German national anthem and the World Cup

The German football machine triumphed again, winning the World Cup in Brazil, 1-0 over Argentina, now having won 4 World Cups. As always, the German national anthem is sung, sort of, by the players:

Many people are confused when they hear the Germans sing their anthem, as they expect to hear “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles.” What you hear is in fact the third stanza beginning with “Einignkeit und Recht und Freiheit/für das Deutsches Vaterland,” which is the hardly ignoble sentiment of “Equality, justice, and freedom for the German fatherland.”

If you want to hear all three verses and get an idea of what the lyrics are really about (a call to German unity in the days before unification in 1870), here’s a decent translation in the subtitles:

The tune itself is a hymn written by none other than Franz Josef Haydn, an Austrian, in the 18^th Cenutry. It still appears in the Episcopal hymnal.

Here’s a popular version of the first verse from “Pan Am” that I rather like, even though the singer does not exactly sound echt Deutsch, at least to my ear:

Finally, you should be aware that many songs in German that are assumed to be Nazi or fascist in origin are actually rather older, 19^th century patriotic songs, not unlike “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” (itself stolen from a Protestant, anti-Catholic tune celebrating King William of Orange’s victory over the forces of King James II in Ireland in 1691 called “The Banks of the Boyne {River]”). For example, the song that the Nazis are singing in “Casablanca” when Viktor Lazlo strides across the floor of Rick’s Café Americain and leads the band in the Marseillaise is “Wacht am Rhein,” one of these types of songs. Here’s the full version of it, with translations in English and Chinese. Ah, globalization!