Deutschlandlied

The "Deutschlandlied", officially titled "Das Lied der Deutschen", is a German poem written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben . A popular song which was made for the cause of creating a unified German state, it was adopted in its entirety in 1922 by the Weimar Republic, replacing the de facto anthem "Heil dir im Siegerkranz". The first stanza of "Deutschlandlied" was used alongside the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" during the Nazi regime from 1933 until the end of World War II. On the proclamation of the German Federal Republic, the entirety of the song was still the official anthem, though only the 3rd verse was sung. Since 1991 and the subsequent Reunification of Germany, the third verse is the national anthem, though the 1st and 2nd verses are sometimes performed accidentally.

Its phrase "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ('Unity and Justice and Freedom') is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins.

The music is derived from that of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", composed in 1797 by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn as an anthem for the birthday of Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. In 1841, the German linguist and poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics of "Das Lied der Deutschen" as a new text for that music, counterposing the national unification of Germany to the eulogy of a monarch: lyrics that were considered revolutionary at the time.