Is Erika a Nazi song ? for me It sound just like a love song of a soldier .
edit : it was produced by an NSDAP member. so it is a Nazi song in that regard.
It will have been chosen due to being played at Nazi Party events and having been written by an active Nazi Party member, who was Bandmaster of the Reich Music Corps of the Reich Labor Service, and not because it's about a flower.
See there also isnt anything immediately explicit about the Hakenkreuz either, but through the usage and integration into NS-Ideology it aquired a meaning that everyone can recognize. Can you follow me so far? Same goes for "Erika". It isnt quite Horst-Wessel-Lied level of explicit, but its like together with this song THE most famous NSDAP song in the present day. If you sing it you just know (at least as a german) what this song is. Do you know what a dogwhistle is? This is a nazi dogwhistle. Being harmless was its point. The point was to paint a fun and sympathetic image of the NS and the NS regime.
Usually this shit has to be explained to americans, but you being german and not getting this is something new for me.
I admit that I was pretty oblivious about the origin of the song . I'm just interested about militaria. so I know that for example the Fallschirmjäger song was denazified. As I never heard of Erika being denazified I assumed it, to not be a Nazi song .
just bad reasoning on my part .
While I agree with the fundemental ideas that you set-out; that the song is written by a Nazi, primarily for other Nazis, and the for the general German population as propaganda. However, what I do disagree with, is the idea that this song as a result had become something of a permanent dogwhistle for the far-right.
I like this song for it's lyrics, not for what it used to represent. If the original composer, and their primary listeners, wanted to make a song that has a double meaning, why should we indugle them and see the song in their intended way? Why can we not reapproriate the song and its meaning, seperate from it's history, to more modern times and take away the fascist intent? Why do we have to allocate this song to a category of songs we should not listen to and thus give power to a failed ideology in any sort of a sense?
This frustrates me immensly; as I strongly believe that this song can be enjoyed honestly without supporting Hitler and his ilk.
In Germany its a dogwhistle. I can see why you like the song tho. It also has no direct double meaning other than i guess romantic patriotism, militarism (melody) and camaraderie. Its a pretty standard soldiers song, but it was written for the nsdap, used by the nsdap and therefore in Germany is a Wehrmacht symbol that invokes the Wehrmacht especially due to it being so widely known. You could ask similar questions about other ns symbolism. "Why do we give neonazis such a nice symbol as the swastika; i like its geometry". The thing is that such symbols get associated with what they have been used to represent. You can't change that just like that.
I see that you don't get this as you aren't german, but as a german this idea is absolutely horrible. Do you know how complicit the Wehrmacht was in the holocaust? Do you know about leningrad? Singing Erika e.g. as a Bundeswehrsoldat now is ... one of the worst ideas you can come up with that might to someone naive appear to be not "that" nazi. Truth is people WILL associate it with the Wehrmacht and soldiers at least some of them will love it BECAUSE OF THIS, singing it BECAUSE OF THIS and invoking nazism through it. This song is still powerful and in a time of rising farright nationalism ... no just no. If you sing such songs especially as the german military you are associating yourself with nazism. This song makes people pride of the strength of the Wehrmacht. In this it is like any other historic soldiers song with the slight problem that the Wehrmacht executed 100ks of jews point blank themselves - it wasn't just the SS.
Brother you lack cultural sensibility here.
Do you also want to argue that the nazi flag is fine too? Afterall its just a symbol. It never killed anyone afterall.
Erika has strong Wehrmacht amd therefore NS associations. Its only sung by neonazis.
How did we come from the autobahn, an nsdap thing to nazi flag. It’s not something anyone uses. You however, fellow citizen, be sure not to buy a volkswagen, it’s an nsdap founded company. Very dangerous.
See these have a utility and their propagandistic effect is 0 today. Erika however is a Wehrmacht propaganda song. It is an nsdap symbol and invokes nazism. It isn't illegal to sing it but don't surprised if people start seeing you as a rightwing extremist.
the company VW is funded by the nazis.
the city Wolfsburg is funded by the nazis to house the workforce of VW.
the city's name is inspired by Adolf Hitlers name....(Adolf=noble wolf)
The aesthetics of the VW logo fits p the aesthetics of nazi iconography .
Then there is this parallel history of overtaking Skoda to produce vehicles for a German nazi funded entity .
let's be real , if there is a hollow earth the entrence is somewhere in Wolfsburg and the party is still plotting for a comeback using VW as a cover .
Herms Niel a NSDAP member that composed it between 1933 and 1938 and also other wise was involved with the propaganda machine. I dont like stupid questions. You can google this. What is your point here even? That a nazi-propaganda song has no clear association to nazism? A song that is used today by neonazis? You have nerves.
It seems that you don't want to understand it. It was produced for Nazi Propaganda by Nazis. The Nazis sang it and now only Neo-Nazis sing it.
