Panzerlied (2 Viewers)

[VanguardFC007]

Caught the classic Battle of the Bulge today on AMC and finally saw the end (yeah I was surprised when I saw scenes Id never seen before). But the scene where Hessler is inspecting his new tankers and they start signing is quite impressive.

 

[Scott]

Yeah. Who was that scene for? It made the "nazis" look cool. We used to sing that at drunken campfires back in the Bicentennial.

 

[VanguardFC007]

I did some research and the 2nd and 3rd verses are forbidden to be sung. Neither of them are Nazi-supporting but I guess the German Army has its reasons.

 

[Scott]

Here's clip of the scene from Youtube but the English was been dubbed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EHgT54Vxjs


You might spot the actor Karl-Otto Alberty who was in almost every WW II movie from that time. He is in the Field Gray tank uniform.

We was the tank officer at the end of Kelly's Heroes.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0016793/

 

[Scott]

Here is another clip from Youtube of Korean WW II reeanctors reenacting the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey4WdiFV6mY&feature=related

 

[Scott]

Last but not least the lyrics.....I can't see what's so "Nazi" about them.

Panzerlied Lyrics

http://www.worldwar2aces.com/panzerlied.htm


Whether it storms or snows
Whether the sun shines upon us
The day burning hot
Or the night freezing cold
Dusty are our faces
But happy we are at heart
We're at heart
Our tank roars ahead
Along with the storm wind

With thundering engines
Fast as a lightning bolt
The enemy engaging
Within our armor plates
Come on comrades
In the battle, all alone
We stand all alone
That's how we strike deep
Into the enemy's ranks

When an enemy tank
Appears ahead of us
Full throttle is given
And we close with the foe
What value then is our life
For the army of our nation
Yes army of our nation
For to die for Germany
Is our highest honour

With obstacles and tanks
The enemy blocks our path
We laugh about it
And simply pass them by
And if we are threatened by guns
Hidden in the yellow sand
In the yellow sand
We find ourselves a path
That no one else found

And if we are abandoned
By that unfaithful luck
And if we don't return
To our homeland again
If a bullet strikes us down
If our fate calls upon us
Yes our fate upon us
Then for us the tank will be
An honorable grave



Ob's stürmt oder schneit,
Ob die Sonne uns lacht
Der Tag glühend heiß
Oder eiskalt die Nacht
Bestaubt sind die Gesichter
Doch froh ist unser Sinn
Ist unser Sinn
Es braust unser Panzer
Im Sturmwind dahin

Mit donnernden Motoren
Geschwind wie der Blitz
Dem Feinde entgegen
Im Panzer geschützt
Voraus den Kameraden
Im Kampf steh'n wir allein
Steh'n wir allein
So stoßen wir tief
In die feindlichen Reihn

Wenn vor uns ein feindliches
Heer dann erscheint
Wird Vollgas gegeben
Und ran an den Feind!
Was gilt denn unser Leben
Für unsres Reiches Heer?
Ja Reiches Heer?
Für Deutschland zu sterben
Ist uns höchste Ehr.

Mit Sperren und Minen
Hält der Gegner uns auf
Wir lachen darüber
Und fahren nicht drauf
Und droh'n vor uns Geschütze
Versteckt im gelben Sand
Im gelben Sand
Wir suchen uns Wege
Die keiner sonst fand

Und läßt uns im Stich
Einst das treulose Glück
Und kehren wir nicht mehr
Zur Heimat zurück
Trifft uns die Todeskugel
Ruft uns das Schicksal ab
Ja Schicksal ab
Dann wird uns der Panzer
Ein ehernes Grab.

 

[theBaron]

I did some research and the 2nd and 3rd verses are forbidden to be sung. Neither of them are Nazi-supporting but I guess the German Army has its reasons.

They glorify German militarism. Similarly, no one sings the first verse of "Deutschland über alles", because of the association with the Third Reich, it's the third verse which is now the official anthem of the Federal Republic:

"Unity, justice and freedom/for the German fatherland
Let us all strive for it/brotherly, with heart and hand
Unity, justice and freedom
Depend on fortune
Blossom in the glow of that fortune
Blossom, German fatherland"

And you have to be a German major like me even to know that the song was an anthem in the old Kaiserreich, though not the official anthem, which was Heil, Dir im Siegerkranz (sung to the tune of "God Save the King"/"My Country, 'Tis of Thee").

As a song, set to a melody, it acutally consists of a piece written by Haydn (it is a movement from the "Kaiser Quartet" of 1797), with a poem written by Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841, during the budding national movement that led to the revolutions of 1848. His poem was entitled "Das Lied der Deutschen" ("the Germans' Song") and expressed the repressed hopes for a united national state.

Along with the first verse, which was meant to state that for nationalists striving for a united Germany, Germany must be above all other causes, there is a second verse, extolling the virtues of German wine, German women, German loyalty and German song (of course, the Romans would have had something to say about German loyalty, cf Teutoburger Wald and Arminius-even during the national movement in the 1840's, there were those who still argued for loyalty to the tribe-Bavarians, Swebians, etc, instead of a central nation-state).

In any case, strong nationalism and militancy was bred out of the Germans after the Second World War, and some of the trappings of patriotism or military spirit that we take for granted here in the US, or in other countries, have been suppressed in Germany since the war.

Prost!
Brad

 

[VanguardFC007]

Thanks for the info. Even though most of my heritage is German I know very little about the nation. Some day Ill get around to visiting and fixing that.

 

[theBaron]

Glad to put my degree to some use