The Song of Widukind

[00:00:14]Hi everyone. My name is Dr. Scott Shell and I'm a specialist in Germanic languages.

[00:00:19]I have a PhD in Germanic linguistics from UC Berkeley, an MA in linguistics from Wayne State University and a bachelor's degree in German.

[00:00:27]And today I want to go ahead and talk about a very special topic um called Das Niedersachsenlied.

[00:00:35]Or you could say the song of Widukind or the song of the Lower Saxons.

[00:00:40]Either way, it's actually a national anthem for the people of Lower Saxony.

[00:00:47]Now, I thought uh instead of just diving in and and giving you the lyrics and giving you a translation and stuff like that, I thought I would actually kind of give you a little bit of a story.

[00:00:59]Um I don't usually talk about, you know, my personal life much, but in this case it seems um it seems warranted.

[00:01:06]Back in 2014, I um decided that I wanted to go study in Germany.

[00:01:12]Now, the reason for that is because I had just been accepted into my PhD program uh at Berkeley.

[00:01:20]Um but before that I was working on my master's degree which had nothing to do with German at all. It was just linguistics and so I didn't actually really use my German for about two to three years really. Um you know, so I figured if I'm going to go into this this program, right, into the German department over at Berkeley, I need to go back to Germany, immerse myself in the language, um and really be surrounded by native German speakers, right? I didn't want to go to a university town. I didn't want to go to a major city. I I didn't want to go to obviously like Berlin or Munich or or uh Frankfurt or I don't Heidelberg or something like that. Um and the reason why is because there are so many tourists there and the chances of me slipping back into speaking English were were pretty high uh especially like if they caught on that I had an American accent, then they would probably switch over to English.

[00:02:16]Um so I wanted to go somewhere where I would be, like I said, immersed in German culture, real German people, you know, just out in out in the villages somewhere.

[00:02:29]And so I settled on this place called Salzgitter.

[00:02:32]And the current population I think is only like right around 18,000. I didn't want to go to too small of a place because um you know, I actually wanted to talk to people.

[00:02:42]Um but I again, I didn't want to go to this large metropolitan area.

[00:02:47]So that's my purpose for going to Salzgitter uh to kind of set the theme for this video. And Salzgitter is in Niedersachsen, which is Lower Saxony.

[00:02:58]So I end up flying into Hanover and taking a train up to Salzgitter.

[00:03:06]Well, as soon as I get off the train, I had no idea where I was. I mean, I had the address for my hotel. I had printouts, you know, map printouts as far as like where to go cuz I didn't have a smartphone back then.

[00:03:19]Um and so I I get off the train and I see this woman smoking a cigarette. And I'm like, well, here we go.

[00:03:28]This is uh you know, the the the the the prime example of me being able to speak to Germans and um not fall back into English because likely, again, like I said, they they would not have been used to speaking English in this area.

[00:03:43]So I go up to her and it turns out turns out that she's actually Polish.

[00:03:51]Um but that was okay cuz uh she didn't speak much English at all. So, it was like this this German almost broken German thing kind of going on back and forth.

[00:04:03]Um, but she was wonderful wonderful wonderful person named Agneshka.

[00:04:08]And she told me, you know, she's like I asked her where the you know, where this hotel was and she said, "Oh, yeah, it's just uh it's not that far. It's just up the road. Uh my husband's going to pick me up. And why don't you just stick around?

[00:04:21]We'll just go ahead and give you a ride."

[00:04:23]So, I was like, "Okay, yeah, sure.

[00:04:24]That's that's that's wonderful. Thank you." So, he pulls up and he's actually a native German from that region. He's actually from from uh Hildesheim, which is, you know, in Lower Saxony.

[00:04:38]So, he takes me he's driving me around.

[00:04:40]He's like, "Okay, here you have Lidl and Aldi and you know, all these different grocery stores and here's your hotel."

[00:04:46]And by the way, we're having this uh this party this birthday party um at the Schützenfest. I'm like, "What the hell is that?"

[00:04:55]Uh okay, sure. So, uh thank you very much. You know, I accept the offer. I go back to my hotel. I stay there.

[00:05:02]I wake up the next day. They actually come and pick me up. It was really nice.

[00:05:06]Um so, I go there and uh they're like, "Okay, the party's going to be tonight." And you know, so I start actually helping him out of course. Like I'm helping him um cook.

[00:05:15]I'm helping him clean. I'm helping him get all these things together.

[00:05:19]And so, it turns out that this is a shooting club.

[00:05:24]And the the people there had belonged to this shooting club since like the 1930s.

