When everyone becomes unfaithful
“ If everyone becomes unfaithful, we will remain loyal ” is the opening line of a German folk and student song by Max von Schenkendorf from 1814.
history
Schenkendorf provided the song with the dedication “Renewed oath to the Jahn , because of the holy German empire”. An impetus came from the sacred song of the same name by Novalis (printed in 1802). The melody was taken from Pour aller à la chasse faut être matineux ( if you want to hunt, you have to get up early), a French hunting song from 1724, in a slightly modified form . It has remained popular thanks to the drinking song The old Teutons sat on both banks of the Rhine .
Theodor Fontane quotes the song in his novel Before the Storm and refers to Novalis.
Since 1923, there has also been a version with a tune that was borrowed from the Dutch national anthem (the Wilhelmus ).
During the Nazi era , the song was used as a "loyalty song" by the Schutzstaffel (SS). In the SS songbook it was listed "after the Deutschlandlied and the Horst-Wessel-Lied [...] exposed in third place". The version in the SS songbook largely corresponds to Schenkendorf's text, with the third stanza omitted. According to the historian Karsten Wilke, loyalty within the SS was exaggerated as the “most important virtue”, which is also reproduced in the motto My honor means loyalty . In the Federal Republic of Germany, the song was used internally and publicly by the mutual aid community of members of the former Waffen-SS (HIAG).
During the Nazi era, however, the song also expressed resistance to the regime. Heinrich Böll reports in his memoirs that when all are unfaithful he started with a friend out of resistance to the Horst Wessel song sung by the Hitler Youth - and got into trouble because of it.
text
Holy songs. VI.
(Novalis)
If all are unfaithful,
I will remain true to you;
That gratitude on earth is
not extinct.
Suffering enveloped you
for me , Passed away in pain for me;
That's why I give you
this heart with joy forever.
Often I have to cry bitterly
that you have died,
and that some of your people
forget you for life.
Only imbued with love
Have you done so much,
And yet you faded away,
And nobody thinks about it.
You stand full of true love
Still with everyone,
And if you have none,
You still remain true;
The most faithful love wins, in the
end one feels it,
weeps bitterly and hugs
your knee like a child.
I felt you,
O! do not leave me;
Let me
be intimately connected with you forever.
One day
my brothers will look
skywards again,
And fall down lovingly,
And fall on your heart.
Renewed oath, to the Jahn, because of the holy German empire.
After Max von Schenkendorf. 1814.
If everyone is unfaithful, we will remain loyal:
That there should still be a flag for you on earth,
you teachers of German youth, you images of better times,
you consecrated us to man's virtue , to the death of love.
Never want to leave us, always be close to us:
Faithful, like the German oaks, like moon and sunshine!
One day it will be bright again in all the brothers' minds:
Then they return to the source in love and repentance.
The heroes of this period have probably struggled,
And now the victory has succeeded, Satan practices new cunning!
But
no matter how it turns out in life: You should not make us out of date, O dream of glory.
You stars! be witnesses to us who calmly look down;
When all brothers keep silent and trust false idols:
"We don't want to break the word and boys will be the same, want to
preach and speak of the holy German Empire!"
Renewed oath. Because of the Heil. German Empire. - To Jahn.
After Max von Schenkendorf. Text version around 1900.
If everyone is unfaithful,
we will remain true to the fact
that there is still
a flag for you on earth .
Companions of our youth,
you pictures of better times,
which
consecrated us to male virtue and love death.
Never want to leave
us, always be close to us,
loyal like the German oaks,
like moon and sunshine!
One day it will be bright again,
in the spirit of all brothers,
they turn to the source
in love and repentance.
The
heroes of this period have struggled ,
and now the victory has succeeded,
Satan is practicing new cunning.
But
whatever the time may be in life,
you should not make us out of date,
O dream of glory.
You stars are witnesses to us who look
down calmly
when all the brothers are silent
and trust false idols:
We don't want to break the word
and boys become alike,
want to preach and speak
of the emperor and the kingdom!
The following different versions exist for the last line:
- from the holy German empire (or: from the holy German empire)
- from our Austria
- of God's kingdom of heaven.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 192 (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010).
- ↑ Karsten Wilke: The mutual aid community (HIAG) 1950–1990. Veterans of the Waffen SS in the Federal Republic . Schöningh, Paderborn / Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77235-0 , p. 194 (also dissertation, Bielefeld University, 2010).
- ^ Heinrich Böll: Works . Ed .: Árpád Bernáth. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2006, p. 431 .
- ↑ In: Musen-Almanach for the year 1802. Edited by AW Schlegel and L. Tieck. Tübingen 1802, p. 200ff. ( Digitized version )
- ^ Freye Voices of Fresh Youth. By Adolf Ludwig Follen. Jena 1819, p. 41. ( Google ); see: song book of the German people. Leipzig 1843, p. 280 ( Google )
- ^ Text version by Friedrich Silcher and Friedrich Erk in Schauenburg's General German Kommersbuch . 55th-58th Edition, Moritz Schauenburg, Lahr [o. J.] [around 1900], p. 112. ( Wikisource )