Source: http://muhaz.org/das-horst-wessel-lied.html?page=4
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 16:02:55+00:00

Document:
Melodies A and B are identical. The pattern of the phrases is typical of the Lied style. In B bars 2b-3a correspond exactly to the opening and imply a sequential phrase, but 1b-2a and 3b-4a negate this. Bars 4b-6b are characteristically at the highest pitch, and with the final phrase returning to the key note.
It is quite possible to use only the three basic chords of I, IV, and V to harmonise the melody satisfactorily. Bars 3-4 are sequential to bars 1-2, as was implied, but not fully car­ried out in the melody. The final cadence of Ic V I is characteristic of Northern European music from the Baroque period onwards. There is no sense of implied modulation.
The rhythmic structures are very similar, with only a small modification in B. Each phrase begins on an anacrusis, leading to a longer note on the first beat in bars 1, 3, and 7. Bar 5 reflects this but with a dotted note of shorter value. However, bar 5 has greater movement, with a note on each half-beat. Bars 6b-8a return to the original pattern. B uses more dotted rhythms, as in bars 1b, 3b, 5b, and 7b. In Western European tradition these often have a military implication of an heroic nature, cf. Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony (No. 3), Slow Movement - Funeral March.
Official party or state songs can often be the subject of parodies from whatever quarter, es­pecially in times when expectation does not live up to reality. Just like the joke tradition, especially the "dirty" joke or "black humour", and therefore by definition not normally found written down (especially in a dictatorship), parodies would naturally find currency in oral tradition. Here are some examples.
('The pan high, the fat gets ever dearer, hunger approaches at a frightfully serious pace. And Herman Göring, Adolf and buddies, they go hungry with us only in spirit').
A similar version was tape-recorded by myself from Pfarrer Heinrich Nocke (b. 1926) of the Golgotha Gemeinde, Berlin Central, on 3 May 1991. He told me that this was current in his time, particularly towards the end of the war. The parody was recited, not sung.
('The prices high, the shops tightly closed, poverty marches and we march with it. Frick, Joseph Goebbels, Schirach, Himmler and cronies, they go hungry as well, but only in spirit').
('The prices high, the gob is firmly closed, hunger marches calmly at firm pace. Hitler and Goebbels, our two Volksgenossen, go hungry only in spirit with us proles.
At the employment exchange the SOS has rung out, every man Jack of us stands ready to receive our cards stamped. Instead of bread and work the Führer gives us only slo­gans, and whoever says anything lives only a short time.
The street stinks of brown battalions, a mere guard waves to an SA man. Perhaps to­morrow he'll earn millions as a big shot, that brown shite has sod all to do with us').
Another in a similar vein, anonymous and containing four stanzas, appears in Lammel (1980: 198).
Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen!
('The flag high, the ranks tightly closed, SA marches to Russia with Siegheil. Comrades, already shot to bits elsewhere, take no more part in the Blitzkrieg').
('The prices high, the [allied] zones tightly closed, the calories sink step by step. The self same Volksgenossen [Germans] still go hungry, while the others [the allies] go hungry only in spirit').
Under §86a of the StGB (StGB 1991: 975-78), which relates to the Verwenden von Kennzeichen verfassungswidriger Organisationen (‘use of emblems of illegal organiza­tions’) a term of impris­onment of up to three years or a fine can be imposed on him who: (§2) Gegenstände, die derar­tige Kennzeichen [d.h. Fahnen, Abzeichen, Uniformstücke, Parolen, und Grußformen] darstellen oder enthalten zur Verbreitung oder Verwendung in der in Nummer 1 bezeichneten Art und Weise herstellt, vorrätig hält oder in den räum­lichen Geltungsbereich dieses Gesetzes einführt (‘produces, stocks or introduces into the area to which this law applies objects portraying or containing emblems (e.g. flags, badges, uni­forms, slogans, salutes) for dissemination or use in the manner as indicated in No.1 [qv]’). Included in this would be anything that could be associated with the former NSDAP and its apparatus. Schedule 3 makes it clear that Kennzeichen also includes: Lieder: Horst-Wes­sel-Lied BGH MDR 65, 923; Bay NJW 62, 1878, irrespective of what text is put to the melody: so daß ein verfremdeter Text den Tatbestand nicht ausschließt (‘so that an unfamil­iar text does not exclude an offence’) Oldenburg NJW 88, 351 (cf. §3 below).
1. According to the Neue Rhein-Zeitung for 22.07.1954, a seven-man dance band played the HWL melody in the local court building in Regensburg to demonstrate to the presiding magis­trate that the HWL melody note for note was stolen from an old forgotten Volkslied.
The courthouse display was occasioned by an incident that took place during Fasching of that same year at a Fasching ball organized by the league of gymnasts from Wörth an der Donau. At about 2 am at the height of the festivities the band began playing a medley of tunes. Suddenly right in the middle of the dancing an elderly gentleman became livid and lunged at the band shrieking, “That’s the Horst-Wessel-Lied! Stop playing at once! You've surely got enough harm­less pieces to choose from!’ He tried to wrench the instru­ments from them as they stopped in mid tune.
However, he had little support or sympathy from the other party-goers (who feared that the whole proceedings might be called to a halt) and was told to clear off. Had he not done so immedi­ately, according to the report, it would almost certainly have come to blows.
In court the band leader regretted the incident, saying that he had no inten­tion of playing “Die Fahne hoch!”, but the old German Volkslied “Es wollt ein Mann in seine Heimat reisen” (cf. References §3, No. 10). In support of this assertion he called as his main wit­ness an old nursery school teacher who confirmed that she still teaches that song today to the children. The verdict: “Das Horst-Wessel-Lied ist gestohlen - Freispruch” (“the HWL is stolen - acquitted’)(Neue Rhein-Zeitung, Köln, 22.07.1954, in DVA: KiV “Die Fahne hoch!”).
2. In celebration of local successes in shooting at the Seoul Olympics (summer 1988) and in table-tennis at the following olympics for the handi­capped, the town of St. Ingbert, about 20 km west of Saarbrücken, decided to hold a festival supported by sponsorship at which the band of the Volunteer Fire Brigade (playing under the name of “Sperrige Güter”) was invited to play. The festival took place on 8 November 1988, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the “Reichskristallnacht”. The band came on fairly late in the evening, and among the range of tunes played was the HWL melody. The incident occasioned out­rage among many of those present, but ap­plause and calls for an encore from others.
Shortly after the Greens accused the SPD mayor of attempting to hush up the incident by intimi­dating witnesses into silence to avoid embarrassing public­ity. In its defence the Fire Brigade main­tained that the tune was an old Fire Brigade song beginning “Die Leiter hoch, die Füße in die Sprossen...” (‘the ladder aloft, our feet onto the rungs...’), though uncer­tainty over the date of composition (whether before or after the war) was expressed. The Fire Brigade added that it was not to blame if the melody to their song hap­pened to be that also of the Horst-Wessel-Lied. At present the Saarbrücken police are looking into the mat­ter (TAZ 29.11.1988, cf. DVA: KiV “Die Fahne hoch!” F6466).
3. In November of the previous year the Oberlandesgericht in Oldenburg overturned an acquittal verdict given on 5 June 1987 by the Amtsgericht (county court) at Lingen, near Bremen, arguing that the singing of the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" was a punishable offence ir­respective of whatever text was used.
('The pan high, the fried potatoes sizzle away, the calories sink step by step. Only the poor fellow citizens go hungry, the rich only in spirit').
It had reportedly been sung so loud that it could be heard out in the street, whereupon a lady passer-by, a student (thinking that the original text was being sung), sent in a letter about it to a lo­cal newspaper.
