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After discovering the iconic German metal band Rammstein for the first time, I wanted to dive deeper and check out this legendary anthem, Deutschland. This felt like more than a song..

Videos Included: Rammstein - Deutschland (Official MV)

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mehlika

Hi Sammy, I’ve been waiting for the right moment to share this with you, and today’s the day. Please forgive me in advance if my English is a bit rusty... I will use the tools that will help me with this. This is a long clip, and this will be a long review. To everyone reading this, please forgive me. First things first, I’m actually Turkish, not German. But I’ve got quite a lot to say on this topic. If I get anything wrong, I’d genuinely love for a German who knows their stuff to step in and correct me. Right, so that Black woman we see in almost every scene is Germania. She’s a national allegorical figure representing the German nation and its people as a whole. She’s traditionally depicted as a powerful female character embodying the strength and unity of the German folk. Making her a Black woman feels like a deliberate nod to -and commentary on- Germany’s historically racist past. Throughout the video, Germania’s role shifts dramatically: in some scenes, she’s captured, beheaded, or literally eaten alive by clergymen; in others, she turns into a tyrannical queen feeding into pure barbarism. Depending on where we are in history, she’s either the executioner or a woman in tears. The video kicks off with the title ‘16 AD: Magna Germania’ (The War with Rome), plunging us straight into a bloody, dark chapter of German history. In her first appearance, we see Germania decapitator style, severing the head of a dead soldier. It’s a pretty striking detail. If I remember correctly, there was a massive battle in the 9th century where the Romans suffered a crushing defeat. By 16 AD, when the Romans returned to that old battlefield to avenge their loss, they were met with an absolute horror show. Human heads were nailed to trees, and the bones of sacrificed Roman officers were scattered everywhere. You might have spotted the soldiers hanging from the trees in the background. Moving on to a later scene: the clergymen feasting on Germania at the dinner table. The arrival of the armoured knights marks the dawn of Christianity and the Crusades. Then, we see the clergy (the Inquisition) burning people while literally devouring Germania’s flesh at a nasty banquet. It’s a powerful metaphor for how the Church and State exploited their own people, pure brutality carried out in the name of faith. In the segment covering the Nazi era and the Holocaust, the symbols on the band members' chests represent the various groups persecuted and murdered by Nazi Germany: the yellow star for Jews, the pink triangle for homosexuals, and the red triangle for political prisoners. In these scenes, Germania’s eyes turn blood red. In Turkish, we have a phrase, "gözleri kan bürümek," (eyes clouded by blood, lol) which basically means being blinded by rage or murderous intent. The V2 rockets soaring right behind them highlight how science was weaponised for sheer destruction; these rockets were actually built by slave labourers in concentration camps. Mind you, even though the V2 was a devastating weapon that claimed thousands of lives during World War II, it ironically became the first manmade object to reach space. Then there’s the scene where Nazi soldiers kiss Germania on the lips. To me, that’s a clear metaphor for the unholy union of fascism and power. The scenes where Till Lindemann in women's clothes, Germania is held hostage and the band is clashing with the police, capture the ideological divide and internal violence of 1970s West Germany (terrorist incidents? idk. Though I must admit, I don't know enough about the finer details of this era). The scene with the blokes in suits having a drink must be Cold War Era East Germany. And the subsequent cosmonauts, busts, etc. are a clean indication for the Soviet influence and the Space Race. That scene where the Nazi soldiers throw books into the fire is a direct reference to one of the most organized, symbolic, and shameful intellectual massacres in German history: the 1933 book burnings (Bücherverbrennung). Books by world renowned Jewish, leftist, pacifist, or foreign authors, such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, and Thomas Mann, were burned in public squares. The massive bonfire in the music video and the way the soldiers hurl the books are an exact replica of the archival photographs from that infamous night. You can see it for yourself if you search Bücherverbrennung. A German poet once made a prophecy: "Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen." (Where they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn human beings.) - Heinrich Heine (1821) Towards the end of the video, Germania gives birth, not to a human, but to Leonberger dogs. Why Leonbergers? Well, this breed was specifically created for royalty in 19th century Germany to look like lions, serving as a symbol of "German power." They almost went extinct during the Nazi regime. Germania giving birth to dogs instead of humans feels like a dystopian critique, a warning that Germany's future might still carry the risk of breeding "purebloods," artificial nationalism, and the monsters of its past. In this same scene, the band members are wearing astronaut suits. This touches upon Germany’s dark yet brilliant scientific legacy. It represents trying to hand down science to the next generation while shielding them from the filth of the past. What I mean is, they are trying to create a sterile environment. German history throughout the video is so bloody, so dirty, and so riddled with guilt that the astronauts accompanying the birth of this new generation (the Leonberger pups) are trying their best to stop the stains of the past from contaminating the future. In the final scene, ancient Germania is in space, somewhere in time... Just a quick disclaimer: I’m neither a historian nor have I formally studied German history. I’m just someone from Turkey who studied German Translation and Interpreting. My dad and I just had a massive chat about this video, and well, i'm a bit of a geek. If I’ve missed anything or got a fact wrong, I’d be more than happy for anyone reading to point it out and correct me. And if I’ve said anything insensitive, I truly apologise.

MercedesLP

A little correction: This video didn't show any good moments of German history, only the dark and bad ones. The lyrics of the song are very relatable to us Germans. We want to love our country but at the same time it feels like we shouldn't because of our history. We are damned to be ashamed of our history that most of us didn't even life through and experience. You would be hard-pressed to find a German flag hanging around outside of major international sporting events. If you do then people would see you as excessively nationalistic if not a nazi. It's like there is this constant shadow hanging above you. You have to be careful with words too. Say something that can just vaguely be interpreted as racism or nationalistic and you are automatically a nazi. At least that is how it often feels to me as a German.

Doc Sniper

Please take time to check out “Zeit” from Rammstein.