The Horst-Wessel-Lied ("Horst Wessel Song"), also known as Die Fahne hoch ("The flag on high", from its opening line), was the anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 From 1933 to 1945 it was also part of Germany's national anthem. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's

The lyrics of the song were composed in 1929 by Horst Wessel, a Nazi activist and local commander of the Nazi militia, the SA, in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. Horst Ludwig Wessel ( October 9, 1907 &ndash February 23, 1930) was a German Nazi activist who was made a posthumous hero The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers Friedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Wessel was assassinated by a Communist activist in January 1930, and the propaganda apparatus of Berlin Gauleiter Dr Joseph Goebbels made him the leading martyr of the Nazi Movement. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public The song became the official Song of Consecration (Weihelied) for the Nazi Party, and was extensively used at party functions as well as being sung by the SA during street parades.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Horst-Wessel-Lied was recognised as a national symbol by a law issued on May 19, 1933. Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Nazi Germany thus had a double anthem, consisting of the first verse of the Deutschlandlied followed by the Horst Wessel-Lied. Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany" also known as Das Lied der Deutschen, "The Song of the Germans" has been used wholly or partially as the A regulation attached to a printed version of the Horst Wessel-Lied in 1934 required the right arm to be raised in a "Hitler salute" when the first and fourth verses were sung. The Hitler salute (Hitlergruß also known in Germany during World War II as the Deutscher Gruß (literally German Greeting) or in English as the

With the fall of the Nazi regime in 1945, the Horst-Wessel-Lied was banned, and both the lyrics and the tune remain illegal in Germany and Austria to this day except for educational and scholarly uses (under sections 86 and 86a of the Strafgesetzbuch). The Strafgesetzbuch is the name of the German, Swiss, Liechtenstein and Austrian Criminal law.

Contents 1 Lyrics 2 Use in the German National Anthem of the Nazi era 3 Melody 4 Other uses 5 Parodies 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

Lyrics

The lyrics of the Horst-Wessel-Lied were published in the Berlin Nazi newspaper, Der Angriff, in September 1929, attributed to "Der Unbekannte SA-Mann" (the Unknown SA-Man), as follows:

German original

English translation of a later version

Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! S. Der Angriff (meaning "The Attack" in English was a newspaper founded in 1927 by the Berlin Gau of the NSDAP. A. marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt. Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschieren im Geist in unseren Reihen mit. Die Straße frei den braunen Bataillonen. Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann! Es schaun aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen. Der Tag für Freiheit und fūr Brot bricht an! Zum letzten Mal wird nun Appell geblasen! Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit! Bald flattern Hitlerfahnen über Barrikaden. Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt. Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschieren im Geist in unseren Reihen mit.

The flag high! The ranks tightly closed! SA marches with a calm, firm pace. Comrades whom Red Front and Reaction shot dead March in spirit within our ranks. [Make] The street free for the brown battalions; [Make] The street free for the SA man! Already millions are looking to the swastika, full of hope; The day of freedom and bread is dawning. Rollcall has sounded for the last time! We are all prepared for the fight! Soon Hitler-flags will flutter over barricades. Our servitude will not last much longer now! The flag high! The ranks tightly closed! SA marches with a calm, firm pace. Comrades whom Red Front and Reaction shot dead March in spirit within our ranks.

A singable English translation:
Raise high the flag, close ranks, now all together,
Storm Troopers march, with firm and steady tread.
Souls of our comrades shot by Reds and by the enemy
March with us too, and swell the ranks ahead.

Make way, make way now for the brown battalion.
Make way for storm troops as they march along.
We raise the swastika, the hope of many millions,
The day of freedom and of bread has come.

The bugle sounds its final call to battle,
We stand at arms, we’re ready for the fight.
Soon Hitler's flags will wave o'er every street and byway
The end of slav’ry comes with morning light.

