What is "Nazi" about Germany's national flag and national anthem?
A brief dive into history
"Nazi" has become a common insult in Germany, used to denigrate political dissidents. Very few people seem to be aware of the trivialization of the historical role models that this implies. Meanwhile, the insignia of today's Germany are also associated with the "Third Reich".
The event
It happened towards the end of January on the Alter Markt in the city of Stralsund on the Baltic Sea: around 1000 people demonstrated that evening "against the political right". The rally was entitled "Defending democracy". A man spontaneously climbs onto the stage. He says into the microphone that he is missing one flag among all the colourful flags: the black, red and gold flag. The national colours of Germany. A few “boo!”s ring out from the audience. The man - a teacher, as he later says himself - adds: "And perhaps we could have sung another song... ‘Unity and justice and freedom’. You all know it." But nobody wants to sing the national anthem. On the contrary. "I sh... on Germany!" and "Nazis out!", yell angry ones of the crowd. The organiser snatches the microphone from the teacher and two police officers take the man away.
So: "Black-Red-Gold" + German national anthem = Nazi. Apparently that's the calculation of these callers. As I can't ask them how they came up with this equation, I take a different approach and look into history: What do Germany’s national flag and Germany’s national anthem have to do with the Nazis?
National flag
Let's start with the national flag: Its history begins with a group of students. Some of them had fought in the wars of liberation against Napoleon in 1815, wearing black uniforms with red piping and gold-coloured buttons. To demonstrate their cohesion to the outside world, they then founded the "Jenaer Urburschenschaft" (Primal fraternity). Their symbol: a black and red flag with golden decorations. When the revolution began in 1848, the three colours became a symbol of national unity and civic freedom. In reference to the French "tricolore", the revolutionaries referred to the flag as the "tricolour".
The first German parliament, the Frankfurt National Assembly, was decorated in "black, red and gold". In the German Empire that followed, the colours were replaced by "black-white-red" as the national colours from 1871. It was not until the Weimar Republic that "black, red and gold" became Germany's flag again. Right-wing nationalists and National Socialists mocked the flag as "black-red-mustard”. After 1933, the Nazi regime quickly removed all traces of the hated republican national colours and reintroduced the imperial national colours "black-white-red" - alongside the swastika flag, which completely replaced the old flag from 1935.
After the Second World War, both German states adorned themselves with the flag of the Weimar Republic and the legacy of the 1848 revolution, although the German Democratic Republik, GDR, or “East Germany” added the hammer and compass to the centre in 1959 to distinguish itself from the Federal Republic of Germany, or “West Germany”.
So what does Germany’s national flag have to do with the Nazis? My conclusion is: nothing at all.
National anthem
And the national anthem? The German poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics in 1841. At the time, France was making territorial claims to the German Rhineland - and von Fallersleben aimed to invoke national cohesion in his song lyrics. It was not until 1922, during the Weimar Republic, that “Das Lied der Deutschen” (The Song of the Germans), or Deutschlandlied (Song of Germany) for short, with its three verses, was adopted as the national anthem.
Adolf Hitler only had the first verse sung during his "Third Reich":
Germany, Germany above all
Above all in the world
When it always, for protection and defence
Brotherly stands together.
From the Meuse to the Neman
From the Adige to the Little Belt,
Germany, Germany above all
Above all in the world.1st verse Song of Germany
This verse was always followed by the socalled Horst Wessel Song. The lyrics to this song were written somewhere between 1927 and 1929 by “Sturmführer” Horst Wessel, the commander of the Nazi paramilitary "Brownshirts", der “Sturmabteilung or SA. The song became the National Socialist party anthem:
Flag, high!
The ranks tightly closed!
The SA marches with calm, steady step.
...
Clear the streets,
for the brown battalions,
Clear the streets
for the Storm Division man!
Millions are looking upon
the hooked-cross full of hope.
...
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!Horst-Wessel-Song
After the Second World War, the Horst Wessel Song was banned. The first verse of the Song of Germany, which was associated with Hitler's claim to power over other nations, became taboo. Should Germany give itself a new national anthem? The temporary vacuum was filled creatively, as diplomatic protocol required a national anthem. For example, at a German-Belgian football match in the city of Cologne, the carnival song "Wir sind die Eingeborenen von Trizonesien" (We are the natives of Trizonesia) was played after the Belgian anthem (an allusion to the three western occupation zones). As late as 1953, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had to put up with being greeted with another popular song "Heidewitzka, Herr Kapitän" (Hey you , Mister Captain) during his first state visit to Chicago. Adenauer was extremely embarrassed by both. He decided that the Song of the Germanx should remain, but only the third verse should be sung officially. Today it is regarded as Germany's national anthem:
Unity and Justice and Freedom
For the German Fatherland!
After these let us all strive
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and Justice and Freedom
Are the security of happiness –
Bloom in the splendour of this happiness,
Bloom, German Fatherland!3rd verse Song of Germany
In 2018, Kristin Rose-Möhring, Gender Equality Officer at the Ministry of Family Affairs, caused another brief stir when she suggested formulating the lyrics of the song in a gender-neutral way to mark International Women's Day. So "homeland" instead of "fatherland" and "courageous" instead of "fraternal". In Austria and Canada, the national anthems have indeed been rewritten. In Germany, they decided against it. However, unlike the national colours, the anthem is still not enshrined in the “Grundgesetz” (Basic Law), the German “constitution”.
Conclusion
So - back to my initial question - what does Germany’s national anthem, i.e. the third verse of the Song of Germany, have to do with the Nazis? The answer is simple. And the same as with the German national flag: nothing at all. Apparently, those currently demonstrating in favour of democracy and "against the political right" know just as much about both the flag and the anthem: nothing. Just like those players on the German national soccer team who prefer to remain silent instead of singing along to the national anthem in the stadium at kick-off. But who, on the other hand, demonstratively tied a rainbow armband around their upper arm at the 2023 World Cup in Qatar. History. Water under the bridge? Ditto "just" ignorance? Or what motives guide (or tempt) these footballers and supposed defenders of democracy to so vehemently reject the insignia of their country? Perhaps even to despise them. Or to hate them?
This text was first published in German on my website
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