The German Question, Part Forty

"Song Of The Germans" (Das Lied der Deutschen)

More and more Germans wanted a true national state; that is, a unified nation,* and they wanted certain basic civil liberties for themselves within that nation. Notice I did not say "all Germans," or even "most Germans." The fact is, no one really knows just how many Germans favored the above goals, since public opinion polls were still in the future, along with the accompanying disputes of opinion polls and, of course, the the term "margin of error." Then again, public opinion polls could not have existed, because the police and military forces were under the total control of the nobility, and that sort of shoots giving an honest opinion in the rear end. One thing is pretty clear however; the nobility wanted the status quo to continue; after all, they controlled the individual German states, and nobles of varying ranks owned most of the land within the German territories. Why would they want anything to change? But things had changed, as gone were the days for most Germans when average citizens were dependent upon their local noble for protection, food, and shelter; that is, the system of "feudalism." In fact, in many ways the situation had reversed, as the ruling nobles needed the support of the populace for the various wars in which they engaged. That public support meant taxes to pay for military operations and soldiers to fill the ranks of the armies.

The German intellectuals provided the boost for the liberal ideas of the American and French revolutions, where individual citizens had basic rights.** The ruling nobles chose to appeal to their subjects' regional loyalties rather than to the idea of a united German nation, as any notion of unification would have threatened a lessening of power for the individual nobles; likewise with any granting of basic rights to citizens, such as freedom of the press, free speech, and a publicly elected representative body. With such freedoms there might actually have been public debate about governing affairs where people could speak their own true beliefs, something that would have undoubtedly scared the crowns right off the heads of their rulers.

One such German intellectual was Hoffmann von Fallersleben. In the late 1790s, composer Joseph Hayden had written music to celebrate the birthday of German Emperor ("Kaiser" in German) Franz II. By 1841, von Fallersleben had written lyrics to this music to inspire Germans to achieve true nationhood. Later, when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, the first verse of the song came to take on the much more sinister meaning of German world domination, something unintended by von Fallersleben and German liberals of the post-Napoleon era. The song, incorrectly known to many non-Germans during the Hitler era simply as "Germany Over All" ("Deutschland Über Alles"), was meant by von Fallersleben to convey the need for Germans to lay aside their regional loyalties and to put "Germany above all" of these feelings and "above all else in the world," so as to unite in a true nation. Von Fallersleben also laid out in that first verse his concept of what the boundaries of that united German nation should be; again something the Nazis later exploited.****  Those boundaries very much tie in with this series on defining "who is a German?"

Von Fallersleben used these following general boundaries as his concept for a united German nation: In the west Fallersleben simply made reference to the Maas River (Meuse more commonly used in English, Maas in both German and Dutch). The Meuse is a big river, much of which lies within modern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and even in Fallersleben's times the area of the Meuse covered territories where French, Flemish and Dutch were overwhelmingly spoken, not German. In his defense, Fallersleben may not have meant ANY of these lands, but rather the small area around the modern Dutch-German border, which seems likely, since Fallersleben was a GERMAN nationalist, not a conquest seeking tyrant. (The "German dialect" in that area is VERY close to Dutch, and people on both sides of the border can understand one another, but remember, Dutch is closely related to German, especially to Low German, which is the basis for the German dialect in that region.)

In the east Fallersleben mentions only the "Memel River" (also known as the Neman/Niemen in other languages). The river lies in what was then the northeastern German territory of Prussia. There was a German majority present, but perhaps with small local Lithuanian majorities in certain rural areas near the Lithuanian border. Other than this mention, Fallersleben ignores other parts of Eastern Europe, which certainly seems to confirm his intention of including German areas, rather than non-German lands ruled or once ruled by Germans, like for instance, Bohemia (Czech majority), or areas where Germans were distinct minorities (like in Hungary).

In the south Fallersleben mentions the "Etsch River" ("Adige" in Italian) which runs through Tirol. In Fallersleben's time, Tirol (sometimes in English written as "Tyrol") was a Habsburg land of Austria, and heavily German in character, although with Italian majorities in some areas, especially in its far southern reaches.

In the north Fallersleben notes "the Belt," which is a group of islands and a strait in the Baltic Sea off the coasts of (modern) Germany and Denmark. Inland lies a territory called Schleswig (Slesvig in Danish), which had a very mixed German and Danish population, and was under Danish rule. Much of the area was German, and the Danes more or less acknowledged that fact, but a few parts were definitely Danish in character. This area will reappear in our story a bit later here.

Fallersleben's song is important because he attempted, however vaguely, to lay out a geographical concept of a modern German nation. His third verse touts his and liberals' basic civil rights of  "justice and freedom for the German Fatherland," which Germans should "strive for fraternally with heart and hand." Further, "unity, justice and freedom are the pledge of good fortune," and finally, "Blossom German Fatherland." These are not the words of some right wing maniac, but the words of a man who wants his country united, and with rights for all.*****

(A Word History is below the notes)

* The existing German Confederation of the post-Napoleon era was not truly a "national" governing system. The individual states were really like independent countries, loosely associated with one another, like in matters of trade, with each state's governing noble being totally in control of his respective state.

** It should not be forgotten that the governing system of England (and later of "Great Britain," when Scotland, Wales, etc were added) had been evolving for centuries, with the king's (or queen's) powers becoming more and more limited; that is, it gradually became a "constitutional monarchy." We Americans sometimes forget that prior to the Revolutionary War, while the American colonists focused their anger at King George III, it was Parliament that approved or initiated many of the laws that riled so many in the colonies.

*** The lyrics were just waiting for the super nationalistic Nazis to later exploit: "Germany, Germany above (or 'over,' as the Nazis saw it) all. Above (Over) everything in the world."

**** Throughout this series I've been gradually showing how some areas separated from "Germany," a term I'm using here in a very broad sense. When Fallersleben wrote his lyrics, he certainly was within the broad bounds of what many people of those times, including many non-Germans, saw as "Germany," since he used a linguistic/ethnic basis for his borders (with some exceptions, see above text), but with large exceptions, like the German part of Switzerland, which he "seems" not to have included. That is not to say that his general boundaries weren't controversial, as they were, since his borders were so general that they left much open to interpretation; thus I said "seems" to have left out the German part of Switzerland. (See above in the main text) All of this seeks to answer "The German Question;" who/what is a German?

***** The third verse in the official national anthem of Germany today. The first verse, having been so perverted by the Nazis, is no longer used, and it has not been used since the end of World War Two.

WORD HISTORY:
Wurst-As in "Bratwurst," was borrowed into English from German in the mid to late 1800s (I found different dates). It is the generic word for "sausage" in German. There is some disagreement about its ancestry, with some linguists feeling it goes back to the Indo European root "wer," which had the notion of "turning, changing," and this then gave Old Germanic "werth," which then gave Old English the now obsolete verb "worth," which means "become" (German has the related "werden," which means "to become"). Now, this makes sense, since sausages are turned and twisted when put into casings to seal them. Another side feels that "wurst" goes back to the similar Indo European root "wers," which meant "confuse, mix up." Of course this also makes sense, since sausage is made by mixing meat with various seasonings. Actually (and this is just my idea here), it may be that "wer" and "wers" are related in Indo European, since when you mix something, you turn it over and over. By the way, "wers" is the ultimate source of our word "war," a "mixed up, or confused state of affairs." What ever the case, Old High German seems to have had "wurst" or "wursti," which then became "worst" is some dialects, before the spelling "wurst" became fixed and carried into modern times in standard German. Related words in other Germanic languages: Dutch and Low German have "worst" and West Frisian has "woarst."