The Horst Wessel Song

Horst Wessel, credited as writing the lyrics of "The Horst Wessel Song".

"The Horst Wessel Song" (German: Horst-Wessel-Lied; pronounced [hɔʁst ˈvɛsl̩ liːt]), also known by its opening words, "Die Fahne hoch" ("The Flag on High"), was the anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945 the Nazis made it a co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of the Deutschlandlied.

History

The lyrics to "The Horst Wessel Song" were written in 1929 by Sturmführer Horst Wessel, the commander of the Nazi paramilitary "Brownshirts" (Sturmabteilung or "SA") in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin. Wessel wrote songs for the SA in conscious imitation of the Communist paramilitary, the Red Front Fighters' League, to provoke them into attacking his troops, and to keep up the spirits of his men.

Horst Wessel

Wessel – the son of a pastor, with a university education but employed as a construction worker – became well-known among the Communists when – on orders from Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Gauleiter (regional party leader) of Berlin – he led a number of SA incursions into the Fischerkiez, an extremely poor Berlin district where Communists mingled with underworld figures. Several of these agitations were only minor altercations, but one took place outside the tavern which the local German Communist Party (KPD) used as its headquarters. As a result of that melee, five Communists were injured, four of them seriously. The Communist newspaper accused the police of letting the Nazis get away, while arresting the injured Communists, while the Nazi newspaper claimed that Wessel had been trying to give a speech when shadowy figures emerged and began the fight. Wessel was marked for death, with his face and address featured on Communist street posters, and the slogan of the KPD and the Red Front Fighters' League became "Strike the fascists wherever you find them."

Wessel took up with an ex-prostitute, Erna Jaenicke, in a room on Grosse Frankfurter Strasse in the house of the widowed Frau Salm, whose husband had been a Communist. When conflicts arose between the couple and the landlady, she appealed to the Communists for help. Shortly thereafter, on 14 January 1930, Wessel was shot by two Communist Party members, one of whom was Albrecht "Ali" Höhler. Seriously wounded, Wessel died in hospital on 23 February from blood poisoning he contracted during his hospitalisation. Höhler was tried in court and sentenced to six years imprisonment for the shooting. Three years later, after the Nazi accession to power in 1933, Höhler was taken out of prison under false pretenses by the SA and executed.

Nazi Party anthem

Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Gauleiter and owner and editor of the newspaper Der Angriff ("The Attack"), had made several attempts to create Nazi martyrs for propaganda purposes, the first being an SA man named Hans-Georg Kütemeyer, whose body was pulled out of a canal the morning after he attended a speech by Hitler at the Sportpalast. Goebbels attempted to spin this into an assassination by Communists, but the overwhelming evidence showed it to have been suicide, and he had to drop the matter. Thus, Goebbels put considerable effort into mythologizing Wessel's story, even as the man lay dying. He met with Wessel's mother, who told him her son's life story, his hope for a "better world", and his attempt to rescue a prostitute he had met on the street. Goebbels saw Wessel as an "idealistic dreamer".

Wessel himself had undergone an operation at St. Joseph's Hospital which stopped his internal bleeding, but the surgeons had been unable to remove the bullet in his cerebellum. Wessel was brought to his mother's home to die. In his diary, Goebbels described Wessel's entire face as being shot up and his features distorted, and claimed that Wessel told him "One has to keep going! I'm happy!" After a period where his condition stabilized, Wessel died on 23 February.

Goebbels consulted with Herman Göring and others in the party on how to respond to Wessel's death. They declared a period of mourning until 12 March, during which party and SA members would avoid amusements and Wessel's name would be invoked at all party meetings. Wessel's unit was renamed the Horst Wessel Storm Unit 5.

From a mashup of fact and fiction, Goebbels created what became one of the Nazi Party's central martyr-figures. He officially declared Wessel's march, renamed as the Horst-Wessel-Lied ("The Horst Wessel Song"), to be the Nazi Party anthem. Wessel's funeral was elaborately staged to be as provocative to the Communists as possible, and the KPD cooperated by staging a counterdemonstration, which resulted in battles outside the cemetery after the funeral. "The Horst Wessel Song" was sung by the SA at the funeral, and was thereafter extensively used at party functions, as well as sung by the SA during street parades.

