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Zeichner, Jürgen: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit. Zur Rezeptionsgeschichte von Text und Mebdie des Deutschhndsliedes seit 1933. Köln: PapyRossa- Verlag, 1998 (Papy Rossa-Hochschulschriften 76). 247 S., mus. Not., Abb., ISBN 978-3-89438399-2.
National anthems: we underestimate them at our peril. Musicians may deride them, internationalists denounce them, and the majority of the population consistently forget the words, but history points to their almost pathological power. They are not merely one of the most central symbols of any state, but also one of the most fundamental triggers of personal identity and personal enmity in the whole musical arsenal. National anthems are by their nature inextricably connected to the political history of the state in question. Where this history is turbulent, the anthem (s) will also be in a constant state of flux. Where this history is indelibly marked by state-sanctioned crimes against humanity, the anthem of those times will always be guilty by association. How the anthem is dealt with, then, is symptomatic of how the state as a whole approaches this aspect of its past.
The German national anthem is perhaps the most obvious, but by no means the only, example of this. In 1952, Konrad Adenauer proclaimed Hoffmann von Fallersleben's Lied der Deutschen to be the anthem of the new Bundesrepublik Deutschland, for many a highly controversial choice. Sung to the same melody...