Along with the flag of Germany, which first appeared in its essentially "modern" form in 1778, it was one of the symbols of the March Revolution of 1848. 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.
The music is the hymn " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", written 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. Its incipit " 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. In East Germany, the national anthem was " Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins") between 19.Īfter World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. The " Deutschlandlied" ( German pronunciation: ( listen) "Song of Germany"), officially titled " Das Lied der Deutschen" ( German: "The Song of the Germans"), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, save for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany.