Music and Lyrics by Carl Wilhelm and Max Schneckenburger

 

Translation of the above
Now thunders forth the call once more,
Like clash of arms and waters' roar:
The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine!
Ho! who will help to guard that line?
Dear land of ours, no fear be thine,
Stanch stands and true the watch, the watch on the Rhine!

Additional German Lyrics

Durch hunderttausend zuckt es schnell
und aller Augen blitzen hell,
der Deutsche, bieder, fromm und stark,
beschützt die heil'ge Landesmark.

Er blickt hinauf in Himmels Au'n
da Heldenväter niederschau'n,
und schwört mit stolzer Kampfeslust,
du Rhein bleibst deutsch wie meine Brust!

So lang ein Tropfen Glut noch glüht,
noch eine Faust den Degen zieht
und noch ein Arm die Büchse spannt,
betritt kein Feind hier deinen Strand!

Der Schwur erschallt, die Woge rinnt,
die Fahnen flattern hoch im Wind
am Rhein, am Rhein, am Deutschen Rhein,
Wir alle wollen Hüter sein!
Die Wacht Am Rhein: This is the song that the Nazis are singing around Sam's piano in Rick's Café Americain. Even though in the film it is treated as if it was the Nazi Party Anthem song, it is not. Neither is it the German National Anthem. It is an old patriotic song every German knows dating back to the Franco-Prussian War in the 19th century. The music was written by Carl Wilhelm.
Das Horst Wessel Lied: This was the Nazi Party Anthem from 1930 to 1945. During the Third Reich it was made into the co-national anthem of Germany. It's lyrics were written by Horst Wessel, a district leader of the Sturmabteilung or SA. He was assasinated in 1930 by members of the German Communist Party (KPD). With his death Horst Wessel became a martyr for the Nazi cause, and his song was made official by the Nazi Party. The melody probably dates back to a World War I German Imperial Navy song.
 Das Lied der Deutschen: This is Germany's National Anthem. The melody comes from the old austrian imperial anthem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" ("God Save Franz the Emperor") by Franz Joseph Haydn. The composer's melody was combined with lyrics by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben to create this composition. After the unification of Germany only the third verse is used.

 

 Click on the Yale University Bulldog on the left, in order to find out about the "Die Wacht am Rhein" Yale University Connection.

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