Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine

Following Visions of Germany: Bavaria, the PBS network produced a second German-oriented episode in its Vision series, this one titled Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine. Among the fantastic sights that the show highlighted was Burg Hohenzollern, the ancestral castle of the dynasty that ruled Prussia throughout its history:



It also featured the Niederwalddenkmal, topped by the statue of Germania, as well as Burg Eltz, Germany's most magnificent authentic medieval castle.



Visions of Germany: Along the Rhine

Germania

HURRAH, GERMANIA!

Ferdinand Freiligrath

Hurrah! thou lady proud and fair,
      Hurrah! Germania mine!
What fire is in thine eye, as there
      Thou bendest o'er the Rhine!
How in July's full blaze dost thou
      Flash forth thy sword, and go,
With heart elate and knitted brow,
      To strike the invader low!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

No thought hadst thou, so calm and light,
      Of war or battle plain,
But on thy broad fields, waving bright,
      Didst mow the golden grain,
With clashing sickles, wreaths of corn,
      Thy sheaves didst garner in,
When, hark! across the Rhine War's horn
      Breaks through the merry din!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Down sickle then and wreath of wheat
      Amidst the corn were cast,
And, starting fiercely to thy feet,
      Thy heart beat loud and fast;
Then with a shout I heard thee call:
      "Well, since you will, you may!
Up, up, my children, one and all,
      On to the Rhine! Away!"
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

From port to port the summons flew,
      Rang o'er our German wave;
The Oder on her harness drew,
      The Elbe girt on her glaive;
Neckar and Weser swell the tide,
      Main flashes to the sun,
Old feuds, old hates are dashed aside,
      All German men are one!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Suabian and Prussian, hand in hand,
      North, South, one host, one vow!
"What is the German's Fatherland?"
      Who asks that question now?
One soul, one arm, one close-knit frame,
      One will are we today;
Hurrah, Germania! thou proud dame,
      Oh, glorious time, hurrah!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Germania now, let come what may,
      Wll stand unshook through all;
This is our country's festal day;
      Now woe betide thee, Gaul!
Woe worth the hour a robber thrust
      Thy sword into thy hand!
A curse upon him that we must
      Unsheathe our German brand!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

For home and hearth, for wife and child,
      For all loved things that we
Are bound to keep all undefiled
      From foreign ruffianry!
For German right, for German speech,
      For German household ways,
For German homesteads, all and each,
      Strike home through battle's blaze!
            Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
            Hurrah! Germania!

Up, Germans, up, with God! The die
      Clicks loud — we wait the throw!
Oh, who may think without a sigh
      What blood is doom'd to flow?
Yet, look thou up, with fearless heart!
      Thou must, thou shalt prevail!
Great, glorious, free as ne'er thou wert,
      All hail, Germania, hail!
            Hurrah! Victoria!
            Hurrah! Germania!

1870


-trans. Pall Mall Gazette
-German title: Hurra, Germania



Illustrations show the magnificent Niederwalddenkmal (literally, "Lower Forest Monument") along the Rhine (1883), topped with the statue of personified Germania by Johannes Schilling.

''Song of the Fatherland''

SONG OF THE FATHERLAND

Ernst Moritz Arndt

God, who gave iron, purposed ne'er
      That man should be a slave;
Therefore the sabre, sword, and spear
      In his right hand He gave.
Therefore He gave him fiery mood,
      Fierce speech, and free-born breath,
That he might fearlessly the feud
      Maintain through blood and death.

Therefore will we what God did say,
      With honest truth, maintain--
And ne'er a fellow-creature slay,
      A tyrant's pay to gain!
But he shall perish by stroke of brand
      Who fighteth for sin and shame,
And not inherit the German land
      With men of the German name.

O Germany! bright Fatherland!
      O German love so true!
Thou sacred land--thou beauteous land--
      We swear to thee anew!
Outlawed, each knave and coward shall
      The crow and raven feed;
But we will to the battle all--
      Revenge shall be our meed.

Flash forth, flash forth, whatever can,
      To bright and flaming life!
Now, all ye Germans, man for man,
      Forth to the holy strife!
Your hands lift upward to the sky--
      Your hearts shall upward soar--
And man for man let each one cry,
      Our slavery is o'er!