When Nazi Führer ("leader") Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, "The Horst Wessel Song" became a national symbol by law on 19 May 1933. The following year, a regulation required the right arm be extended and raised in the "Hitler salute" when the (identical) first and fourth verses were sung. Nazi leaders can be seen singing the song at the finale of Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 film Triumph of the Will. Hitler also mandated the tempo at which the song had to be played.

Post World War II

With the end of the Nazi regime in May 1945, "The Horst Wessel Song" was banned. The lyrics and tune are now illegal in Germany, with some limited exceptions. In early 2011, this resulted in a Lower Saxony State Police investigation of Amazon.com and Apple Inc. for offering the song for sale on their websites. Both Apple and Amazon complied with the government's request, and deleted the song from their offerings.

Lyrics

The words to "The Horst Wessel Song" were published in September 1929 in the Nazi Party's Berlin newspaper, Der Angriff, or The Attack, which Joseph Goebbels owned and ran. They were attributed to "Der Unbekannte SA-Mann" ("the Unknown SA-Man"):

Hitler Youth giving the Hitler salute; Germans were required by law to make the salute during the singing of "The Horst Wessel Song"

German original

English translation

Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. Die Straße frei den braunen Batallionen. Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann! Es schau'n aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen. Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an! Es schau'n aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen. Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an! Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm geblasen! Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit! Schon flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen. Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! Schon 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. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit.

The flag on high! The ranks tightly closed! The SA marches with quiet, steady step. Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries March in spirit within our ranks. Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries March in spirit within our ranks. Clear the streets for the brown battalions, Clear the streets for the storm division! Millions are looking upon the swastika full of hope, The day of freedom and of bread dawns! Millions are looking upon the swastika full of hope, The day of freedom and of bread dawns! For the last time, the call to arms is sounded! For the fight, we all stand prepared! Already Hitler's banners fly over all streets. The time of bondage will last but a little while now! Already Hitler's banners fly over all streets. The time of bondage will last but a little while now. The flag on high! The ranks tightly closed! The SA march with quiet, steady step. Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries, March in spirit within our ranks. Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries, March in spirit within our ranks.

The Rotfront, or "Red Front," was the Rotfrontkämpferbund, the paramilitary organization of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA, also known as the "brown shirts") and the Communist Red Front fought each other in violent street confrontations, which grew into almost open warfare after 1930. The "reactionaries" were the conservative political parties and the liberal democratic German government of the Weimar Republic period, which made several unsuccessful attempts to suppress the SA. The "servitude" refers to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, in which the victorious powers imposed huge reparations on Germany, stripped her of her colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Ocean, some of which were mandated to the United States and the Empire of Japan, and gave parts of Germany to Belgium, Denmark, France, Poland, and Lithuania.

The line "Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen" is technically ambiguous. It could either mean Kameraden, die von Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen wurden ("Our comrades who were shot dead by the Red Front and Reactionaries") or Kameraden, welche die Erschießung von Rotfront und Reaktion durchführten ("Our comrades who have shot the Red Front and Reactionaries dead"). In spite of this obvious syntactic problem, which was mentioned by Victor Klemperer in his LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii, the line was never changed. The following line Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. ("March in spirit within our ranks.") however indicates that the aforementioned comrades are deceased, advocating the first interpretation.

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

Stanza 1, line 2	SA marschiert mit mutig-festem Schritt	The storm battalion march with bold, firm step.
	SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt	The stormtroopers march with calm, firm step
Stanza 3, line 1	Zum letzten Mal wird nun Appell geblasen!	The call is sounded for the last time!
	Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm geblasen!	The last sound to charge is blown!
Stanza 3, line 3	Bald flattern Hitlerfahnen über Barrikaden	Soon Hitler's banners will flutter above the barricades
	Schon/ bald flattern Hitler-Fahnen über allen Straßen	Already (Soon) Hitler's banners will flutter above all streets

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.

After Wessel's death, new stanzas were added, 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.

Receive our salute; you died an honorable death! Horst Wessel fell, but thousands newly arise The anthem roars ahead of the brown army The storm-divisions are ready to follow his path. The flags are lowered before the dead who still live The storm-division swears, his hand clenched into a fist, That the day will come for revenge, no forgiveness, When Heil and Sieg will ring through the fatherland.

Melody

After Wessel's death, he was officially credited with having composed the music, as well as having written the lyrics, for "The Horst Wessel Song". Between 1930 and 1933, however, German critics disputed this, pointing out that the melody had a long prior history. "How Great Thou Art" is a well-known hymn with a similar tune for example. Criticism of Horst Wessel as author became unthinkable after 1933, when the Nazi Party took control of Germany and criticism would likely be met with severe punishment.

