Südwesterlied

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Badge of the German Boy Scout Association Namibia with a schematic representation of the thorny acacia wood in the triangle symbol

The Südwesterlied (or hard as camel thorn wood ) is a song originally written for the German scouts of South West Africa . Due to its great popularity, it became the group-specific anthem of the German Namibians .

Emergence

In 1935, in the former colony of German South West Africa , which at the time was South West Africa under mandate administration by the South African Union , the Boy Scout Association "German Scouts of South West Africa" ​​was newly founded. The predecessor had united with the Hitler Youth and was then banned.

The Südwesterlied was written in 1937 by Heinz Anton Klein-Werner (1912–1981), who immigrated to South West Africa two years earlier, as a touring song for the Tsumeber scouts and still serves as the anthem of the German Boy Scout Association in Namibia. At that time, Klein-Werner lived in Maltahöhe .

The melody comes from the Luiska song, which became known as the Panzerlied during World War II with a different text .

The camel thorn tree is represented in the Südwesterlied as a symbol of German South West Africa .

content

The lyrics are divided into three stanzas of four lines each. There is also a four-line refrain that is sung after each verse.

In the first stanza the former colony of German South West Africa is described as "hard as camel thornwood". The wood of the camel thorn tree is very hard or firm, which characterizes life in the deserts in the south-west of Africa. The landscape of the former South West Africa is further described by its dry rivers . The words “cliffs” and “bush” that are typical for the landscape in Namibia are also used.

The second stanza is written in the we form. The lyrical I says that it loves the country in spite of all difficulties (“Despite everything, we won't let you”). This love is justified by the fact that the sun, which shines very often in the desert landscape of Namibia, "outshines worries".

The third stanza is written in the you form. It is described that anyone who sets foot in the country and has "burned the sun in the heart [...]" no longer wants to leave South West Africa.

The refrain confirms the song's statement that “the inhabitants” of South West Africa love “their” country despite the difficult living conditions. After the first two stanzas this is said with the words “We love southwest”, in the third stanza, which is written in the you form, the person changes in the chorus too, so that the singing is: “You could only say: I love Southwest!"

reception

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The Südwesterlied can be considered a "cultural anthem". Even if the song was written for the Germans in South West Africa, there are no references to the state of Germany . The Südwesterlied refers to the culture of the Germans, but not to a state, which is why a "cultural patriotism" can be assumed here. This identity-creating approach is a substitute for the closeness to origin, which the German residents of South West Africa lack. That is why the demarcation is made from Germany, the country of origin, and one's own cultural identity comes to the fore. The name of the former colony was "German South West Africa". In the Südwesterlied, the term "German" is also left out here. Instead, the chorus only says: "We love the southwest!"

In the refrain there is another indication of the split from the Germans in the country of origin. There is no answer to the possible question “What is holding you tight here?” Only the confession “We love the Southwest!” The third stanza provides an explanation. It says that love for the Southwest cannot be explained objectively. An outsider can only understand this love if he himself travels to the southwest.

Since Namibia's independence in 1990, the song has mainly been sung at Boy Scout events and in private settings. It is seldom played on public occasions, for example as part of the German tour of the Swakopmund men's choir for its 110th anniversary. Heino also sang this song during his performances in Namibia between 2013 and 2017.

The song was recorded by the South African singer Gé Korsten, among others .

literature

  • Gerhard Gellrich: The Southwestern song "As hard as camel thorn wood" - origin and variants. In: African home calendar . Born in 1986, Windhoek 1985, pp. 105–114.
  • Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber: The dependent gentlemen. German identity in Namibia. Lit, Münster 1993, p. 109 f.
  • Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber: "Walking on the pad". Travel into nature as a way of ethnicising German Namibians. In: Rolf Wilhelm Brednich , Annette Schneider, Ute Werner (eds.): Nature - Culture. Folklore perspectives on people and the environment. Waxmann, Münster et al. 2001, pp. 189–196, here p. 191 .
  • Irmgard Schreiber: The song of the "Land of the Brave". The making of the Namibian national anthem. In: Klaus Hess, Klaus Becker (Eds.): Vom Schutzgebiet bis Namibia 2000. Göttingen, Windhoek 2002, p. 134 ff., Here p. 134 f.
  • Henning Melber : Southwest. In: Jürgen Zimmerer (Ed.): No place in the sun. Places of remembrance of German colonial history. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2013, pp. 68–80, here pp. 68 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd G. Längin: The German colonies. Locations and fates 1884–1918 . Ed .: Inge Mellenthin. Special edition. ES Mittler & Sohn GmbH, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-8132-0854-0 , p. 145 .
  2. ^ Golf Dornseif, Manfred Rauschenberger: German scouts in the former German South West Africa. Association of Scouts eV, Association of German Philatelists , accessed on May 7, 2017 .
  3. ^ A b Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, Jürgen Zimmerer: No place in the sun: places of remembrance of German colonial history . Ed .: Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, Jürgen Zimmerer. Campus-Verlag , 2013, ISBN 978-3-593-39811-2 , pp. 524 .
  4. ↑ Mhloniswa Dlamini: Acacia erioloba E. Mey . South African National Biodiversity Institute, at www.plantzafrica.com (English)
  5. ^ Heinz Anton Klein-Werner: Das Südwesterlied - www.Namibier.de. Reinhardt Kock, www.namibier.de, accessed on May 10, 2017 .
  6. ^ Leszek Jaworowski: The former colony of German South West Africa: Cultural and linguistic relics of German in Namibia . Diplomica Verlag , 2014, ISBN 978-3-95850-651-0 , p. 65 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ Südwesterlied with announcement . In: Allgemeine Zeitung . January 25, 2017 ( com.na [accessed May 21, 2017]).