Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 8:03am

Die Wacht am Rhein

Something for the weekend.  Die Wacht am Rhein (The Watch on the Rhine.)  A patriotic song popular in Germany in the 19th and first half of the 20th century.

 

 

The rendition most familiar to American audiences:

 

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Tom Byrne
Tom Byrne
Saturday, July 7, AD 2018 9:34am

There is an historical irony in that “song duel” between the French and the Germans. La Marseillaise was written by French soldiers preparing to defend against a feared German invasion across the Rhine in the 1790s, while Die Wacht am Rhein was written by German university students fearing a French invasion in the 1840s. France long had its own “Drang each Often” to annex all territory west fo the Rhine, much of it originally German-speaking. Even if we agree the sides were in no way moral equals, rivalry was well mixed in with righteousness in both world wars.

Tom Byrne
Tom Byrne
Saturday, July 7, AD 2018 11:20am

“Drang nach Osten”. Pardon.

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