''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.)

''The Watch on the Rhine''

THE WATCH ON THE RHINE

Max Schneckenburger
"This song was little known in Germany till 1870, the year of the outbreak of the Franco-German war. Then it suddenly became the battle-cry of the invading German hosts."

- - - -
A ROAR like thunder strikes the ear,
Like clang of arms or breakers near,
Rush forward for the German Rhine!
Who shields thee, dear beloved Rhine?

CHORUS
Dear Fatherland, thou need'st not fear,
Thy Rhineland watch stands firmly here!
Dear land, dear Fatherland, thou need'st not fear,
Thy watch, thy Rhineland watch stands firmly here!

A hundred thousand hearts beat high,
The flash darts forth from ev'ry eye,
For Teutons brave, inured by toil,
Protect their country's holy soil.

When heavenwards ascends the eye,
Our heroes' ghosts look down from high;
We swear to guard our dear bequest,
And shield it with the German breast.

As long as German blood still flows,
The German sword strikes mighty blows.
The German marksmen take their stand,
No foe shall tread our native land!

We take the pledge, the stream runs high,
Our banners proud are wafting high;
On for the Rhine, the German Rhine!
We all die for our native Rhine.

Hence, Fatherland, be of good cheer,
Thy Rhineland watch stands firmly here!
Dear land, dear Fatherland, thou need'st not fear,
Thy watch, thy Rhineland watch stands firmly here!

1840


-from Poems of the Love of Country (1905).
-German title: Die Wacht am Rhein.

(Photograph shows the Wächtfiguren atop the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig, by Bruno Schmitz. The monument was 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.)