Challenge: 'Auferstanden aus Ruinen' as OTL unified Germany anthem

iVC

Donor
Hello guys.

I've just read in the Wiki article that there was a slight possibility of DDR hymne to be adopted as national anthem of the unified Germany: https://archive.md/20190427232132/h...nden-aus-ruinen-in-nationalhymne_aid-12653725

East German Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière had proposed that Becher's lyrics should be used as the united German national anthem, but this was rejected by his West German counterpart, chancellor Helmut Kohl.

So, because of the lyrics and music are both quite cool, here is the challenge.

With after the 1953 POD, make it happen: East Germany still crumbles somehow, unification process is still dominated by West Germany, but old 'Das Lied der Deutschen' has no use as the united Germany anthem - Germany leaders have to select 'Auferstanden aus Ruinen' as the new national symbol.

Maybe out of respect, maybe out of political correctness, maybe due to 'Deutschlandlied' being stained in blood... It's up to you.

 
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Even though the lyrics are not specifically Communist (and because of their reference to a united Germany eventually became unacceptable in the GDR) the fact remains that Becher was a Communist and his lyrics were designed for the SED-state. This would make it practically impossible for them to become part of a non-Communist Germany's national anthem.
 
Lets assume Stalin was serious about allowing a unified, neutral Germany as he wrote in his famous Note in 1952. That remains Soviet policy even after his death. Taft beats Ike for the GOP nomination in 1952 and is elected President. He is OK with a neutral Germany. Negotiations begin in 1953. France and England object but, as in the Suez crisis, it really doesn't matter.

Oh, and have Kurt Schumacher become West Germany's first Chancellor in 1949. His SPD favored a neutral, united Germany in those days.

Negotiations take until 1954 at least but both the US (under President whoever succeeded Taft) and the USSR (under a relatively moderate leadership) are determined to reach an agreement.

Finally, given the higher socialist sentiment in West Germany, the Bundestag signs off on the new national anthem to make a real break with Germany's disastrous past.

Edit: I think I violated your parameters. Sorry about that! But I also think there would need to be major geo-political changes early on to make this idea conceivable.
 
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I think it's impossible for Auferstanden aus Ruinen to emerge as a unified Germany's national anthem under the dominance of West Germany, at least with the lyrics and the melody remaining the same. But what's cool is that the verse form and rhyme scheme of the "Deutschlandlied" and "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" are nearly the same. Both lyrics can be combined with both melodies.
So maybe there could be a way to get a compromise, for example the Deutschlandlied being sung to the GDR melody.

What's even cooler is that German poet Bertolt Brecht once composed the so-called "Children's Hymn" as a response to the Deutschlandlied which he thought was corrupted through the Third Reich. The Children's Hymn has in my opinion the most perfect text for a German anthem ever - perhaps too perfect for our imperfect world -, and as it is written as a response to the Deutschlandlied, it can also be sung to the GDR melody. Being a German, the Children's Hymn lyrics plus the GDR melody would be my favourite combination.

By the way: Only recently, Prime Minister of Thuringia Bodo Ramelow expressed his distaste for our current anthem, but most other politicians and newspapers didn't respond very positively.
 
I discussed the Kinderhymne here a couple of times:

***

There is a poem by Brecht which might have been intended as an alternate candidate for GDR national anthem. Though probably not, because Becher's was officially commissioned; nevertheless it at least shows what Brecht thought a national anthem should be. It was published as "Kinderhymne" but in the typescript the title was just "Hymne" (anthem). Like Becher's lyrics, Brecht's were set to music by Eisler, but also fit Haydn's music that was used for "Deutschland über Alles." Brecht's anthem is clearly intended as a counter to "Deutschland über Alles"--note the third stanza.

Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe
Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand
Daß ein gutes Deutschland blühe
Wie ein andres gutes Land.

Daß die Völker nicht erbleichen
Wie vor einer Räuberin
Sondern ihre Hände reichen
Uns wie andern Völkern hin.

Und nicht über und nicht unter
Allen Völkern wolln wir sein
Von der See bis zu den Alpen
Von der Oder bis zum Rhein.

Und weil wir dies Land verbessern
Lieben und beschirmen wir's
Und das liebste mag's uns scheinen
So wie andern Völkern ihrs

The translation in Brecht's *Poems 1913-1956* (edited by John Willett) is as follows:

Grace spare not and spare no labor
Passion nor intelligence
That a decent German nation
Flourish as do other lands.

That the people give up flinching
At the crimes which we evoke
And hold out their hand in friendship
As they do to other folk.

Neither over nor yet under
Other peoples will we be
From the Oder to the Rhineland
From the Alps to the North Sea.

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.

(Some people actually did suggest this as the new German national anthem at the time of reunification, but of course they did not prevail...)
 

iVC

Donor
That remains Soviet policy even after his death. Taft beats Ike for the GOP nomination in 1952 and is elected President. He is OK with a neutral Germany. Negotiations begin in 1953. France and England object but, as in the Suez crisis, it really doesn't matter.

Oh, and have Kurt Schumacher become West Germany's first Chancellor in 1949.

Sounds good. I think it's possible to imagine some kind of detente after Stalin's death and, therefore, a renewed attempt to forge a giant neutral ground in the middle of Europe: the unified neutral Germany (plus neutral Austria).
 

iVC

Donor
What's even cooler is that German poet Bertolt Brecht once composed the so-called "Children's Hymn" as a response to the Deutschlandlied

Great! I'm myself a fan of Brecht's plays, but I rarely heard about Kinderhymne, so I've almost forgot about it.
 
Hello guys.

I've just read in the Wiki article that there was a slight possibility of DDR hymne to be adopted as national anthem of the unified Germany: https://archive.md/20190427232132/h...nden-aus-ruinen-in-nationalhymne_aid-12653725

East German Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière had proposed that Becher's lyrics should be used as the united German national anthem, but this was rejected by his West German counterpart, chancellor Helmut Kohl.
As part of the national anthem. The idea of de Maizière, and other East German politicians later*, was to add the Auferstanden aus Ruinen lyrics, sung to the Haydn (FRG anthem) tune instead of the Eisler (GDR anthem) one, as a second** stanza to the FRG anthem. No one ever suggested Auferstanden aus Ruinen as the full text of the post-reunification FRG anthem, neither did anyone seriously suggest keeping the Eisler tune.

As for how to get at least this... best bet would be someone significantly more wary of reunification-as-annexation in charge in the FRG in 1990. Lafontaine maybe. But Lafontaine was afraid of opening up the East German markets to West German capital because he felt that it would tank the East German economy (which it actually did IOTL) and would therefore have supported a slower approach to integration, meaning no reunification at all in 1990. As to what happens next... my guess is he loses reelection in 1991 due to popular anger over "SPD squandering the once-in-a-lifetime chance to reunification" and we're getting reunification-as-annexation and the OTL FRG hymn in 1992. The USSR being already gone changes things in the 2+4 talks, but probably not in a direction the anti-annexation crowd would like.

* Ramelow's recent proposal was for adopting the Kinderhymne, not Auferstanden aus Ruinen, though.
** Note on the general stanza confusion: The FRG anthem as per 2019 has only one stanza, which is the third stanza of the Fallersleben poem Das Lied der Deutschen.
 
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