GERMAN LYRICS

Auferstanden aus Ruinen und der Zukunft zugewandt, 
laßt uns Dir zum Guten dienen, Deutschland, einig Vaterland. 
Alte Not gilt es zu zwingen, und wir zwingen sie vereint, 
denn es muß uns doch gelingen, daß die Sonne schön wie nie 
über Deutschland scheint, 
über Deutschland scheint. 

Glück und Friede sei beschieden Deutschland, unserm Vaterland. 
Alle Welt sehnt sich nach Frieden, reicht den Völkern eure Hand. 
Wenn wir brüderlich uns einen, schlagen wir des Volkes Feind! 
Laßt das Licht des Friedens scheinen, daß nie eine Mutter mehr ihren Sohn beweint, 
ihren Sohn beweint

Laßt uns pflügen, laßt uns bauen, lernt und schafft wie nie zuvor,
und der eignen Kraft vertrauend, steigt ein frei Geschlecht empor. 
Deutsche Jugend, bestes Streben, unsres Volks in dir vereint, 
wirst du Deutschland neues Leben. 
Und die Sonne schön wie nie über Deutschland scheint, 
über Deutschland scheint.

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Risen from the ruins and turned toward the future,
Let us serve you for the common good, Germany, united Fatherland.
Our task is to overcome old distress, and we shall overcome it together,
and we shall surely succeed, so that the sun, more beautifully than ever before,
shines over Germany,
shines over Germany.

May happiness and peace be granted to Germany,
our Fatherland. 
The whole world longs for peace, extend your hand to all peoples. 
If we unite fraternally, we will defeat the enemy of the People.
Let the light of peace shine, so that a mother never again mourns her son,
mourns her son.

Let us plough, let us build, learn and achieve as never before,
That, trusting in our own strength, a free generation shall arise.
German youth, the best striving of our people united in you,
Will revivify Germany
And the sun, more beautifully than ever before
shall shine over Germany,
shall shine over Germany.


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East Germany
"Auferstanden aus Ruinen" (Risen from Ruins)

Words by:Johannes R. Becher
Music by:Hanns Eisler
In use:1949-1990

After World War Two and the division of Germany, the eastern part of the nation
became a Communist republic and adopted its own anthem to distinguish them from
their western neighbour. This text is not as communist-oriented as several
other communist anthems are, and also references a united Germany, perhaps
because the anthem first started to be in use in the "Russian sector" of
Germany before it was divided into East and West. Starting in 1971, the lyrics,
while still official, were rarely sung at official occassions, perhaps because
the Communist leaders noticed that this anthem does not really fit to their
idea of an East German state.

After the popular revolution in 1989 (the high point of which was the tearing
down of the Berlin Wall), the lyrics came into favour again, and the
"Deutchland einig Vaterland" notion was once again the slogan of East Germany.
The words were once again used poularly until the union of the two Germanys,
and the last East German parliament even attempted to make "Auferstanden aus
Ruinen" the anthem of the united Germany, but this was refused by West Germany.
Therefore, the anthem was official until East and West Germany united again in
1990 into a unified Germany. (In an interesting note, it was discovered after
the fall of the Berlin Wall, when a new anthem for a unified Germany was being
sought, that the words to "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" fit the melody of the
"Deutchlandlied" (the anthem of then-West Germany) perfectly!)

Special thanks to:Ermano Geuer, Jan Scotland, and Pavel Zinovatny for some of
this information.

See also: Germany.
