Children's Hymn

Children's Hymn is the English name of a poem by Bertolt Brecht, Kinderhymne, 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".

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 Children's Hymn. However, those suggestions were overruled; the hymn remained the same.

Lyrics

Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe, Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand, Dass ein gutes Deutschland blühe Wie ein andres gutes Land.	Grace spare not and spare no labour, Passion nor intelligence That a decent German nation Flourish as do other lands.
Dass die Völker nicht erbleichen Wie vor einer Räuberin, Sondern ihre Hände reichen Uns wie andern Völkern hin.	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.
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.	Neither over nor yet under Other peoples will we be From the Oder to the Rhineland From the Alps to the North Sea.
Und weil wir dies Land verbessern, Lieben und beschirmen wir's. Und das Liebste mag's uns scheinen So wie andern Völkern ihr's.	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] ^ Brockmann, Stephen (1999). Literature and German Reunification. Cambridge University Press. p. 14.

See also

• 1950 in poetry

Notes

External links

• Text (German)
• "Kinderhymne" on YouTube