1938–1945: Nazi Songbooks

In order to win the population over to Nazism and convince it of the necessity for a war, culture and education at all levels underwent “coordination” (Gleichschaltung). In particular, singing in schools and the Hitler Youth was used to instil a worldview in young  people that corresponded to Nazi ideology: “Onwards! Onwards! The fanfares blare clear. Onwards! Onwards! Youth knows no fear. Germany, you will stand and shine, even lest we should go down", versified for example the first Reich Youth Leader and later Gauleiter and Reich Governor of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach. Rousing Nazi songs of this type were written in their dozens and were included in specially produced new songbooks.

A typical collection of Nazi songs would always begin with the Nazi party songs (e.g. the Horst Wessel Song) or songs that had become party songs. One example of this is Wenn alle untreu werden [If All Become Unfaithful]. Written by Max von Schenkendorf in 1814, it was misappropriated by the Nazis as the SS-Treuelied [SS Song of Loyalty]. The next section contained more soldiers' songs. These often dated from the Napoleonic Wars and had been rediscovered by the early 20th-century youth movement. These would generally be followed by well-known songs such as common folk and Heimat songs or humorous songs. The decorations on the covers and in the margins included Nazi insignia such as swastika flags, slogans and relevant Hitler quotes. A foreword written by the publisher or a high-ranking party official would immediately ally the reader with the book’s contents: “This book belongs to you! […] it resonates with the rhythms of the songs that rallied our fathers in the trenches of the Great War […].”

Typical examples of Nazi songbooks include: Georg Blumensaat’s Lied über Deutschland [Song of Germany] (1936), from whose foreword the above quote was taken; Josef Eduard Ploner’s  Hellau! Liederbuch für Front und Heimat des Gaues Tirol-Vorarlberg [Hellau! Songbook for the Front and Home Front of the Gau Tyrol-Vorarlberg] (1941); and editions for music teaching such as Friedrich Frischenschlager’s two-volume Alpenländisches Singbuch [Alpine Songbook], which was produced for use in primary schools.