History of your national anthem

The history of the German national anthem is an ironic one. Composed by a nationalist and a republican, Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, in 1841, it represented everything that was officially frowned upon in contemporary Germany, as the author himself composed the song in exile (on Heligoland, at the time a British possession). The country was not unified -- just the German Confederation -- and its governments were very far from being republics. Originally called Das Lied der Deutschen (or Das Deutschlandlied, "Song of the Germans/of Germany"), the common title is just from the first line of the song. It originally meant, therefore, the unity of Germany over all its existing divisions, not the triumph of Germany over everyone else. The music was taken from the String Quartet in C major (the Kaiser-Quartet), Op. 76,3 of Joseph Haydn, composed in 1797. Although a unified Germany was later brought about by Prussia, Deutschland über Alles nevertheless was never the national anthem of the German Empire, perhaps because its anti-monarchist origins were well remembered. At the same time, that explains better why the song was adopted as the anthem by the Weimar Republic in March, 1922. Like German nationalism itself, the meaning of the song was then transformed by darker forces. Hitler certainly did want Germany to be "over all" other nations and to dominate the world. But again, Deutschland über Alles was not the favorite song of the Nazis -- that was the Horst Wessel Song. In post-war Germany, the old meaning for the first verse was completely ruined, but the third can still be used as appropriate to the modern stat

Germany, Germany above all
Above everything in the world
When, always, for protection and defense
Brothers stand together.
From the Maas to the Memel
From the Etsch to the Belt,
Germany, Germany above all
Above all in the world.

German women, German fidelity,
German wine and German song,
Shall retain, throughout the world,
Their old respected fame,
To inspire us to noble deeds
For the length of our lives.
German Women, German fidelity,
German wine and German song.

Unity and justice and freedom
For the German Fatherland;
Let us all strive to this goal
Brotherly, with heart and hand.
Unity and justice and freedom
Are the pledge of fortune grand.
Prosper in this fortune's glory,
Prosper German fatherland.

I can't stand my own country's anthem. It's tune is really boring and the lyrics glorify an unelected German tyrant

Originally posted by Nick1986 I can't stand my own country's anthem. It's tune is really boring and the lyrics glorify an unelected German tyrant

The same for me! Romanian anthem has some lugubrious, church tune (it was made by Anton Pann, a composer of religious music).

And the lyrics are pretty dumb, they start with "Wake up, Romanian, from the sleep of death" which assume Romanians are some kind of corpse.