The Amtsgericht took the view that any Nazi ideology in the song was respre­sented only in the relevant text. But the Oberlandesgericht argued that, since the song was an SA-Lied, later Party Anthem and after 1933 (part of) the National Anthem, the melody itself was sufficient to symboli­cally represent the period of the Third Reich, irrespective of what text was sung to it. In con­se­quence, as the state has a duty to maintain a peaceable and stable political equilibrium (which could be disturbed by a revival in NS ideas and organiza­tions, etc), the resorting to the use of emblems of whatever sort from that pe­riod had to be avoided. Therefore “Bei dem Absingen des Horst-Wessel-Liedes haben die Angeklagten eine Melodie verwendet, die als Kennzeichen im Sinne des §86a StGB aufzufassen ist” (‘In singing the Horst-Wessel-Lied the accused have used a melody which can be inter­preted as an emblem as defined by §86a of the Criminal Code’). However the three ac­cused were let off, since, although it was proven that each knew the melody they had cho­sen was also that of the HWL, they were ap­parently of the impression (mistaken in the view of the Oberlan­desgericht) that the application of another text to the same tune was not an offence. (cf. Entscheidungen des Amtsgerichts Lingen 19.05. 1988, 7 Da 8 Js 5236/87 (114/87), cf. DVA:KiV “Die Fahne hoch!” F6215; cf. also Nordwest-Zeitung, Oldenburg, No. 265, 13.11.1987; Süddeutsche Zeitung 13.11.87; Hamburger Abendblatt 13.11.1987; cf. DVA:KiV "Die Fahne hoch!" F6043, F6038).
However, it is not an offence to sing the HWL (with original text) in private. In one re­ported case a Staatsanwalt (public prosecutor) from Trier sung the song in September 1984 at a private function in a winebar in Trier-Olwig deliberately to annoy a colleague while making fun of her jewish surname. No action was taken, however, though the Staatsanwalt was suspended from duty for a short while (cf. TAZ 15.12.1987 (DVA:KiV. F5982), 31.10.1988 (DVA:KiV.F6311).
1. During this period the SA-Stürme met under cover-names, either as sports, youth or walking clubs, or in one case as a Bible class. HW's group called itself "Wanderclub Edelweiß" (cf. Wessel,1934: 71) which met at Konditorei Hahmann in Pasteurstr. 15. Here he is alleged to have written his "Edelweißlied" (cf. also Note 17 below), his first Kampflied for the SA (cf. Bajer 1939a/1: 39). It was also during this time that HW had his first dealings with the Berlin HJ (Oertel 1988: 55).
2. It was during his stay in Vienna that HW met Roman Hädelmayr, Gauführer of the Vi­enna HJ and author of the Wiener Jungarbeiterlied "Es pfeift von allen Dächern" which, according to Bajer (1936: 176) and Lauer (1939: 22), HW brought back to Berlin with him and which later became widespread throughout the SA. Other Austrian songs that HW came into contact with at that time, probably through his Corps Nor­mannia membership, seemingly included Max Depolo's "Kaiserjäger-marsch" of 1911 ("Wir Jäger lassen schallen ein froh, gewaltig Lied" - based originally on the student song "Wir Rhaetier lassen schallen ein frohgewaltig Lied" of Johann Georg Obrits 1875 (cf. Kommersbuch:" Die Prager Studenten" - quoted in Depolo 1939: 148)), which HW converted with minor adjustment into his "Kameraden, lasst erschallen ein sturmgewaltig Lied" (cf. SA-Sturmlieder n.d. [ca.1931-32] "Lied des Sturmes 5 Berlin").
3. An analysis of the SA-Lied and its function in the NS movement is to be dealt with elsewhere.
4. According to HW's sister Ingeborg, quoted by Koepp (1933: 668), HW composed DFh in 1927/28, but offers no further information.
5. "Die Fahne hoch!" finds mention in Der Angriff for the following dates at that time: 02.09, 16.09, 23.09 (cf. above), 20.10, 02.11, 10.11, 14.11, 29.12.1929. In addi­tion, according to a police report dated 27.11.1929, the song had been sung in Munich by SA-Standarte I (München), probably as a result of its apparent currency at the Nürnberg NSDAP Parteitage the previous August (cf. §2.1.above), thus making it clear that by the end of 1929 it had achieved currency in Germany outside Berlin. The HWL was seemingly also sung within the Bismarckbund in 1929, almost certainly due to HW's past connections with that organization (cf. Oertel 1988: 107, fn. 301).
6. cf. Singkamerad. München 21934 (quoted by Kurzke 1990: 137, fn. 3). "Die 1. und 4. Strophe dieses neuen deutschen Weiheliedes werden mit erhobenem rechten Arm gesungen" ('The first and fourth stanzas of this new German consecration song are to be sung with raised right arm').
