Germany

The official name of the anthem is Das Lied der Deutschen, often called Deutschland Über Alles, as they are the words of the now verboten first stanza. What has now been forgotten is that the words "über alles" refer not to the conquest of other countries, but are a call for German citizens to abandon the concept of being primarily citizens of a particular region such as Prussia or Bavaria. This concept was considered "revolutionary" when the words were written by teacher Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben, a fervent believer in German unity and a republican government. The music comes from Haydn's String Quartet in C Major. The song's popularity stems from the First World War, although it was not adopted officially as an anthem until the advent of the Weimar Republic in 1922. In the Second World War the words "über alles" were a gift for Allied propagandists, and after 1945 it was banned. It is now once again the anthem of a unified Germany, but only the relatively friendly third stanza is still used, with lines such as "Bloom in the splendour of this happiness".