“Deutschlandlied” (In a literal translation: “Song of Germany”) officially titled “Das Lied der Deutschen” (In a literal translation: “The Song of the Germans”) was the national anthem of the Third Reich, from 1933 to 1945. During the Third Reich, the first verse of the song's lyrics was used as a national anthem, always followed by Horst-Wessel-Lied - the Nazi Party (NSDAP) anthem, which is now banned in Germany. After the end of World War II and the sharing of Germany among the Allies (1949), the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) adopted “Auferstanden aus Ruinen” as its national anthem, while the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) did not immediately have a national anthem. Finally, in 1952, “Deutschlandlied” was recognized as the West German national anthem. In an exchange of correspondence between the first Federal President, Theodor Heuss, and the Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, it was established that “at official ceremonies, the third stanza will be sung”. The first stanza should be avoided because it contains the verses “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles/Über alles in der Welt!” (“Germany, Germany above everything/Above all else in the world!”) which could refer to the belief in Germanic superiority, and what would be unforgivable, in the midst of denazification - which makes no sense, since the stanza was created even before Hitler came to power. “I want war, for me all means will be right. My motto is not - No, whatever you do, annoy the enemy - My motto is - Destroy him by any and all means - Because, I am the one who will fight the war!” — Adolf Hitler Lyrics in ?? Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt! Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze, Brüderlich zusammenhält! Von der Maas bis an die Memel! Von der Etsch bis an den Belt! Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt! Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang! Sollen in der Welt behalten Ihren alten schönen Klang! Uns zu edler Tat begeistern Unser ganzes Leben lang! Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang! Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Für das deutsche Vaterland! Danach lasst uns alle streben Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand! Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Sind des Glückes Unterpfand! Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes, Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!

Horst-Wessel-Lied (in translation: "Song of Horst Wessel") also known by its opening words "Die Fahne hoch" (in translation: "Raise the flag!") was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of the "Deutschlandlied". The lyrics to "Horst-Wessel-Lied" were written in 1929 by Sturmführer, Horst Wessel, the commander of the Nazi paramilitary "Braunhemden" ("Sturmabteilung" or "SA") in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin. Wessel wrote songs for the SA in conscious imitation of the Communist paramilitary, the Roter Frontkämpferbund (RFB), to provoke them into attacking his troops, and to keep up the spirits of his men. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Gauleiter and owner and editor of the newspaper Der Angriff (The Attack), had made several attempts to create Nazi martyrs for propaganda purposes, the first being an SA man named Hans-Georg Kütemeyer, whose body was pulled out of a canal the morning after he attended a speech by Hitler at the Sportpalast. Goebbels attempted to spin this into an assassination by Communists, but the overwhelming evidence showed it to have been suicide, and he had to drop the matter. Thus, Goebbels put considerable effort into mythologizing Wessel's story, even as the man lay dying. He met with Wessel's mother, who told him her son's life story, his hope for a "better world", and his attempt to rescue a prostitute he had met on the street. Goebbels saw Wessel as an "idealistic dreamer". Wessel himself had undergone an operation at St. Joseph's Hospital which stopped his internal bleeding, but the surgeons had been unable to remove the bullet in his cerebellum. Wessel was brought to his mother's home to die. In his diary, Goebbels described Wessel's entire face as being shot up and his features distorted, and claimed that Wessel told him "One has to keep going! I'm happy!" After a period where his condition stabilized, Wessel died on 23 February. When Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" became a national symbol by law on 19 May 1933. The following year, a regulation required the right arm be extended and raised in the "Hitlergruß" when the (identical) first and fourth verses were sung. Nazi leaders can be seen singing the song at the finale of Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 film Triumph of the Will. Hitler also mandated the tempo at which the song had to be played. Some Nazis were extremely sensitive about the uses to which the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" was put. For instance, a bandleader, who wrote a jazz version of the song was forced to leave Germany, and when Martha Dodd, the daughter of William E. Dodd, at the time the US ambassador to Germany, played a recording of an unusual arrangement of the song at her birthday party at the Ambassador's residence in 1933, a young Nazi who was a liaison between the German Foreign Ministry and Hitler's Chancellery, turned off the record player, announcing "This is not the sort of music to be played for mixed gatherings and in a flippant manner." The song was played in some Protestant places of worship, as some elements of the Protestant Church in Germany had accepted the Horst Wessel cult, built as it was by Goebbels on the model of Christian martyrs of the past. With the end of the Nazi regime, in May 1945, the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" was banned in Germany and Austria. Lyrics in ?? Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt, Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit! Die Straße frei den braunen Bataillonen! Die Straße frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann! Es schau'n aufs Hakenkreuz voll Hoffnung schon Millionen, Der Tag für Freiheit und für Brot bricht an! Zum letzten Mal, wird Sturmalarm geblasen! Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit! Schon flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen, Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! Translation in ?? Raise the flag! The ranks are tightly closed! The SA marches with a calm, steady step, Comrades, shot by the Red Front and the Reactionaries, March in spirit, within our ranks! Open to the streets, for the brown battalions! Open to the streets, for the mens of the Sturmabteilung! Millions are already looking at the swastika, full of hope, The day of freedom and bread is dawning! For the last time, the alarm for war's sounded! We're all ready to fight! Soon Hitler's flags will be flying, all over the streets, The times of bondage will won't last much will longer!