The "Rotfront" ("Red Front") was a reference to the Rotfrontkämpferbund, a paramilitary organization associated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Rotfrontkämpferbund ( RFB, other variants Der Rote Frontkämpferbund Roter Frontkämpferbund (English Red Front Fighters' League Red Front Fighters Association The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 It was common for Nazis' Sturmabteilung and Communists' Redfront to attack each other in violent street confrontations, which eventually grew into full-scale battles after 1930. The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers "Reaction" was a reference to the conservative parties and the liberal democratic German state of the Weimar Republic period, which made several unsuccessful attempts to suppress the SA. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 "Servitude" is a reference to what the Nazis saw as Germany's "servitude" to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which imposed huge reparations on Germany and deprived her of her colonies and territory along her eastern border. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. World War I reparations refers to the payments and transfers of property and equipment that the German country was forced to make under the Treaty of Versailles (1919 following

Some changes were made to the lyrics after Wessel's death:

Stanza 1, line 2	SA marschiert mit mutig-festem Schritt
	SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt	SA marches with calm, firm pace
Stanza 3, line 1	Zum letzten Mal wird nun Appell geblasen!
	Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm geblasen!	For the last time the storm-call has sounded
Stanza 3, line 3	Bald flattern Hitlerfahnen über Barrikaden
	Bald flattern Hitler-Fahnen über allen Straßen	Soon Hitler-flags will fly over every street

The dropping of the reference to "barricades" reflected the Nazi Party's desire in the period 1930-33 to be seen as a constitutional political party aiming at taking power by legal means rather than as a revolutionary party.

The line "Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen" is ghastly German, but it was never amended.

After Wessel's death, new stanzas were composed in his honour. These were frequently sung by the SA but did not become part of the official lyrics used on party or state occasions.

Sei mir gegrüßt, Du starbst den Tod der Ehre! Horst Wessel fiel, doch tausend neu erstehen Es braust das Fahnenlied voran dem braunen Heere SA bereit, den Weg ihm nachzugehen Die Fahnen senkt vor Toten, die noch leben Es schwört SA, die Hand zur Faust geballt Einst kommt der Tag, da gibts Vergeltung, kein Vergeben wenn Heil und Sieg durchs Vaterland erschallt

Be saluted, you died the death of honour! Horst Wessel fell, but a thousand new [men] arise. The banner-song blasts forth before the Brown Army, SA prepared to follow him in the path. Lower the flags before the dead who still live. The SA vows, with its hand clenched in a fist, Once the day comes, there will be requital, no forgiveness, when Heil and Sieg ring out throughout the Fatherland.

Use in the German National Anthem of the Nazi era

Upon coming to power, the Nazis merged the first stanza of the German national anthem Deutschlandlied followed by a later version of the Horst-Wessel-Lied. A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany" also known as Das Lied der Deutschen, "The Song of the Germans" has been used wholly or partially as the

Deutschlandlied during the Nazi era

English translation

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt, Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze Brüderlich zusammenhält. Von der Maas bis an die Memel, Von der Etsch bis an den Belt. Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt. Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschieren im Geist in unseren Reihen mit, Die Straße frei den braunen Bataillonen. Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann! Es schaun aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen. Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an! Zum letzten Mal wird nun Sturmalarm geblasen! Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit! Bald flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen. Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt. Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschieren im Geist in unseren Reihen mit.

Germany, Germany above everything, Above everything in the world, When it always for protection and defence, Brotherly sticks together. From the Meuse to the Neman, From the Adige to the Belt. The flag high! The ranks tightly closed! SA marches with a calm, firm pace. Comrades whom Red Front and Reaction shot dead, March in spirit within our ranks. [Make] The street free for the brown battalions; [Make] The street free for the SA man! Already millions are looking to the swastika, full of hope; The day of freedom and bread is dawning. For the last time the storm-call has sounded! We are all prepared for the fight! Soon Hitler-flags will fly over every street. Our servitude will not last much longer now! The flag high! The ranks tightly closed! SA marches with a calm, firm pace. Comrades whom Red Front and Reaction shot dead, March in spirit within our ranks.

