Clearing Up A Misconception

Recently, the British paper "The Independent" published an article on the World Cup Games in which Germans, waving Israeli flags sang the German National Anthem:

When it came to the national anthem and its opening line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", so often accompanied by uncertainty and shoe-gazing, much of the 65,000-strong crowd rose to their feet and joined in, as did the national team.

Joerg Wolf, writing in Atlantic Review does an excellent job of letting people know that the German National Anthem is the THIRD stanza of a song written in 1841:

"Deutschland über alles" ('Germany above all') is not the national anthem, but the first stanza of the Deutschlandlied (Song of the Germans) written in 1841.

Because the Nazis misused and reinterpreted the first stanza, Germany's national anthem consists now only of the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied, i.e. the crowd was singing "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ('Unity and rule of law and freedom').

In fact, singing the first stanza, "Deutschland über alles", is associated with the Nazis only.

As someone who was born in Germany, and still has strong ties to the wonderful peoples there, and who occasionally disagrees with their foreign policy, I'm glad that Joerg has made the effort to clear up the misconception. It is a great article, go read it all, drop Joerg a note or a comment and tell him GM sent you.