[00:05:30]I mean, well, actually well, some of them were actually that old. So, yeah, they could have actually belonged to that club since the 1930s, but the actual shooting club itself was founded in the 1930s.

[00:05:41]So, this party happens this birthday party.

[00:05:45]And I'm just sitting there drinking some beer, eating some food, uh to them sing these birthday songs.

[00:05:51]And then all of a sudden, I hear uh this this this anthem. Really. I mean, I just thought it was another song. I didn't know it was an anthem quite yet. And it they started it off with like uh Von der Weser bis zur Elbe. Von Harz bis an das Meer. And I'm like, okay. That's kind of cool. It's like from the the the Weser river to the Elbe river.

[00:06:21]Uh from the Harz mountains is what's it referring to that's referring to to the sea, right?

[00:06:27]Um And then it was like stehen Niedersachsen Söhne. And I'm like, oh, that's kind of cool. Like stands, you know, the the sons of the Niedersachsen, the lower Saxons.

[00:06:39]Um And then it continues. And I'm like listening, you know, this is really cool.

[00:06:45]Uh but then they they they say this next part which really caught me completely off guard.

[00:06:51]Wir sind die Niedersachsen [singing] sturm fest und erwachsen.

[00:06:58]And then it says Heil Herzog Widukinds Stamm.

[00:07:05]And I was like, whoa, what is this?

[00:07:08]And so the reason I got goosebumps is cuz well, first of all, I had no idea this song existed.

[00:07:15]And what that means is we are Wir sind die Niedersachsen. We are the the lower Saxons.

[00:07:22]Uh storm fast, like people who can with stand storms and rooted deep in the earth.

[00:07:30]And then it says hail to the the tribe of Widukind, you could say, or the descendants, the clan of Widukind the warlord. Now, before somebody says something, the word that's used there in German is Herzog, which is very commonly and accurately translated as Duke.

[00:07:50]But of course, those who are familiar with my channel, familiar with Widukind and the Saxons, we I think most of us would agree that the word Duke kind of really underplays his real historical role. I mean, he was he was a war chief. He was a warlord, right? He was literally elected during war times. So, that's that's why I translate that word that way. So, anyway, I start listening again and I'm like, "Did I really just hear this?" And they they said it again. "Heil Herzog Widukind Stamm." And I just I was just blown away.

[00:08:25]I'm like, "This is amazing. I These people are so proud in in in very obviously nationalistic about their particular region that they are singing the praise and singing these songs of Widukind and the tribe of Widukind. Of course, the Saxons were really more of a confederacy, but either way, like this this pride is being sung in this uh Schützenverein, the shooting club.

[00:08:54]So, I thought that was pretty amazing.

[00:08:56]Uh it turns out that this song itself was written by Hermann Grote in 1926.

[00:09:04]Um and then he was a you know, he was a famous German um a composer and excuse me, composer.

[00:09:12][clears throat] And uh he was actually born in Lower Saxony, too. So, that actually makes it even more interesting that the guy who composed this song was also, of course, a native Lower Saxon.

[00:09:25]Um However, it was then used as it's really more of an anthem. I should have said this before, too. It's really more of an anthem or like a military song. Because then it was used in the inauguration of Sachsenhain by Verden. So, for those of you who do know about the massacre of Verden, um in 1930 five, the Germans had erected these monuments over at Sachsenhain by Verden or Verden.

[00:10:00]And they when they erected these monuments, they actually sang this song there, too, um at the inauguration.

[00:10:08]So, it's a very powerful song. They still sing it to this day.

[00:10:13]Um it is considered a national song of Lower Saxony.

[00:10:17]And if you look up videos, just look up Das Niedersachsenlied, you'll see that there are marches throughout the streets, um and the military performs the song there.

[00:10:27]And um it's yeah, just all around. It's a very powerful song about Saxon identity and remembering Widukind and the Saxons and how they fought against the Franks. And yeah, so like I was saying, uh when I was there, the reason I wanted to share that story with you is because I didn't go to Germany, specifically even Lower Saxony, because I was interested in Saxon stuff, because I was interested in Widukind, because I In fact, I didn't even like I said in the beginning of the video, I didn't even start my PhD program yet.

[00:10:58]So, I didn't know much at all, really, about Old Saxon. I knew of Widukind a little bit, so that's obviously why I had that reaction when I heard um the the hail to Widukind's um clan or tribe.

[00:11:14]Um but I actually had several other experiences there, too, uh that year that were just kind of interesting.

[00:11:21]But that's that's more personal stuff.

[00:11:23]Um but it is dealing with Saxon sites that I had visited. Um yeah. So, what I want to do is uh just give you here the German and give you a translation of the song.

