Nazi anthem played at Fed Cup

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That was really embarrassing: at opening ceremony of the FedCup tie USA vs Germany long abolished "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles", the Nazi version of our national anthem, was performed.

It's 2017 - something like this simply should not happen in the United States.
This is an absolute disrespectful incident, although the US Tennis Association apologized for playing incorrect German anthem.

Quote:

KAANAPALI, Hawaii (AP) — After an outdated stanza of the German national anthem was sung during the opening ceremonies, the United States took a 1-0 lead and was ahead in the other opening match in its best-of-5 Fed Cup quarterfinal Saturday.

Alison Riske beat Andrea Petkovic 7-6 (10), 6-2, and CoCo Vandeweghe led Julia Goerges 6-3, 3-1 when rain halted play.

The stanza of the anthem that was sung dates to World War II-era Germany and brought a stern response from Petkovic, and an official statement of apology from the United States Tennis Association.

Petkovic, who was born in Bosnia, said in the German-speaking portion of her press conference that she considered walking off the court as the anthem went on.

"I thought it was the epitome of ignorance, and I've never felt more disrespected in my whole life, let alone in Fed Cup, and I've played Fed Cup for 13 years now and it is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," Petkovic said after her loss.

The USTA responded quickly with its official statement.

"The USTA extends its sincerest apologies to the German Fed Cup team and all of its fans for the performance of an outdated national anthem prior to today's Fed Cup competition," the statement said. "In no way did we mean any disrespect. This mistake will not occur again, and the correct anthem will be perfrormed for the remainder of this first-round tie."

Riske was apologetic in her press conference.

"As it was happening, obviously, we have no idea," Riske said. "But news got around to us and it's extremely unfortunate. We have nothing but respect for the German team and obviously that will not happen again."

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Type: Discussion • Score: 9 • Views: 2,822 • Replies: 14

[+3] - Walter Hinteler - 02/13/2017Our national anthem is our national anthem and not an "older tried and true German patriotic song". Btw: - as the title of "Preussens Gloria" correctly suggests, it's not...

I thought the stanza "Deutschland .....über alles "was in the anthem from the very beginning and was misused by the Nazis and has been forbidden since after the war.

Out of curiousity I googled in Swedish " German national anthem". It was a mixture of the forbidden stanza and the correct one. But still called "Deutschland über alles"
I wonder how many know the national anthem of another country.
Ask a German if they know which is the anthem of USA.
It was embarrasing, probably wont happen again.
I googled in Danish and also there the German National anthem is called Deutschland über alles ....but with only three stanza.

2 Replies

@saab,

saab wrote:

I wonder how many know the national anthem of another country.

It is an official international sports event.

Quote:

The Fed Cup is an annual team event organized by the ITF in women's tennis, similar in format to the Davis Cup. It was launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ITF.

Both Germany and the USA are members since decades.

saab wrote:

I thought the stanza "Deutschland .....über alles "was in the anthem from the very beginning and was misused by the Nazis and has been forbidden since after the war.

I'm not sure what you mean here "from the begining": it had been the German national anthem from 1922 onwards.

During the Nazi-period, only the first stanza was used.

It became the German national anthem in 1952, with only the third stanza sung on official occasions.

Since the re-unification in 1990, the third stanza has bee confirmed as the only national anthem.

Historically, the full text was used by the 19th-century German liberal revolutionaries together with the flag of Germany as the symbols of the March Revolution of 1848.

0 Replies

@saab,

saab wrote:

I googled in Danish and also there the German National anthem is called Deutschland über alles ....but with only three stanza.

US Tennis says sorry for using Nazi-era anthem before Germany Fed Cup match

Quote:

The third verse of the 19th century Deutschlandlied, the words of which were written in 1841, is the only one performed in modern-day Germany and is officially classed as the national anthem.

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I don't see how it could be accidental. But I have no real way to know.

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There is no excuse. Although it once was Germany's national anthem unlike the parody played in Kuwait when Kazakhstan won.

That at least was a genuine mistake. I can see why you're suspicious though, more than one right wing nutter has had a go at you purely for your nationality. It's a way of deflecting criticism, if the American public see a 1930s Germany instead of the modern day reality then they can dismiss legitimate criticism and throw mud. And they are throwing a **** ton.

The truth is that Germans are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Whenever I've visited I've always found them friendly and welcoming, a far cry from some of the other countries I've visited.

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I would only be concerned if the anthem was followed by a torchlight parade. Otherwise, mox nixt.

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it could have been worse, they could have played this

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@izzythepush,

It was not the first time it happened.
2011 when Germany won world canoe contest - I am not much into sports.

1 Reply

@saab,

That was a tape

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Thanks for this thread, Walter.

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Nobody should have to be ashamed of who they are... There are numerous older tried and true German patriotic songs with no Nazi connotations and which don't make Germans sound like a bunch of limp wicks being overrun by a Soros-orchestrated "refugee" invasion...

1 Reply

@gungasnake,

Our national anthem is our national anthem and not an "older tried and true German patriotic song".

Btw:
- as the title of "Preussens Gloria" correctly suggests, it's not about German/Germany but Prussia, written in 1871 after the Kingdom of Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War. (The melody of the "Deutschlandlied" was originally written by Joseph Haydn in 1797, the text is by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, written in 1841.)
- the oldest known "patriotic" German song is Prinz Eugen der tapfere Ritter from about 1720. ("Prince Eugene, the Noble Knight", a German folksong about the victory of Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1717 during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718.)

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Maybe it's just me, but I always thought those pictures of the old field marshals sitting there on their horses with the handlebar mustaches and spiked helmets were cool...

1 Reply

@gungasnake,

Those helmets were introduced by the Prussians in 1842 ... when Prussian troops cudged the German revolutionists.
The Prussians had their kind of handlebar moustache as a kind of Anglo-Germanic version of the original.

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Nazi anthem played at Fed Cup

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