which translates as “Risen from ruins”) and the lyrics to the then West German and now unified German anthem (“Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit”, translating as “Unity and law and freedom”) are metrically identical in the sense that the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables is the same. As a result, both lyrics can be sung to each other’s tune.
Fun fact #2: The lyrics to the East German anthem contain direct references to the ideal of German reunification. As a result, later in its history East Germany stopped singing its own anthem because reunification had ceased to be something the government was striving for. The anthem became purley instrumental.