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"Die Wacht am Rhein" (German:[diːˈvaxtamˈʁaɪn],The Watch on the Rhine) is a German patrioticanthem. The song's origins are rooted in the historicalFrench–German enmity, and it was particularly popular in Germany during theFranco-Prussian War,World War I, andWorld War II. The original poem was written byMax Schneckenburger during theRhine crisis of 1840, and is generally sung to music written byKarl Wilhelm in 1854, seven years after Schneckenburger's death.
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Repeated French efforts to annex theLeft Bank of the Rhine began with the devastatingwars of KingLouis XIV. French forces carried out massivescorched earth campaigns in the German south-west. This policy was fully implemented during theNapoleonic Wars with the creation of theConfederation of the Rhine in 1806–1813. In the two centuries from theThirty Years' War to the final defeat of Napoleon I, the German inhabitants of lands by the Rhine suffered from repeated French invasions.
The defeat and exile of Napoleon gave the Germans some respite, but during theRhine Crisis of 1840,French prime ministerAdolphe Thiers advanced the claim that theUpper andMiddle Rhine River should serve as his country's "natural eastern border". The member states of theGerman Confederation feared that France was resuming her annexationist designs.
Nikolaus Becker responded to these events by writing a poem called "Rheinlied" in which he swore to defend the Rhine. TheSwabian merchantMax Schneckenburger, inspired by the German praise and French opposition this received, then wrote the poem "Die Wacht am Rhein".
In the poem, with five originalstanzas, a "thunderous call" is made for all Germans to rush and defend the German Rhine, to ensure that "no enemy sets his foot on the shore of the Rhine" (4th stanza). Two stanzas with a more specific text were added by others later. Unlike the older "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" which praised a monarch, "Die Wacht am Rhein" and other songs written in this period, such as the "Deutschlandlied" (the third verse of which is Germany's current national anthem) and "Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?" (What is the German's Fatherland?) byErnst Moritz Arndt, called for Germans to unite, to put aside sectionalism, sectarianism, and the rivalries of the various German kingdoms and principalities, to establish a unified German state and defend Germany's territorial integrity.
Schneckenburger worked inRestoration Switzerland, and his poem was first set to music inBern by Swiss organist J. Mendel, and performed bytenorAdolph Methfessel [de] for thePrussian ambassador, von Bunsen. This first version did not become very popular. WhenKarl Wilhelm, musical director of the city ofKrefeld, received the poem in 1854, he produced a musical setting and performed it with hismen's chorus on 11 June, the day of the silver anniversary of the marriage of Prinz Wilhelm von Preussen, later German EmperorWilhelm I. This version gained popularity at laterSängerfest events.
The following is the complete text of the original five verses, plus additions.
| German lyrics | German IPA | Literal translation | Nineteenth-century verse translation[1] |
|---|---|---|---|
Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, | There roars a call like a thunderclap, | A wild cry leaps like thunder roar, | |
| Refrain Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein, | Chorus Dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, | Chorus | |
Durch Hunderttausend zuckt es schnell, | Through a hundred thousand it quickly flickers, | Through countless thousands thrills that cry, | |
Er blickt hinauf in Himmelsau'n, | [ˀeːɐ̯ˈblɪkthɪˈnaʊ̯fˀɪnˈhɪməlsaʊ̯n] | He looks up to the meadows of heaven, | The ghost of many a German Knight |
So lang ein Tropfen Blut noch glüht, | As long as a drop of blood still glows, | So long as we have blood to tun, | |
| Additional stanza inserted between 4th and 5th (also sometimes inserted between the 3rd and 4th stanza) | |||
Und ob mein Herz im Tode bricht, | And if my heart breaks in death, | But if my heart in death be stayed, | |
| 6th stanza | |||
Der Schwur erschallt, die Woge rinnt | The oath rings out, the billow runs, | Flows on thy wave, while spreads our vow, | |
| Additional 7th stanza on war postcards of theFirst World War | |||
So führe uns, du bist bewährt; | So lead us, you are tried and true; | So lead us with your tried command, | |
During theVormärz era and theRevolutions of 1848, aRhine romanticism movement arose, stressing the cultural and historical significance of theRhine Gorge and the German territories on the river's left bank around the cities ofCologne,Worms,Trier andSpeyer.
In response to theEms Dispatch incident, which occurred inBad Ems, not far from the Rhine, France initiated theFranco-Prussian War of 1870/71. When in the aftermath of the subsequent French defeat, the Prussian prime ministerOtto von Bismarck achieved theUnification of Germany and theGerman Empire includingAlsace–Lorraine was established, "Die Wacht am Rhein"—beside "Heil dir im Siegerkranz"—was the unofficial second national anthem.[2] The song became famous, and both the composer and the family of the author were honoured and granted an annual pension by Bismarck.