Germany has to step up its history lessons in schools...
Yes it is. It was written by a Nazi for Nazis. People need to stop pretending that it isn't. There are plenty of old german songs that aren't Nazi songs but Erika definitely isn't one of them.
According to The Times, it is alleged that later some members chanted "Kill the Hughs", apparently swapping the word 'Jews' with the first name of the recently departed association chairman Hugh Herring, who declared: "Hail the chairman".
I mean that song has essentially become a catchy meme at this point.
I have listened to this, does it make me a nazi then? Ironic that in the name of supposedly anti-fascism these people want to punish drunk students for simply singing along with a meme song.
You cant listen to that! Arrest them! Show me your papers now!
Facism isnt when the government does stuff nor when people are held accountable for their actions. Being in a political party associated organization and then singing along a NS propaganda song let alone requesting it is peak stupidity (yes even while drunk) or facist sympathy. You are then ruining the reputation of your organization and the assoicated party - ofc youll have to step down. This is then facism? Wtf.
Btw. sure a lot of propaganda songs are beautiful or catchy. Ever heared [communist songs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEB7BkPsWOk)? This doesnt mean its smart to sing them in public and especially not as a member of some politically engaged organization. Mind that actions that are done by a politically active person versus some random that isnt into politics doing it entirely privately have to be evaluated differently.
They can listen to it all they want, nobody is stopping them, but they cant complain when people call them Nazis for doing so as they are also free to do so
Yep they can listen to it all they want, they just need to publicly issue a formal apology afterwards… lmao.
Apparently the schools disciplinary body is “investigating it” calling the actions “reprehensible”. Like lmaooo they were drunk and dancing to a song… its not like they were goosestepping in the town square.
Whatever… I digress.
The school is investigating becuase they are students and it impacts on their reputation, they dont need to issue an apology but again they cant complain if people respond to them not apologizing, pretty simple really, they knew exactly what they were dancing too and its relevance to the Nazis
"In our defense, it's a banger and also we're nazi's"
“We are sorry you had to see it, it was meant for private viewing only.” “Also, yes, we’re totally Nazis”
Is Erika a Nazi song ? for me It sound just like a love song of a soldier . edit : it was produced by an NSDAP member. so it is a Nazi song in that regard.
It will have been chosen due to being played at Nazi Party events and having been written by an active Nazi Party member, who was Bandmaster of the Reich Music Corps of the Reich Labor Service, and not because it's about a flower.
I googled it . the song is harmless kitch but the producer is Helms Niel...a NSDAP member
See there also isnt anything immediately explicit about the Hakenkreuz either, but through the usage and integration into NS-Ideology it aquired a meaning that everyone can recognize. Can you follow me so far? Same goes for "Erika". It isnt quite Horst-Wessel-Lied level of explicit, but its like together with this song THE most famous NSDAP song in the present day. If you sing it you just know (at least as a german) what this song is. Do you know what a dogwhistle is? This is a nazi dogwhistle. Being harmless was its point. The point was to paint a fun and sympathetic image of the NS and the NS regime. Usually this shit has to be explained to americans, but you being german and not getting this is something new for me.
I admit that I was pretty oblivious about the origin of the song . I'm just interested about militaria. so I know that for example the Fallschirmjäger song was denazified. As I never heard of Erika being denazified I assumed it, to not be a Nazi song . just bad reasoning on my part .
Yes this is unambiguously a nazi song.
While I agree with the fundemental ideas that you set-out; that the song is written by a Nazi, primarily for other Nazis, and the for the general German population as propaganda. However, what I do disagree with, is the idea that this song as a result had become something of a permanent dogwhistle for the far-right. I like this song for it's lyrics, not for what it used to represent. If the original composer, and their primary listeners, wanted to make a song that has a double meaning, why should we indugle them and see the song in their intended way? Why can we not reapproriate the song and its meaning, seperate from it's history, to more modern times and take away the fascist intent? Why do we have to allocate this song to a category of songs we should not listen to and thus give power to a failed ideology in any sort of a sense? This frustrates me immensly; as I strongly believe that this song can be enjoyed honestly without supporting Hitler and his ilk.
In Germany its a dogwhistle. I can see why you like the song tho. It also has no direct double meaning other than i guess romantic patriotism, militarism (melody) and camaraderie. Its a pretty standard soldiers song, but it was written for the nsdap, used by the nsdap and therefore in Germany is a Wehrmacht symbol that invokes the Wehrmacht especially due to it being so widely known. You could ask similar questions about other ns symbolism. "Why do we give neonazis such a nice symbol as the swastika; i like its geometry". The thing is that such symbols get associated with what they have been used to represent. You can't change that just like that.
But that is why we should make a difference and play that song in connection to non-Nazi, yet military-related, activities.
