Kinderhymne

"Kinderhymne" (Children's Hymn) is a poem by Bertolt Brecht, written in 1950 and set to music by Hanns Eisler in the same year.

History

The hymn was Brecht's response to the "Deutschlandlied", which he believed to be corrupted by the Third Reich and whose third stanza became the national anthem of West Germany in 1950. There are several allusions to the "Deutschlandlied": "From the Meuse to the Memel, / From the Adige to the Belt" vs. Brecht's "From the ocean to the Alps, / From the Oder to the Rhine", or "Germany, Germany above all" vs. "we desire to be not above, and not below other peoples". East Germany already had an anthem by the time Brecht wrote the poem and West Germany was in the process of re-adapting the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied as the national anthem by then – Brecht's writing of the text was a reaction in part to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer having the song played at official functions in 1950.

The verse form and the rhyme scheme are similar to both the "Deutschlandlied" and "Auferstanden aus Ruinen", the national anthem of East Germany. Accordingly, the three lyrics can be combined with the melodies.

In order to create a new all-German national anthem during the German reunification, several public campaigns supported the use of the "Kinderhymne". However, those suggestions were overruled; the hymn remained the same. While the Basic Law of Germany establishes a coat of arms and flag, the constitution is silent on the national anthem. The anthem was decided upon and reconfirmed not by the usual legislative process but by an exchange of open letters between chancellor and president (Konrad Adenauer and Theodor Heuss in the early years of West Germany, and Helmut Kohl writing to Richard von Weizsäcker following reunification). It is therefore unclear which act – if any – could make the children's hymn Germany's national anthem.

Text and music

Note that the English translation is poetic, not literal.

Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe, Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand, dass ein gutes Deutschland blühe wie ein andres gutes Land. Dass die Völker nicht erbleichen wie vor einer Räuberin, sondern ihre Hände reichen uns wie andern Völkern hin. Und nicht über und nicht unter andern Völkern woll'n wir sein von der See bis zu den Alpen, von der Oder bis zum Rhein. Und weil wir dies Land verbessern, lieben und beschirmen wir's. Und das Liebste mag's uns scheinen so wie andern Völkern ihr's.

Grace spare not and spare no labour, passion nor intelligence, that a decent German nation flourish as do other lands. That the people give up flinching at the crimes which we evoke, and hold out their hands in friendship as they do to other folk. Neither over nor yet under other peoples will we be from the Oder to the Rhineland, from the Alps to the North Sea. And because we'll make it better, let us guard and love our home. Love it as our dearest country as the others love their own.[1]

See also

• 1950 in poetry

References

1. Brockmann, Stephen (2006) [1999]. Literature and German Reunification (reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780521027847.

External links

• Text, ingeb.org (in German)
• Kinderlieder: "2. Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe (Kinderlied)" (Hanns Eisler): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Sung by Hanns Eisler on YouTube
• "Kinderhymne", piano and children's choir on YouTube