Melody

After Wessel's death, he was officially credited with having composed the melody as well as having written the lyrics for the Horst-Wessel-Lied. Between 1930 and 1933, however, German critics disputed this claim, pointing out that the melody had a long prior history. Such criticism became impossible after 1933.

The most likely immediate source for the melody was a song popular in the German Imperial Navy during World War I, which Wessel would no doubt have heard being sung by Navy veterans in the Berlin of the 1920s. The Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial Navy was the German Navy created by the formation of the German Empire. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The song was known either by its opening line as Vorbei, vorbei, sind all die schönen Stunden, or as the Königsberg-Lied, after the German light cruiser Königsberg, which is mentioned in one version of the song's lyrics. The opening stanza of the song is:

Vorbei, vorbei sind all die schönen Stunden die wir verlebt am schönen Ostseestrand Wir hatten uns, ja uns so schön zusamm'n gefunden es war für uns der allerschönste Ort.

Gone, gone are all the happy hours that we spent on the beautiful Baltic shore. Things were so beautiful between us all and it was for us the finest place of all.

The notion, on the other hand, that the melody was used - or even composed - by the French composer Étienne-Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817) in his 1807 opera Joseph (Drame mêlé de chants in three acts to a libretto by Alexandre Duval after Genesis xxxvii–xlvi) is a myth. Etienne Henri (or Nicolas) Méhul ( June 22, 1763 - October 18, 1817) was a French Composer, "the Nowhere in this work is there a melody even remotely similar to the Horst-Wessel-Lied^[1]

The song Der Abenteurer (The Adventurer), believed by some to figure in Méhul's work, begins:

Ich lebte einst im deutschen Vaterlande Bei goldner Freiheit achtzehn Jahr dahin. Da zog die Neubegierde mich zum Strande, Und ich bestieg ein Schiff mit frohem Sinn.

Once I lived in the German fatherland In golden freedom for eighteen years. Then curiosity lured me to the beach And I boarded a ship in cheerfulness.

With the exception of the third line, which is shorter by one syllable than the equivalent line of the Horst-Wessel-Lied, it does indeed fit the tune exactly ^[2], but it has absolutely nothing to do with Méhul's work.

In 1936 a German music critic, Alfred Weidemann, published an article in which he identified the melody of a song composed in 1865 by the Weimar composer Peter Cornelius as the "Urmelodie" (source-melody). Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald, Carl August Peter Cornelius ( 24 December 1824 &ndash 26 October 1874) was a German Composer, Writer According to Weidemann, Cornelius described the tune as a "Viennese folk tune. " This appeared to him to be the ultimate origin of the melody of the Horst-Wessel-Lied. ^[3]

See also the Wikipedia article on Carl Boberg (1859-1940), particularly the note on similarities and dissimilarities between "Horst Wessel Lied" and the Swedish tune O STORE GUD (widely sung as "How Great Thou Art"). Carl Boberg ( 1859 August 16 &ndash 1940 January 17) was a Swedish Poet, Writer, and Legislator best How Great Thou Art is a Christian Hymn written by Carl Gustav Boberg in Sweden in 1885, translated into English by Stuart K

Other uses

During the 1930s and '40s the Horst-Wessel-Lied was adapted for use by fascist groups in other European countries. The anthem of the British Union of Fascists was set to the same tune, and its lyrics were to some extent modelled on the Horst-Wessel-Lied, but appealing to British nationalism rather than German nationalism. The British Union of Fascists (BUF was a Political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by a Labour government minister and former MP Its opening stanza was:

Comrades, the voices of the dead battalions,

Of those who fell, that Britain might be great,

Join in our song, for they still march in spirit with us,

And urge us on, to gain the fascist state!

In Spain, the Falange fascist movement sang to the same tune:

Por el honor, la Patria y la justicia,

luchamos hoy en este amanecer. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. This article is about the Spanish political party For the Lebanese Phalange see the Kataeb Party.