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 song was known either by its opening line as Vorbei, vorbei, sind all die schönen Stunden, or as the Königsberg-Lied, after the German 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.

Another German song, Der Abenteurer (The Adventurer), 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.

In 1936, a German music critic, Alfred Weidemann, published an article in which he identified the melody of a song composed in 1865 by Peter Cornelius as the "Urmelodie" (source-melody). 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 Song".

Far-right use outside Germany

During the 1930s and 1940s, "The Horst Wessel Song" was adapted by fascist groups in other European countries.

One of the marching songs of the British Union of Fascists was set to the same tune, and its lyrics were to some extent modelled on the song, though appealing to British Fascism. 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. Y si la muerte llega y nos acaricia, ¡Arriba España! Diremos al caer.

For honor, Fatherland, and justice, we fight today in this dawn, And if death comes and embraces us, Onwards Spain! We shall say in falling.

(Note that this was a Traditional Falange march (Movimiento Nacional), and not a march of the original Falange. It was sung by some of the volunteers of the 250th division, the División Azul, after the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera)

In Vichy France the members of the Légion des Volontaires Français 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

We shall smite the Jews and the Marxists, We shall avenge our brothers killed by them, So that the National Socialist ideal Should one day be proud and victorious

In modern Greece, Golden Dawn, an extreme right-wing party, uses "The Horst Wessel Song" with Greek lyrics in its gatherings or events, such as the occasional, public distribution of food "to Greeks only", while its leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, often uses the song's key stanzas (e.g. "The flags on high!") in his speeches.

The lyrics of their version are:

Ζήτω ζήτω η Χρυσή αυγή, ήρθε η ώρα για επανάσταση, αγώνας για μια Ελλάδα ισχυρή, τον προγόνων προστάζει η φωνή, για την σημαία και την φυλή μας, πολεμούμε ολοί μαζί με την ψυχή μας, σαν ένα δόρυ, ζήτω η Χρυσή αυγή

Long live the Golden Dawn Time is come for revolution, Greece is fighting strongly, The ancestral voice is calling along the flag and the race We fight together with our soul like a spear Long lie the Golden Dawn

Parodies

Before 1933, the German Communists and the Social Democrats sang parodies of "The Horst Wessel Song" during their street battles with the SA. Some versions simply changed the political character of the song:

Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen Rotfront marschiert mit eisenfestem Schritt Genossen, die vom Stahlhelm Hakenkreuz erschossen Marschier'n im Geist in uns'ren Reihen mit.

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

The Stahlhelm, or "Steel Helmet," was a nationalist veterans' organisation closely aligned with the German National People's Party.

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.

These versions were banned once the Nazis came to power and the Communist and Social Democratic parties suppressed, but during the years of the Third Reich the song was parodied in underground versions, poking fun at the corruption of the Nazi elite. There are similarities between different texts as underground authors developed them with variations. Below are several versions.

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 their comrades they go hungry as well, but only in spirit

Die Preise hoch die Läden fest geschlossen Die Not marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt. Es hungern nur die kleinen Volksgenossen, Die Großen hungern nur im Geiste mit.

The prices high, the shops are tightly closed Poverty marches with a quiet, firm step. Only the little folk are hungry The bigwigs hunger only in spirit.

Wilhelm Frick was the Interior Minister, Baldur von Schirach was the Hitler Youth leader and Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and police.

Another version was

Die Preise hoch, Die Schnauze fest geschlossen, Hunger marschiert In ruhig festem Schritt Hitler und Göbbels Unsre beiden Volksgenossen, Hungern im Geist Mit uns Proleten mit.

Prices are high, Snouts are firmly closed Hunger marches, In a firm steady step, Hitler and Göbbels, Our two comerades, Starve in spirit, With us from the proletariat.

Im Arbeitsamt Wird SOS geblasen, Zum Stempeln stehn Wir alle Mann bereit. Statt Brot und Arbeit Gibt der Führer uns nur Phrasen, Und wer was sagt, Lebt nur noch kurze Zeit.

In the Unemployment benefits office, SOS is sounded, All we men stand prepared, To register as unemployed, Instead of bread and work The Führer gives us just phrases, Anyone who says anything, Lives but a little while.

Die Straße stinkt Nach braunen Batallionen, Ein Pöstchen winkt Dem Sturmabteilungsmann. Vielleicht verdient als Bonze, Morgen er Millionen, Doch das geht uns 'Nen braunen Scheißdreck an!