[00:11:36]And, uh, you know, who knows? Maybe one day you'll actually sing this in your halls.

[00:11:41]I think that would be pretty darn cool to sort of commemorate Widukind and the Saxons just like the modern uh, people of Lower Saxony do to this day. So, I'm going to go ahead and post a couple links below, um, for the the two versions I really like of this song. I mean, like I said, it's really a traditional kind of military anthem.

[00:12:04]Um, and so you're going to get like the marching band that's always perform pretty much always performing the song.

[00:12:10]But, there was, um, an acoustic cover I found of this that I I really liked in particular. So, I'm going to go ahead and link that down below in the comments. I can't splice it into the video and show you, you know, segments of the song because I know darn well I'm going to get a copyright strike if I do that. So, um, go ahead and enjoy those songs, but for now, I'm going to go ahead and just give you the the translation I have for you here. Um, and again, translations are like people's opinions sometimes. It's like you're going to have people who don't agree with the translation or or agree with it, and you know, that's just the the art of translating, as you will say.

[00:12:48]But, this is this is what I came up with, and I feel like it kind of captures the spirit of that that anthem.

[00:12:55]From the Weser to the Elbe and from the Harz mountains to the sea, stand the sons of Lower Saxony, steadfast defenders.

[00:13:03]True like our oak trees, we stand throughout all ages.

[00:13:07]When storms roar over the German fatherland, we are the Saxons, stormproof and rooted deep in the earth.

[00:13:15]Hail to the tribe of Widukind, the warlord.

[00:13:18]Where did the Roman invaders fall?

[00:13:21]Where did the foreign brood sink into the ground?

[00:13:24]In the mountains of Lower Saxony, through the frenzy of the Saxons who threw the Roman eagle into the sand who held freedom up high in the German fatherland it was the Saxons storm-proof and rooted deep in the earth. Hail to the tribe of Widukind the warlord.

[00:13:44]Thousands of men died on the blooming red heaths for the loyalty of Lower Saxony struck by the Frankish exile.

[00:13:53]Thousands [snorts] of brothers fell by the hand of the hangman thousands of brothers for their Saxon home.

[00:14:00]Such were the Saxons storm-proof and rooted deep in the earth.

[00:14:05]Hail to the tribe of Widukind the warlord.

[00:14:09]From the father's blood and wounds wakes the son's heroism Lower Saxony shall declare well-being and blood for freedom.

[00:14:19]True like our oak trees we stand throughout all ages when storms roar over the German fatherland and thus we are the Saxons storm-proof and rooted deep in the earth. Hail to the tribe of Widukind the warlord.

[00:14:35]So obviously I didn't sing that song for you.

[00:14:38]I'm just reading lyrics that are being translated um but I do encourage you to listen to those songs down below like the two links that I just listed for you down below.

[00:14:49]It's really interesting um notice how it starts off with we are the Saxons and then those were the Saxons meaning obviously like there was this continuation of being Saxon.

[00:15:02]Of course there are some some I don't know historical issues that are well known right? I they they're they're saying how they defended their country and they fought but of course we know historically that the Franks won.

[00:15:17]So but I don't think that's really the point right? I think the point is just about being a proud Saxon, specifically Niedersachsen, right? Lower Lower Saxon, I guess you could say.

[00:15:30]Um I guess there are a couple things I could talk about here as far as like why I translated something the way I did.

[00:15:36]Um I would say that that I mean as as with all poetry and lyrics and stuff like that, it's kind of hard to translate sometimes.

[00:15:45]Uh Erdfel Wachsen is actually kind of an interesting word. It's literally Erd, which is earth. Fel Wachsen kind of means to be rooted. So, that's why I said deeply rooted in the earth. But, if you have any questions uh as to why maybe I translated something the way that I did, um post them below and of course I will gladly try to address them.

[00:16:07]Um I hope this was super helpful for you guys. Uh like I said before, it'd be really cool to maybe sing these songs uh in our halls, maybe around the time of October when the massacre of Verden happened, you know, uh just as kind of a tradition. Um and what's also very interesting is that we're not really it's not really something in the past, right? That we're just kind of dredging up and then and then honoring. Uh and what I'm trying to get at is that even that the Saxons, the modern Saxons today, still do this. Like it's it's this song that to where they're still honoring um their Saxon ancestors and what it was that they really tried to fight for. All right, everyone. Thanks for watching this video. Hopefully, it was helpful for you and and um yeah, go ahead, like, subscribe, comment, do whatever you got to do to help the algorithm out and make sure that people are aware that this song exists.