War and the Muses - The "Hymn of Hate"
On the outbreak of World War I Ernst Lissauer (1882-1937), a German poet and playwright, penned an ultra-nationalist tirade against England, "The Hymn of Hate." The poem was an immediate smash in Germany, and, oddly enough, saw wide circulation by the Allies, who viewed its almost hysterical verses as excellent anti-German propaganda.
The Hymn of Hate Against England
French and Russian, they matter not,
A blow for a blow and a shot for a shot!
We love them not, we hate them not,
We hold the Vistula and Vosges gate.
We have but one and only hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone.
He is known to you all, he is known to you all,
He crouches behind the dark gray flood,
Full of envy, of rage, of craft, of gall,
Cut off by waves that are thicker than blood.
Come, let us stand at the Judgment Place,
An oath to swear to, face to face,
An oath of bronze no wind can shake,
An oath for our sons and their sons to take.
Come, hear the word, repeat the word,
Throughout the Fatherland make it heard.
We will never forego our hate,
We have all but a single hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone — ENGLAND!
In the Captain's Mess, in the banquet hall,
Sat feasting the officers, one and all,
Like a sabre blow, like the swing of a sail,
One seized his glass and held high to hail;
Sharp-snapped like the stroke of a rudder's play,
Spoke three words only: "To the Day!"
Whose glass this fate?
They had all but a single hate.
Who was thus known?
They had one foe and one alone -- ENGLAND!
Take you the folk of the Earth in pay,
With bars of gold your ramparts lay,
Bedeck the ocean with bow on bow,
Ye reckon well, but not well enough now.
French and Russian, they matter not,
A blow for a blow, a shot for a shot,
We fight the battle with bronze and steel,
And the time that is coming Peace will seal.
You we will hate with a lasting hate,
We will never forego our hate,
Hate by water and hate by land,
Hate of the head and hate of the hand,
Hate of the hammer and hate of the crown,
Hate of seventy millions choking down.
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone -- ENGLAND!
In the years following the Great War Lissauer, who also coined the slogan "Gott strafe England -- God Punish England" became apologetic about the poem and the slogan. But both remained popular among German nationalists and were used by the Nazis as well, though they removed Lissauer's name from them, for he was Jewish. Lissauer died in exile in Vienna.
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