Horst-Wessel-Lied - Parodies

Parodies

Before 1933, the German Communists and the Social Democrats sang parodies of the Horst-Wessel-Lied during their street battles with the SA. Some versions simply changed the political character of the song:

Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen
Rotfront marschiert mit eisenfestem Schritt
Genossen, die vom Stahlhelm Hakenkreuz erschossen
Marschier'n im Geist in uns'ren Reihen mit.
The flag high! The ranks tightly closed!
Red Front marches with iron-firm pace.
Comrades, shot dead by the Steel Helmet Swastika
March in spirit in our ranks.

The Stahlhelm, or "Steel Helmet," was a nationalist veterans' organisation closely aligned with the German National People's Party.

Others substituted completely new lyrics:

Ernst Thälmann ruft uns auf die Barrikaden!
Bauer, steh auf! Erheb dich, Arbeitsmann
Gewehre nehmt! Gewehre gut und scharf geladen!
Tragt rote Fahnen hoch im Kampf voran!
Ernst Thälmann calls us to the barricades
Farmer arise, workman lift yourself up
To arms! Load the guns well with live ammunition
Carry high red flags onward into the fight

Ernst Thälmann was the KPD leader.

These versions were banned once the Nazis came to power and the Communist and Social Democratic parties repressed, but during the years of the Third Reich the song was parodied in underground versions, poking fun at the corruption of the Nazi elite. One version went:

Die Preise hoch, die Läden dicht geschlossen
Die Not marschiert und wir marschieren mit
Frick, Joseph Goebbels, Schirach, Himmler und Genossen
Die hungern auch doch nur im Geiste mit
The prices high, the shops tightly closed
poverty marches and we march with it
Frick, Joseph Goebbels, Schirach, Himmler and their comrades
they go hungry as well, but only in spirit

Wilhelm Frick was the Interior Minister, Baldur von Schirach was the Hitler Youth leader and Heinrich Himmler was head of the SS and police.

In the first year of Nazi rule, radical elements of the SA sang their own parody of the song, reflecting their disappointment that the socialist element of National Socialism had not been realised:

Die Preise hoch, Kartelle fest geschlossen
Das Kapital marschiert mit leisem Schritt.
Die Börsianer sind nun Parteigenossen
Und für das Kapital sorgt nun Herr Schmitt.
The prices high, the cartels are tightly closed
Capital marches with a quiet step.
The stockbrokers are now party comrades
And capital is now protected by Herr Schmitt.

Kurt Schmitt was Economics Minister between 1933 and 1935.

Following the dismemberment and division of the Reich into occupation zones at the end of the World War II, with the eastern provinces annexed by Poland and the USSR and their millions of inhabitants driven from their homes into what remained of Germany, a version of 'Die Preise hoch' became popular in the Soviet zone, targeting Communist functionaries:

Die Preise hoch die Läden fest geschlossen
Die Not marschiert mit ruhig-festem Schritt.
Es hungern nur die kleinen Volksgenossen,
Die Großen hungern nur im Geiste mit.
The prices high, the shops are tightly closed
Poverty marches with a quiet, firm step.
Only the little folk are hungry
The bigwigs hunger only in spirit.
Komm, Wilhelm Pieck, sei unser Gast
Und gib, was du uns versprochen hast.
Nicht nur Rüben, Kraut und Kohl
Sondern was du isst, und Herr Grotewohl.
Come Wilhelm Pieck and be our guest
And give to us what you promised us.
Not just cabbage, kale and beet,
But what you and Herr Grotewohl eat.

Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Grotewohl were leading German communists. The first two lines refer to a mealtime prayer: "Komm, Herr Jesus, sei Du unser Gast, und segne, was Du uns bescheret hast." / "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and bless what you have given us."

The most famous parody was composed by Oliver Wallace to a similar melody and titled Der Fuehrer's Face for the 1942 Donald Duck cartoon of the same name. It was the first hit record for Spike Jones.

Read more about this topic:  Horst-Wessel-Lied

Famous quotes containing the word parodies:

    “The parody is the last refuge of the frustrated writer. Parodies are what you write when you are associate editor of the Harvard Lampoon. The greater the work of literature, the easier the parody. The step up from writing parodies is writing on the wall above the urinal.”
    —Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)