Little white dove of peace

Soviet postage stamp from 1981 depicting Picasso and his 1949 dove of peace

Little White Dove of Peace is the title of a children's song that is widespread in the German Democratic Republic . It consists of four short stanzas of two verses each. It was mostly sung at school and on special occasions, such as holidays. Text and melody were written in 1948 by kindergarten teacher Erika Schirmer from Nordhausen . She was inspired by the symbol of the dove of peace , which Pablo Picasso had designed as a poster for the Paris World Peace Conference in the same year: A retailer in the destroyed Nordhausen had stuck the motif on a makeshift nailed up shop window.

Text:

1st verse

Little white dove of peace, fly over the country; You are well known to all people, big and small.

2nd stanza

You should fly, dove of peace, tell everyone here that we never want war again, we want peace.

3rd stanza

Fly over great water, over mountain and valley; bring peace to all people, greet them a thousand times.

4th stanza

And we wish you joy and good luck for the trip; little white dove of peace, come back very soon.

Footnotes

↑ Erika Schirmer is to become an honorary citizen of Nordhausen Ostthüringer Zeitung, November 25, 2013.
↑ Art Collection :: ARTIFACT. Retrieved August 14, 2019 .
↑ Peter Fauser : Peace issues and military character. To the political song in the GDR . In: Eckhard John (ed.): The discovery of the socially critical song. On the 100th birthday of Wolfgang Steinitz . Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-8309-1655-0 , p. 97.

[1] Erika Schirmer is to become an honorary citizen of Nordhausen Ostthüringer Zeitung, November 25, 2013.

[2] Art Collection :: ARTIFACT. Retrieved August 14, 2019 .

[3] Peter Fauser : Peace issues and military character. To the political song in the GDR . In: Eckhard John (ed.): The discovery of the socially critical song. On the 100th birthday of Wolfgang Steinitz . Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-8309-1655-0 , p. 97.