# Most Archaic Anthem? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archaic-anthem/976081 **Category:** In My Humble Opinion **Created:** [December 6, 2022, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archaic-anthem/976081 "2022-12-06T05:46:00Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 9
### Author: ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund) #### Post date: [December 6, 2022, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archaic-anthem/976081/9 "2022-12-06T10:04:17Z")
The German anthem has an interesting history. The original lyrics are a three stanza song written by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841 called "Das Lied der Deutschen, "The Song of the Germans. Von Fallersleben was a liberal democrat pleading for national unity and civil/democratic rights when Germany still was a hodgepodge of very small to bigger lands that were mostly under aristocratic rule. Liberals like von Fallersleben built the intellectual groundwork for the (in the end failed) revolution of 1848. This is the context you have to take into account when interpreting the lyrics, but especially the first stanza got reinterpreted as a celebration of German exceptionalism and nationalism, especially by the nazis who only sung the first stanza with the (in)famous opening lines: _Deuschland, Deutschland über alles_ _Über alles in der Welt_ _Germany, Germany over everything_ _Over everything in the world_ What von Fallersleben meant was that a _unified_ Germany (which was still a pipe dream in 1841) was the most important goal in the world, but of course soon after the actual (non-democratic) unification of 1871, nationalists took it to mean that Germany was the most important country in the world, which Fallersleben never had in mind. Like with everything they touched, the nazis ruined this first stanza forever, so that after the Federal Republic of Germany was formed and the song declared the national anthem, only the third stanza was officially used, because this stanza expresses the democratic ideals of the liberals of the pre-1848 revolution and is very suitable for the kind of democracy the FRG wanted to be. The opening lines are: _Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit_ _Für das deutsche Vaterland_ _Unity and law and freedom_ _For the German fatherland_ Now you may ask what the second stanza is about? Well, Fallersleben not only meant it to be a patriotic song, but also a drinking song, so this is what I call the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll stanza: _Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,_ _Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang_ _German women, German loyalty_ _German wine and German song_ Sadly, this stanza also isn’t sung anymore… To recap, parts (especially the first stanza) of our anthem are problematic because they have been and are still misused, but the official version (third stanza) is a benevolent plea for democratic values. And there are no guns, canons or bloodshed anywhere in it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-archaic-anthem/976081)._