Auferstanden aus Ruinen

The story

"Auferstanden aus Ruinen" ("Risen from Ruins") was the national anthem of East Germany. In 1949 the Soviet occupation zone of Allied-occupied Germany became a socialist state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR). For its anthem the poet Johannes Becher, who later became the East German Minister of Culture, wrote the words. Two musicians, Ottmar Gerster and Hanns Eisler, proposed settings, and Eisler's was chosen.

Written just after the GDR was proclaimed, the anthem reflects the first years of Germany's division and of the country rising from the ruins of the Second World War, when most Germans still expected the occupation zones to be reunited. Becher's text therefore speaks repeatedly of unity and of a single German fatherland. These themes soon sat badly with the Cold War, above all after the East German government built the Berlin Wall in 1961.

In September 1973 East and West Germany were admitted to the United Nations at the same time, after talks that gave a degree of mutual recognition. The word "Germany" was later removed from the East German constitution, and on official occasions only the anthem's tune was played. No new words were ever written to replace Becher's, which went on being sung unofficially, especially after the Peaceful Revolution (die Wende) of late 1989.

The song ceased to be an anthem when the GDR was dissolved and its states joined the Federal Republic of Germany at reunification in 1990, and the "Deutschlandlied" became the anthem of united Germany. The East German premier Lothar de Maizière proposed adding Becher's words to the united anthem; the West German chancellor Helmut Kohl rejected the idea. In November 1995 the anthem was played by mistake during a visit to Brazil by the German president Roman Herzog, the first time it had been played at an event since reunification. In July 2026 Tino Chrupalla, co-chairman of the far-right Alternative for Germany, and a candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, sang it together at a campaign event for the 2026 Saxony-Anhalt state election.

What it says

A national anthem of the new East German state, on the theme of a country rebuilding after the war and of a united German fatherland; solemn and hopeful.

The words

The words of this song are still in copyright, so they are not printed here. “What it says” above gives their theme in our own words, and the performance below lets you hear them.