7. Völkische Musik-Erziehung 1940/2: 51.
Öffentlichkeit. Schutz nationaler Symbole und Lieder.
('Public notice. Protection of National Emblems and Songs.
The Reichsminister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda [Goebbels], in con­junction with the Reich Interior Minister, under the repeal of appropriate regulations previously issued from time to time, has enacted a combined and extended police order for the protection of national emblems and songs. Firstly, it requires that the singing and playing of the Deutschlandlied [i.e. National Anthem], the Horst-Wes­sel-Lied and other sacred patriotic songs, either from tradition or content, or Na­tional Socialist Kampflieder is forbidden in places of leisure and bar-restaurants of every kind, as is the case with the playing of traditional army marches for dance purposes, Excepted are occasions by which the context and seriousness of the event give particular reason for singing and playing these songs. These particular regula­tions, enacted a short while ago against the misuse of the Badenweiler March [Hitler's personal march] are not affected by the new order. The aforementioned ban applies also to street musicians. According to the order, it is simultaneously forbidden to misuse the above songs by means of alterations to the text, using the melody for an unfamiliar text or to use a similar melody. The same applies to ren­derings of the Deutschlandlied and Horst-Wessel-Lied in association with other song texts - so-called national medleys').
8. cf. Vertrauliche Mitteilungen der Fachschaft der Reichsschrifttumskammer vom 25.05.1937, (quoted by Oertel 1988: 110, fn. 318).
9. Abschrift aus den Entscheidungen des Reichsgerichtes in Zivilsachen (Bd. 153, Berlin und Leipzig 1937, S. 71-78. Über die zur Schutzfähigkeit nötige Eigenart bei der Bear­beitung volksliedartiger alter Singweisen. Lit. Urh.G.§1. 1. Zivilsenat. Urt. v. 2. Dezember 1936 i. S. Dr. G. als Verwalter im Konkurse des S.-Verlags GmbH (Kl.) w. Kommanditgesellschaft Sch. (Bekl.). 1 332/35. I Landgericht Leipzig. II Ober­landesgericht Dresden.
10. Hartung's assertion (1983: 223) that the HWL originally began "Die Fahnen (pl.) hoch" is, so far as I am aware, nowhere attested.
11. cf. DVA:KiV 3570/LP1275. The only other deviation from the Angriff text is I.1. dicht for fest ; mutig in I.2. (also IV.2.) remains. The renderings in Songbooks 12 and 17 in our sample ( i.e. the songbooks of the Pomeranian SS (1934) and SA (1936)) reflect the postcard text and preserve, probably due to editorial taste, what probably was the fi­nal text before Horst Wessel's death.
12. "nur bei feierlichen Anläßen zu singen" ('only to be sung on festive occasions').
13. a. cf. DVA:KiV. A85 691 "Kurhessisches Archiv, Ippinghausen (Kr. Wolfhagen). Lehrer Kilian Lewalter 23.03.1927". (5 qu. typescript with handwritten staff notation).
b. DVA:KiV.A80987 "Gesungen von 3 jungen Leuten bei Celle, Okt. 1926 ('sung by 3 young people near Celle, Oct. 1926'). Alpers. (4 qu.; photostatt of typescript).
c. DVA:KiV.A219 905 "Dieses Lied wurde vor 1933 von der bündischen Jugend auf Fahrt und im Lager gern als Abschiedslied gesungen" ('this song used to be sung very much as a parting song before 1933 by the "Bündische Jugend" while underway or in camp')(3 qu. handwritten; sent in in 1933 or after).
d. cf. Hagemann 1931: 273 (No. 152) Vorbei, vorbei sind all die schönen Stunden. Mit Noten. 4 st.
g. ibid.: 34 "Entrollt die Fahnen, laßt die Banner wehen". "Weise: Vorbei, vorbei sind all die schönen Stunden..." 4st.
h. cf. Koepp 1933: 668 no title ("Vorbei, vorbei sind all die schönen Stunden") "[...]wie mir eine Blaujacke vom Linienschiff "Hessen" mitteilte[...]" ('...as a sailor from the liner Hessen informed me...') 4st.