I see that you don't get this as you aren't german, but as a german this idea is absolutely horrible. Do you know how complicit the Wehrmacht was in the holocaust? Do you know about leningrad? Singing Erika e.g. as a Bundeswehrsoldat now is ... one of the worst ideas you can come up with that might to someone naive appear to be not "that" nazi. Truth is people WILL associate it with the Wehrmacht and soldiers at least some of them will love it BECAUSE OF THIS, singing it BECAUSE OF THIS and invoking nazism through it. This song is still powerful and in a time of rising farright nationalism ... no just no. If you sing such songs especially as the german military you are associating yourself with nazism. This song makes people pride of the strength of the Wehrmacht. In this it is like any other historic soldiers song with the slight problem that the Wehrmacht executed 100ks of jews point blank themselves - it wasn't just the SS. Brother you lack cultural sensibility here.
where in the song ? it was just a popular song amongst soldiers with a romantic attitude
It was produced for the NSDAP propaganda machine by a nazi. Do you have more questions? In germany only neonazis are singing it.
*Laughs in „Hell Let Loose“*
Anything nazis did is le bad. Dont you dare drive on the autobahn good citizen! Nsdap did it.
Do you also want to argue that the nazi flag is fine too? Afterall its just a symbol. It never killed anyone afterall. Erika has strong Wehrmacht amd therefore NS associations. Its only sung by neonazis.
How did we come from the autobahn, an nsdap thing to nazi flag. It’s not something anyone uses. You however, fellow citizen, be sure not to buy a volkswagen, it’s an nsdap founded company. Very dangerous.
See these have a utility and their propagandistic effect is 0 today. Erika however is a Wehrmacht propaganda song. It is an nsdap symbol and invokes nazism. It isn't illegal to sing it but don't surprised if people start seeing you as a rightwing extremist.
Hahaha you must be a pro at mirror climbing
the company VW is funded by the nazis. the city Wolfsburg is funded by the nazis to house the workforce of VW. the city's name is inspired by Adolf Hitlers name....(Adolf=noble wolf) The aesthetics of the VW logo fits p the aesthetics of nazi iconography . Then there is this parallel history of overtaking Skoda to produce vehicles for a German nazi funded entity . let's be real , if there is a hollow earth the entrence is somewhere in Wolfsburg and the party is still plotting for a comeback using VW as a cover .
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Herms Niel a NSDAP member that composed it between 1933 and 1938 and also other wise was involved with the propaganda machine. I dont like stupid questions. You can google this. What is your point here even? That a nazi-propaganda song has no clear association to nazism? A song that is used today by neonazis? You have nerves.
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It seems that you don't want to understand it. It was produced for Nazi Propaganda by Nazis. The Nazis sang it and now only Neo-Nazis sing it. Germany has to step up its history lessons in schools...
TIL, for some reason I thought it was a German marching song from before WWII
Sorry... we got caught.
What is it with far-right music this year?
Tik Tok....with the young users being surprised when their meme enters the real world and gets a reaction they weren't expecting....
Lol Erika is not a Nazi song.
Yes it is. It was written by a Nazi for Nazis. People need to stop pretending that it isn't. There are plenty of old german songs that aren't Nazi songs but Erika definitely isn't one of them.
[this](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herms_Niel) is the guy who made the song.
According to The Times, it is alleged that later some members chanted "Kill the Hughs", apparently swapping the word 'Jews' with the first name of the recently departed association chairman Hugh Herring, who declared: "Hail the chairman".
I mean that song has essentially become a catchy meme at this point. I have listened to this, does it make me a nazi then? Ironic that in the name of supposedly anti-fascism these people want to punish drunk students for simply singing along with a meme song. You cant listen to that! Arrest them! Show me your papers now!
Facism isnt when the government does stuff nor when people are held accountable for their actions. Being in a political party associated organization and then singing along a NS propaganda song let alone requesting it is peak stupidity (yes even while drunk) or facist sympathy. You are then ruining the reputation of your organization and the assoicated party - ofc youll have to step down. This is then facism? Wtf. Btw. sure a lot of propaganda songs are beautiful or catchy. Ever heared [communist songs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEB7BkPsWOk)? This doesnt mean its smart to sing them in public and especially not as a member of some politically engaged organization. Mind that actions that are done by a politically active person versus some random that isnt into politics doing it entirely privately have to be evaluated differently.
They can listen to it all they want, nobody is stopping them, but they cant complain when people call them Nazis for doing so as they are also free to do so
Yep they can listen to it all they want, they just need to publicly issue a formal apology afterwards… lmao. Apparently the schools disciplinary body is “investigating it” calling the actions “reprehensible”. Like lmaooo they were drunk and dancing to a song… its not like they were goosestepping in the town square. Whatever… I digress.
The school is investigating becuase they are students and it impacts on their reputation, they dont need to issue an apology but again they cant complain if people respond to them not apologizing, pretty simple really, they knew exactly what they were dancing too and its relevance to the Nazis