Die Wacht am Rhein
A poor drug clerk wrote "Die Wacht am Rhein," which was to Germany what the "Marseillaise" was to France. A judicious estimate of the melody of this National Hymn places it as the most majestic of national airs. Its first measure mounts up familiarly like the melody of the Star Spangled Banner but less directly and more gracefully, covering its periods with more of a marked adagio movement, strong, full, and complete in the chorus-—a marvel of melody as it is the very crown of patriotic song.
The "Borders of the Rhine" are always safe to the Fatherland so long as German tongue can voice its noble measures. It finds its antithesis in the Marseillaise, each taken as the expression of national characteristics, — France, Germany, as distinguishing as cloud bank and granite cliff, or lightning and roll of thunder. Taking it all in all, words and music, Germans regarded the Wacht am Rhein as the most nearly perfect national hymn that has thus far been written.
In the spring of 1840, reports appeared in the French gazettes, according to which the French Government was considering claiming the Rhine to its mouth as a frontier. In the following weeks, a tense mood developed, which also appealed to artists and writers. The poet Max Schneckenburger (1819-1949) published in the same year the poem "The Watch on the Rhine, for which he is still famous today. It was later successfully set to music with a melody by the Krefeld choir conductor Karl Wilhelm for male choirs.
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Es braust ein Ruf wie Donnerhall, wie Schwertgeklirr und Wogenprall: Zum Rhein, zum Rhein, zum deutschen Rhein, wer will des Stromes Hüter sein? The cry resounds like thunder's peal, Like crashing waves and clang of steel: The Rhine, the Rhine, our German Rhine, Who will defend our stream, divine? |
Performed for the silver wedding of the later Emperor Wilhelm I, the song quickly found its way into the repertoire of the singing societies and became an unofficial anthem during the German-French War of 1870/71. The Franco-Prussian war made it more popular than ever, for it became the marching song of the victorious Teuton troops.
The humble apothecary's clerk, who lived in obscurity and died without dreaming of the posthumous honor that would attach to his name, was Max Schneckenburger. Max Schneckenburger, who wrote the words, was a native of Thalheim, Wurttemberg. He wrote the poem in 1840, when he was working as an apothecary's assistant in Berne, Switzerland. At that time there was much talk of war between France and Prussia and German song writers were turning out anthems by the score. "Die Wacht am Rhein" was lost in this mass of patriotic hymns and attracted little attention.
Schneckenburger died in 1849 and his passing attracted no attention. His song remained, however, and the beauty and power of "Die Wacht am Rhein" attracted the attention of Carl Wilhelm, a composer of little note, who made a living as a liedertafel leader. Wilhelm composed music for Schneckenburger's song, and it was first performed in public in 1854 as a part of the musical program of the celebration of the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary of the Prussian crown prince, afterward Emperor William I.
After this "Die Wacht am Rhein" again lapsed into obscurity for a decade, only to be revived by the League of German singers in Dresden in 1865. Carl Wilhelm, the composer of the music, died in 1873, shortly after the imperial government had granted him a pension of 3,000 marks per year. Wilhelm lived to hear the song shouted by a multitude of marching men, but poor Schneckenburger was denied all knowledge of the greatness of his work.
One of the Versailles Treaty requirements in 1919 was that the Rhineland would be occupied by allied troops for at least 15 years. This was something that especially the French desired, as during the 1870 war and Great War the German armies quickly reached France. The reason for a demilitarised Rhineland was that it would form a buffer between France and Germany in case of any future conflicts.
The medal Die Wacht Am Rhein!! (The Watch on the Rhine!!), by Karl Goetz, Germany, 1921 was created to the post-war occupation of the Rhine territory by black colonial French troops, probably intended to humiliate Germany. Obverse bust right of an African soldier with exaggerated features wearing a French helmet facing right. The legend above translates as "The Watch on the Rhine." Dated 1920 to the back of the neck. Below: LIBERTE/ EGALITE/ FRATERNE/TE. On the reverse, a slumped naked figure of Lorelei is tied to a tree in the form of an erect penis capped by a French helmet; before her, a lyre with broken strings; above, an eye watching from a radiate triangle; around, text reads: 'DIE SCHWARZE SCHANDE' (the Black Dishonor). The pyramid with an allseeing eye in a triangle is an old christian symbol for the three-unit God, but was also used by the free masons.
On this medal, Goetz protested against the use of black colonial French troops in order to occupy the Rhine territory, and their alleged sexual excesses. Rumors of rapes and sexual excesses circulated (although these fears were shown to be unfounded, and rapes exceptional rather than common).
This is the song that the Nazis are singing around Sam's piano in Rick's Café Americain. Even though in the film it is treated as if it was the Nazi Party Anthem song, it is not. Neither is it the German National Anthem.
The Battle of the Bulge started on 16 December 1944, and was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), by the German forces. The goal of the German offensive was to capture the harbor at Antwerp, and split the Allied forces in half. The Battle of the Bulge started on December 16, and was called Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein ("Operation Watch on the Rhine"), by the German forces. The goal of the German offensive was to capture the harbor at Antwerp, and split the Allied forces in half.
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