Let sound, let sound, whatever can--
      Trumpet and fife and drum!
This day our sabres, man for man,
      To stain with blood, we come;
With hangman's and with coward's blood,
      O glorious day of ire
That to all Germans soundeth good!--
      Day of our great desire!

Let wave, let wave, whatever can--
      Standard and banner wave!
Here will we purpose, man for man,
      To grace a hero's grave.
Advance, ye brave ranks, hardily--
      Your banners wave on high;
We'll gain us freedom's victory,
      Or freedom's death we'll die!

1813


-trans. H.W. Dulcken
-German title: Vaterlandslied.

(Image shows the Arminius sculpture atop the Hermannsdenkmal near Detmold; photographed by the author during his latest pilgrimage to Germany, in August, 2009.)

Hermann (Arminius)

This half-hour episode of the TLC series Archaeology, titled "Caesar's Nightmare: Battle in the Forest," describes recent archaeological finds at the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 A.D.), in which heroic Germanic tribesmen led by their chief, Hermann (Arminius), annihilated three legions of the Roman Army.

It also features glimpses of the magnificent Hermannsdenkmal (1875) by Ernst von Bandel, near Detmold, which, along with the Völkerschlachtdenkmal and the Kyffhäuserdenkmal, is one of the greatest remaining German Romantic national monuments.

2009 marked the 2,000th anniversary of this battle.

The video is split into three parts. Part one:



Part two:



Part three:

Kyffhäuser Monument (Kyffhäuser-Denkmal)

This 15-minute German-language documentary was filmed on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Kyffhäuserdenkmal, or Kyffhäuser Monument (1896), designed by the great architect Bruno Schmitz. The monument commemorates Kaiser Wilhelm I and the founding of the Second German Reich (or empire).

The video is in two parts. Part one describes the building of the monument and gives some background on its location, which was the site of one of the castles of Kaiser Friedrich I ("Barbarossa") of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Part two gives an in-depth look at the sections of the monument, and the history of the Kyffhäuserdenkmal after its construction.

Unfortunately, the narration is rather disparaging, as is typical of post-WWII guilt-ridden German attitudes towards their noble past. However, the video is still worthwhile for the wonderful footage that it shows of this glorious monument.

Part one:



Part two:



Kyffhäuserdenkmal: Official Site

''The German's Fatherland''

THE GERMAN'S FATHERLAND

Erntz Moritz Arndt

Where is the German Fatherland?
Is't Swabia? is't Prussia's strand?
Is't where the Rhine's green vineyards bloom?
Or where the Baltic sea-gulls roam?
      More grand and free,
The German Fatherland must be,
The German Fatherland must be.

Where is the German Fatherland?
Bavaria, or Styrian land?
'Tis surely Austria's fertile shores,
Rich in the pride of many wars.
      Oh no, more grand,
The limits of the Fatherland,
The limits of the Fatherland.

Where is the German Fatherland?
Pom'rania, Westphalian land?
Is't where the dreary coast-sands lie?
Or where the Danube dashes by?
      Yet still more grand,
The limits of the Fatherland,
The limits of the Fatherland.

Then name to me the mighty land,
Which is the German's Fatherland;
Yet Tyrol may the answer tell,
Its land and people pleased me well.
      Thou hast not spanned
The limits of the Fatherland,
The limits of the Fatherland.

Where is the German Fatherland?
Oh, name to me the mighty land.
Where'er is known the German word,
Where German hymns to God are heard.
      This it shall be,
      This it shall be.
Oh! German, it belongs to thee,
      To none but thee!

All Germany shall be the land;
Watch o'er it, Heav'n, with saving hand,
And give us strength and courage too,
That we may love it well and true.
      This it shall be,
      This it shall be.
      Oh! German, it belongs to thee!
      This it shall be,
All Germany the land shall be.

1813


-trans. C.T. Brooks
-German title: Des deutschen Vaterland.

(Photograph shows the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig, by Bruno Schmitz; erected in 1913 to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon, and the liberation of Germany, by the forces of Prussia and her allies at the Battle of the Nations in 1813.)