The song's lyrics also appear on the 1883Niederwald monument located just outsideRüdesheim am Rhein high above the river, epitomising the "guard on the Rhine" itself.
FromWorld War I through to 1945, the "Watch on the Rhine" was one of the most popular songs in Germany, again rivaling the "Deutschlandlied" as thede facto national anthem. InWorld War II, the dailyWehrmachtbericht radio report began with the tune,[3] until it was replaced by the fanfare from Liszt'sLes préludes in 1941.
The song's title was also used as the codename for the German offensive in 1944 known today as theBattle of the Bulge. However, the scenario envisioned in the song – i.e., an enemy approaching the Rhine and seeking to cross it, and patriotic German youths mobilizing en masse to defend the river with their lives – never came about in reality. Due to the German Army's preferred offensive strategy, the fighting in 1870–71, 1914–1918 and 1940 all took place on French soil, far to the west of the Rhine. The same is true also for the German offensive in the 1944Battle of the Bulge – which as noted used "Watch on the Rhine" as its code name, but actually took place away from the river. In 1945Operation Plunder did result in a successful allied crossing of the Rhine, but by then Germany was on the verge of collapse, no longer capable of this kind of mobilization.
Today, the lands along the western bank of the Rhine between Switzerland and the Netherlands are mainly part of Germany. TheSaarland,Rhineland-Palatinate andNorth Rhine-Westphalia are German federal states;Alsace and northernLorraine are parts of France with a German cultural element to them. TheFrench–German enmity was ended in 1963 with theÉlysée Treaty and the implementation of theFranco–German friendship, so that the danger of an invasion that loomed for centuries over both nations no longer exists. The song has only historical significance in Germany, and is rarely sung or played.
The song has figured in stage works and films.
The tune is quoted near the end ofCésar Cui's operaMademoiselle Fifi (composed 1902/1903), set in France during the Franco–Prussian War.
InLewis Milestone's 1930 filmAll Quiet on the Western Front, the song is played at the end of the first scene as schoolboys, whipped into a patriotic frenzy by their instructor, abandon their studies and head off to enlist in the army. It is also heard in the background of the1979 remake version ofAll Quiet on the Western Front when Paul (played byRichard Thomas) is preparing to board the train on his way to the front for the first time.
InJean Renoir's 1937 filmLa Grande Illusion, two songs are juxtaposed in exactly the same way as inCasablanca five years later. In the latter movie, "Die Wacht am Rhein" was sung by German officers, who then were drowned out by exiled French singingLa Marseillaise (which began as the "War Song for theArmy of the Rhine", written and composed at the Rhine).
The song provides the title forLillian Hellman's cautionary pre-World War II playWatch on the Rhine (1941) and the1943 movie based on it.
In the first and second part ofRainer Werner Fassbinder's 1980 epicfilm adaptation ofAlfred Döblin'sBerlin Alexanderplatz (1929), Franz Biberkopf starts singing the song (as in the novel).
InJohn Ringo'sscience fiction novelWatch on the Rhine (2005), cannibal alien hordes landing in France advance towards Germany, and Germans prepare to block them at the Rhine.
In the parodic science fiction filmIron Sky (2012), the Nazis living on the far side of the Moon use the song's tune (with different lyrics) as their national anthem.
InFrançois Ozon's 2016 filmFranz, a portion of the song is sung by several German characters in a bar.
The tune for thealma mater ofYale University, "Bright College Years",[4] was taken from Karl Wilhelm's "Die Wacht am Rhein". New lyrics to the "splendid tune" were written by Henry Durand in 1881.[5]
The tune was used byHotchkiss School inLakeville, Connecticut, for their hymn "Fair Hotchkiss".[6] The tune is used byDoshisha University for its school song, "Doshisha College Song".[7]
Italian poetGiovanni Pascoli also wrote new, patriotic lyrics to the song's tune, titled "La vedetta delle Alpi". They speak about a "guard on theAlps" (Alps play the part of the sacred boundaries, just as the Rhein river does in the original lyrics). The poem bears the subtitle "Twin anthem of the 'Wacht am Rhein'".[8]
At the outbreak of theFirst World War a British song parodying the original"When We've Wound Up the Watch on the Rhine" enjoyed success.
ItalianWikisource has original text related to this article:"La vedetta delle Alpi"
Media related toDie Wacht am Rhein at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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