('...by the way I must draw your attention to the fact that this melody is a real hurdy-gurdy melody, as we'd say, i.e. that one could hear it played on a barrel-or­gan to all sorts of songs, mostly quite sentimental ones...')(09.05.1969).
('As students we used to sing before 1933 a song called "O Königsberg, die Würfel sind gefallen"...This song could not be sung any more after 1933 and also after the war, because it went to the tune of the Horst-Wessel-Lied') (21.10.1977; DVA:KiV.F4405).
('"Vorbei, vorbei sind all die schönen Stunden" is sung to the tune of the Horst-Wessel-Lied . The regiment at the last moment did not incorporate the song into its repertoire, as, apart from anything else, the Horst-Wessel-Lied melody is only permitted for the HWL itself')( 11.09.1933; DVA:KiV. F004410).
('One time while the German cruiser Königsberg was on manoeuvres a song was com-posed whose melody almost note for note resembles the HWL. This song was sung in Bavaria by soldiers and Freikorps adherents in the local sports schools, in fact long before our Reichskanzler took power. The text runs: "O Königsberg, die Würfel sind gefallen..." ... Some time after Hitler's coming to power, since the HWL was declared [as part of] the National Anthem, it was forbidden to sing the above song for the reason "while it had the same melody as the Horst-Wessel-Lied')(3.11.1938; DVA:KiV.F5338).
I've forgotten the rest') (1936; cf also a similar story 01.09.1933; DVA:KiV. F004416).
15. A survey of Communist and other song books (cf. References §5) printed before1930 reveals no evidence of any version of the text or melody that Wessel could have used. Moßmann/Schleuning's (1978: 314, fn. 9) assertion that DFh stems from a Communist version beginning: "Die Fahne hoch, die Reihen fest geschlossen, Max Hölz marschiert..." is not supported by any evidence, while Kurzke's (1990:143-44, fn. 8) reconstruction therefrom smacks of the fantastic.
16. Examples of tunes common to both Communists and Nazis (as well as others) with almost identical or similar texts suited to their own purposes are abundant (cf. Karbu­sicky 1973: 16ff.).
References in Fahr (ALA D33/6) to "Genossen, die vom Stahlhelm Hakenkreuz er­schossen", (cf. also Fahr (ALA D104)) , and Pöschl (ALA C33) to "Kameraden von der braunen Nazipest ermordet" (versions not containing references to the RFB or An­tifa) may refer to increased SA attacks on Communist and other groupings, particularly after 1929 (cf. Longerich 1989: 93-109).
('On the collar ofour brownshirt we wear the number 5, and whenever it is necessary we are always ready to risk our lives for Germany. Wherever others attack in vain, they enlist the help of Sturm 5').
The metre here recalls the Friedrich Schiller song "Wohlauf, Kameraden, aufs Pferd, aufs Pferd" (1797, with tune by Chr. Zahn, 1797), suggesting that either this or one in a similar metre, and therefore very likely derived from the native folksong tradition, served as a model for the above.
18. cf. Wagner (1933:89) and Lauer 1939:22.
('Horst donated many songs to the SA. Sometimes he varied the texts of soldiers's songs or old workers' songs, whatever suited the Movement's direction of strug­gle') (Wagner 1933: 89).
('We do not know who composed the tune to "Es pfeift von allen Dächern", whether it derived from Hädelmayr or was arranged by him from an older song (a melody from a workers' song, as, for example, Horst Wessel used for his songs)')(Lauer 1939: 22).
No. 6: "Prinz Eugenius, der edle Ritter" --> "Männer, haltet fest zusammen"
No. 24: "Gaudeamus igitur" --> "Den Frack trägt jeder Charlatan" ("Das Lied von der Blouse").
19. I personally have heard (1985-90) "Die Fahne hoch!", as well as other songs of that period, e.g. "Es zittern die morschen Knochen", "Als die gold'ne Abendsonne", "Brüder in Zechen und Gruben", as well as wartime songs (incl. parodies and "dirty" versions), sung on occasion in bars in Mannheim/Heidelberg, usually with some dis­cretion!

References: §86
 §3
 §3
 §86
 §86
 §2
 v. 
 §5