Y si la muerte llega y nos acaricia,

¡Arriba España! Diremos al caer.

While in Vichy France the fascists of the radical Milice sang:

Nous châtierons les juifs et les marxistes,

Nous vengerons nos frères tués par eux,

Afin que l'idéal national-socialiste

Puisse être un jour fier et victorieux

Parodies

Between 1930 and 1933 the German Communists and Social Democrats sang various parodies of the Horst-Wessel-Lied during their street battles with the SA. Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944 The Milice Française ( French Militia) generally called simply Milice (" Militia " was a Paramilitary force Some simply changed the political character of the song, such as:

Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen Rot Front marschiert mit eisenfestem Schritt Genossen, die vom Stahlhelm Hakenkreuz erschossen Marschieren im Geist in unsern Reihen mit

The flag high! The ranks tightly closed! Red Front marches with iron-firm pace. Comrades, shot dead by the Steel Helmet and Swastika March in spirit within our ranks.

The Stahlhelm was a veterans' organisation closely aligned with the Nazis. Stahlhelm (plural Stahlhelme) is German for "steel helmet"

Others substituted completely new lyrics:

Ernst Thälmann ruft uns auf die Barrikaden! Bauer, steh auf! Erheb dich Arbeitsmann Gewehre nehmt! Gewehre gut und scharf geladen! Tragt rote Fahnen hoch im Kampf voran!

Ernst Thälmann calls us to the barricades Farmer arise, workman lift yourself up To arms! Load the guns well with live ammunition Carry high red flags onward into the fight

Ernst Thälmann was the KPD leader. Ernst Thälmann ( April 16, 1886 &ndash August 18, 1944) was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD during much of the The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918

These versions were of course banned once the Nazis came to power and the Communist and Social Democratic parties repressed. But during the years of the Third Reich the song was parodied in various underground versions, most of them poking fun at the corruption of the Nazi elite. One version ran:

Die Preise hoch, die Läden dicht geschlossen Die Not marschiert und wir marschieren mit Frick, Joseph Goebbels, Schirach, Himmler und Genossen Die hungern auch doch nur im Geiste mit

The prices high, the shops tightly closed poverty marches and we march with it Frick, Joseph Goebbels, Schirach, Himmler and Comrades they go hungry as well, but only in spirit

Wilhelm Frick was the Interior Minister. Dr Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 16 October 1946 was a prominent Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. Baldur von Schirach was the Hitler Youth leader. Baldur Benedikt von Schirach ( May 9, 1907 &ndash August 8, 1974) was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a War criminal For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:, Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and police. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the

In the first year of the Nazi regime radical elements of the SA sang their own parody of the song, reflecting their disappointment that the "socialist" element of National Socialism had not been realised^[4]:

Die Preise hoch, Kartelle fest geschlossen Das Kapital marschiert mit leisem Schritt Die Börsianer sind nun Parteigenossen Und für das Kapital sorgt nun Herr Schmitt

The prices high, the Cartels are tightly closed Capital marches with a quiet step The Stockbrokers are now Party Comrades And Capital is now protected by Herr Schmitt

Kurt Schmitt was Economics Minister 1933-35. Kurt Paul Schmitt (7 October 1886 in Heidelberg – 2 November 1950 in Heidelberg) was a German economic leader and the Reich Economy Minister

References

This article is largely based on George Boderick, "The Horst-Wessel-Lied: A Reappraisal," International Folklore Review Vol. 10 (1995): 100-127, available online here

See also

• Nazi songs
• Strafgesetzbuch

External links

• Text and melody (MID format), song (MP3 format)
• Text of the German Criminal Code §86 and §86a (in English)
• AFRIKAKORPS.Org / AANA Songs of the Desert

This article deals with songs that were written for the NSDAP. The Strafgesetzbuch is the name of the German, Swiss, Liechtenstein and Austrian Criminal law.

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