"Kinderhymne" (Children's Hymn) is a poem by Bertolt Brecht, written in 1950 and set to music by Hanns Eisler in the same year.

History

The hymn was Brecht's response to the "Deutschlandlied", which he believed to be corrupted by the Third Reich and whose third stanza became the national anthem of West Germany in 1950. There are several allusions to the "Deutschlandlied": "From the Meuse to the Memel, / From the Adige to the Belt" vs. Brecht's "From the ocean to the Alps, / From the Oder to the Rhine", or "Germany, Germany above all" vs. "we desire to be not above, and not below other peoples". East Germany already had an anthem by the time Brecht wrote the poem and West Germany was in the process of re-adapting the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied as the national anthem by then – Brecht's writing of the text was a reaction in part to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer having the song played at official functions in 1950.

The verse form and the rhyme scheme are similar to both the "Deutschlandlied" and "Auferstanden aus Ruinen", the national anthem of East Germany. Accordingly, the three lyrics can be combined with the melodies.

In order to create a new all-German national anthem during the German reunification, several public campaigns supported the use of the "Kinderhymne". However, those suggestions were overruled; the hymn remained the same. While the Basic Law of Germany establishes a coat of arms and flag, the constitution is silent on the national anthem. The anthem was decided upon and reconfirmed not by the usual legislative process but by an exchange of open letters between chancellor and president (Konrad Adenauer and Theodor Heuss in the early years of West Germany, and Helmut Kohl writing to Richard von Weizsäcker following reunification). It is therefore unclear which act – if any – could make the children's hymn Germany's national anthem.

Text

Note that the English translation is poetic, not literal.

Translation

Grace do not spare nor labour, Nor passion nor reason, That a good Germany may flourish Like another good country.

That the nations may not turn pale As in front of a robber, But reach out their hands To us like to other peoples.

And neither above and nor below Other peoples we want to be From the sea to the Alps, From the Oder to the Rhine.

And because we improve this land, We love and protect it. And the dearest may it seem to us As to other peoples theirs.