National anthems are meant to make everyone feel included, which is why Austria and Canada tweaked parts excluding women. But some lines between tradition and modern society are harder to cross than others. Not all countries are ready to take the gender-neutral plunge, fearing the political risks too great in an era of bitterly divided politics.
Recently Kristin Rose-Moehring, the German Family Ministry official responsible for gender equality, proposed two changes to the lyrics of the national anthem — the last remaining verse of August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben's Deutschlandlied, written in 1841 to Joseph Haydn's earlier hymn to Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.
Germans have used the combination of lyrics and music since 1922, and they've had to change the words more than once as they made history and then tried to come to terms with it. The first verse, which put "Germany, Germany above all," was the only one used by the Nazis. It fell away because of its specific, outdated territorial claims. The second verse, glorifying "German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song," seemed like a bad place to start the anthem. So, since 1991, only the third verse, focusing on "unity, right and freedom," has been sung and protected by law. In those 10 lines, Rose-Moehring suggested replacing "Vaterland" ("Fatherland") with "Heimatland" ("homeland") and "bruederlich" (brotherly) with "couragiert" (mettlesome), which would change the meaning while maintaining the meter. It's as easy to sing as the current version, and in any case, it's Haydn's music that's the masterpiece, not Hoffman's somewhat naive text that has already been mostly discarded.
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