The street stinks, From the brown battalions, A cush job winks At the Stormtrooper, Perhaps he's a fat cat, Who will get millions tomorrow, But that just means, Brown fetid dirt to us.

In the first year of Nazi rule, 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:

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 between 1933 and 1935.

One of the best-known parodies was included in Bertolt Brecht's play Schweik in the Second World War (1943). Hanns Eisler composed a score for the "Kälbermarsch" (Calves' March):

Der Metzger ruft. Die Augen fest geschlossen Das Kalb marschiert mit ruhig festem Tritt. Die Kälber, deren Blut im Schlachthof schon geflossen Sie ziehn im Geist in seinen Reihen mit.

The butcher calls! The eyes tightly closed The calf marches with quiet, steady step. Calves whose blood has already been spilt at the slaughterhouse They march in spirit within its ranks.

Following the dismemberment and division of the Reich into occupation zones at the end of the World War II, with the eastern provinces annexed by Poland and the USSR and their millions of inhabitants driven from their homes into what remained of Germany, a version of 'Die Preise hoch' became popular in the Soviet zone, targeting Communist functionaries:

Die Preise hoch die Läden fest geschlossen Die Not marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt. Es hungern nur die kleinen Volksgenossen, Die Großen hungern nur im Geiste mit.

The prices high, the shops are tightly closed Poverty marches with a quiet, firm step. Only the little folk are hungry The bigwigs hunger only in spirit.

The most notable English-language parody was written by Oliver Wallace to a similar melody and titled Der Fuehrer's Face for the 1942 Donald Duck cartoon of the same name. It was the first hit record for Spike Jones. The opening lyrics give the flavor of the song:

When der Fuehrer says we is de master race

We "Heil!" (pffft), "Heil!" (pffft) right in der Fuehrer's face

Not to love der Fuehrer is a great disgrace

So we "Heil!" (pffft), "Heil!" (pffft) right in der Fuehrer's face

Each "Heil!" is followed by a Bronx cheer.

In popular culture

• The melody of the song was used various times in the Wolfenstein series of video games, which feature an Allied agent infiltrating Nazi German installations.
• The song "Avenge Dresden" of Creativitist, white power, anti-communist band RAHOWA quotes the song's melody in a guitar solo between the chorus and the bridge.
• It is also sung by folk singer Ian Read on the song "Brown Book" recorded by Death In June. Because of this, their same-titled 1987 album is banned from sale in Germany.
• The song is featured in the 2003 film Hitler: The Rise of Evil, where it is sung by Sturmabteilung members while parading through a street.
• In the anime Hellsing: Ultimate and in the associated manga, the main antagonist, known only as "The Major", sings this song while on their zeppelin before/while attacking London. This is sung in German in both English and Japanese language versions.
• The New York Youth Symphony, after it discovered that a piece it had commissioned included a 45-second musical quote of the "The Horst Wessel Song", which is banned in Germany, abruptly canceled a Carnegie Hall performance of "Marsh u Nebuttya" (Ukrainian: "March to Oblivion"), a 9-minute piece composed by Estonian-born Jonas Tarm, a 21-year-old junior at the New England Conservatory of Music. The composer would not explain his purpose in using the song in his piece, saying "[I]t can speak for itself", but the symphony said that the usage was not appropriate.
• German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's electronic and concrete work titled, Hymnen includes a sample recording of the Horst Wessel Song. It premiered in Cologne, Germany on 30 November 1967. It was also performed in New York's Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall) and London's English Bach Festival among other international performances. Hymnen was released on the German record label Deutsche Grammophon in 1969.

See also

• Nazi songs
• German laws against modern use of Nazi songs
• "Vorwärts! Vorwärts!"
• "Sturmlied"
• "Lied der Jugend" ("Dollfuß-Lied")
• "Cara al Sol"
• "Maréchal, nous voilà !"

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Boderick, George. "The Horst-Wessel-Lied: A Reappraisal", International Folklore Review Vol. 10 (1995): 100-127.
• Reuth, Ralf Georg and Winston, Krishna (trans.) (1993) Goebbels New York: Harcourt, Brace ISBN 0-15-136076-6 (orig. pub. in German in 1990)

External links

• Text and melody (MID format), song (MP3 format)
• Text of the German Criminal Code §86 and §86a (in English)