Children's Hymn

The children Anthem ( Grace sparet not bother yet) is a poem by Bertolt Brecht, which wrote this in 1950 and the first time the magazine published the meaning and form in Issue 6/ 1950. It was set to music in the autumn of the same year by Hanns Eisler. The children anthem was one of six songs from a children's song cycle, Brecht and Eisler after a long break had again come together. It was later set to music by Leo Spies and Fidelio F. Finke.

The occasion for, Brecht 's poetry, the first title anthem / Festlied wore was the introduction of the song of the German national anthem of the Federal Republic of Germany on April 15, 1950 Brecht wrote his anthem aware as counterpart to the West German national anthem by him Nazism. was corrupted. This is confirmed by allusions to the Song of Germany ( for example, From the Meuse to the Memel, from the Adige to the Belt - From the lake to the Alps, from the Oder to the Rhine). The meter of the children anthem corresponds to that of Germany and almost the song the national anthem of the GDR. All three texts can therefore also be sung to the melodies of each other.

However, the children's hymn is also a counterpart to Johannes R. Becher text of the national anthem of the GDR ( Risen from the Ruins ), which was created by order of the SED in October 1949. Brecht's text presents - in spite of some of the content references - the pathetic formulations cup simple, though precisely chosen diction over a.

The political scientist Iring Fetscherplatz characterized the children's hymn as follows: " ... there is probably no hymn that so beautiful, so rational, so critical reasons for the love of one's country, and not one that ends with so conciliatory line. "

At the time of unification in 1990, some citizens' groups and various media scheduled for the children anthem as a new German national anthem one. Stefan Heym she quoted the official opening ceremony of the 13th German Bundestag in November 1994. Peter then also spoke shortly after he was nominated by the Left Party to the 2009 election for the office of president, for the children anthem as German national anthem.