© Tobias SchwarzSoccer fans sing the national anthem.
The equality commissioner at the Family Ministry, Kristin Rose-Moehring, has called for the lyrics of Germany's national anthem to become more inclusive, German media reported Sunday, citing her letter sent to the ministry employees. Rose-Moehring reportedly wants to replace 'Vaterland' (Fatherland) with 'Heimatland' (Homeland), and replace the line 'brotherly with heart and hand' to 'courageous with heart and hand.'
"Why don't we change our national anthem, the Deutschlandlied?" the commissioner reportedly wrote. "It wouldn't hurt, would it? And it fits with the new federal ministry for interior, construction and homeland." The proposal came as the Social Democrats members announced they backed the coalition with Angela Merkel's CDU party, clearing the way for a new government.
In the meantime, rewording the lyrics didn't seem like an urgent task to some politicians. "I could think of other topics that would be more important to women than changing the national anthem," the CDU leader in Rhineland-Palatinate, Julia Klockner, tweeted.
Gotz Fromming of the right-wing AfD party called the proposal "presumptuous and uncultured.""One cannot and should not simply change poetry," he tweeted.
In the letter, Rose-Moehring referred to the example of neighboring Austria, which changed its anthem in 2012. In place of just "sons," the lyrics now read "sons and daughters," and "jubilant choirs" instead of "fraternal choirs."
Most recently, 'O Canada' had a makeover after the Canadian Senate approved to amend the line: "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command."
The German anthem lyrics, authored by poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and adopted in 1922, were cut down to the third stanza only after WWII and the end of Nazi rule. While the original first stanza opened with the now-infamous line "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" (Germany above all), the second began with praise to German wine and women. The remaining, somewhat more tame bit, praises unity, justice and freedom.
Reader Comments
... ooooo poor Mr Peterson ...
For the English anthem we just change the words to King/Queen - Him/her as required for whichever overlord we want God to protect
Lets hope none of our future monarchs starts getting personal pronoun sensitive
"Equality gets a bit tricky when you start with a presumption of "Deutschland über alles"
Well...
"The music is the hymn "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", written in 1797 by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn as an anthem for the birthday of Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" as a new text for that music, counterposing the national unification of Germany to the eulogy of a monarch, lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.The song is also well known by the beginning and refrain of the first stanza, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" ("Germany, Germany above all else"), but this has never been its title. The line "Germany, Germany above all else" meant that the most important goal of 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries should be a unified Germany which would overcome loyalties to the local kingdoms, principalities, duchies and palatines (Kleinstaaterei) of then-fragmented Germany. Along with the flag of Germany, it was one of the symbols of the March Revolution of 1848. In order to endorse its republican and liberal tradition, the song was chosen as the national anthem of Germany in 1922, during the Weimar Republic. West Germany adopted the "Deutschlandlied" as its official national anthem in 1952 for similar reasons, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions. Upon German reunification in 1990, only the third stanza was confirmed as the national anthem."
Just had a little listen to the Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles - [Link]