GERMANY'S HISTORY IS INTENSE!! Reaction To Deutschland by Rammstein: An Analysis

[@bigpapa1954]

I wouldn´t say Deutschland was made for educational purposes. They wanted to show the widespread sentiment of germans towards their history, the mix of pride and hate towards all the great and horrible things that happened. And there is plenty of both. Doing such a Video without the Holocaust would be way more problematic, and since Nazi-germany is the worst thing to happen in Germany, and therefore the biggest influence on said sentiment, it just has to be in there.

[@christianbrecht4680]

Anything in this Video defines "us". There is no point for jews to be upset. Except they are afraid that we might overcome our shame of History and they loose control over Germany for milking our money for their (war) business. Please all... Grow up. I am a friend of any culture, Race and faith. So you shall. Greetings

[@mellertid]

That sounds right. There is ample room between education and entertainment, and I think it's a bit ignorant to call this piece exploitative. Clearly and understandably the past is still being revisited in different ways. Not dealing with it is a bad way of dealing with it... When we say educational, we often mean "didactic", and this is not that. In a wider sense, it may be educational, I don't know. It doesn't matter. It's a valid contribution to the conversation.

[@MellonVegan]

24:45 Yes, Till's manner of speech in the songs (which is not his natural accent) is certainly reminiscent of Hitler and most people will believe that to be the reason, for controversy but that is not the reason why they use this accent. It is an artistic accent that comes from German theatre and was also used for radio broadcasts and anything involving a microphone at the time for reasons of intelligibility. That's actually precisely the reason Hitler acquired this accent for his speeches.

[@ileana8360]

You are correct, this manner of speaking was widely used in theatre, operette, radio etc for better understanding. AH used it to spread his propaganda far and wide and Hollywood made it seem as if this is German and that every German sounds the same. It tainted the `Sprechgesang´. You will never have trouble to understand the words Till is singing, but this doesn´t mean, that you will be able to catch the meaning 😉

[@Xzibitfreek]

Unrelated to Rammstein but the Nazi symbol//swastika also isnt an original design. it was first used many thousands of years ago in asia as a symbol of luck and Hitler evidently took inspiration from it. If you see this symbol in other cultures, it doesnt necessarily mean that they support Nazis but rather continue to use it as a symbol of luck like its origin. Maybe its common knowledge but it wasnt to me. I saw a music video of a Mongolian band called Die Hu who had this symbol on their instruments and thought it was a bit odd to have nazi symbols but a little research showed that this symbol is ancient and Hitler took inspiration from it rather than the swastika being an original symbol similar to how Hitler didnt invent the rolling R like you explained.

[@AH-li7ef]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXaZnqGGot-npbMfeature=sharedHere is a recording of Hitler's "normal" voice. Recorded in a train car that is currently in my hometown.

[@HG_Budde]

I'm somewhat convinced that Rammstein chose that accent deliberately back in the days to f*ck with the Americans' stereotype of every German people sounding like the dude reading "The Reports from the Eastern Front" or even straight out mocking the people who think this and later discovered that it makes the band stand out by so far, that even Americans who notoriously aren't interested in things from outside of the US now know who Rammstein is. 🤔 Honestly, sometimes those representative organisations tend to be a little whiney at times; to the point even the people of the minorities they represent feel the need to call them out for being snowflakes. This time it was the German Central Council of the Jewish People, next time it may be the umbrella organisation of my fellow queers who might react thin-skinned I actually hate that the word "controversial" nowadays has become the synonyme for scandalous and morally wrong instead of the more accurate "counterpart to unanimously agreed on", instead of become the - originally it just ment a topic which not everyone has the same opinion on and nowadays, when the word falls, the entire thing is going to be doomed and instantly looked at and perceived in a different, much more negative way. 😕

[@thorwaldspolle7498]

​@@ileana8360Hitler took acting lessons in the 1920s to make His speeches more effective.

[@andrestein7797]

it's great to see, that you go deeper in hole thing. many youtubers only watch "Deutschland" because it make easy klicks. Nobody understands it complete. They all said at the end, "if someone could explain, write in the comments". And thats all. You are the first i've seen, who want's to know, whats going on in "Deutschland". Very cool. At the end i wish you merry christmas and a happy new year. Greetings from Thuringia/East Germany.

[@Wokeundwehrhaft]

His analysis is great. Very well done for such a short video and complex topic.

[@ISSO1407]

I heavily disagree, theres tons of stuff missing that he didnt talk about and even lost context he either didnt understand or just didnt bother to talk about related to the things he mentioned. The analysis was mostly just a german history class about a few topics while he left like 30 on the sideline. In short the video was way too short...

[@PropperNaughtyGeezer]

That's the problem with the "permanently outraged" people who have developed a real bite reflex without having fully heard or understood the content. Nothing is glorified at all, on the contrary, it's about the divided relationship between love of home and history.

[@Gobboh]

To be fair: Once the song was released the voices critizing the videos quickly lost their audience because the criticism was deemed (mostly) invalid

[@cyberfux]

That's ONE thing you Scots and we Germans have in common: We both beat back the Romans so badly they had to built a wall to keep us "out" ;-)

[@PropperNaughtyGeezer]

Without success. Ultimately, our ancestors unintentionally ruined them, for which it was their own fault.

[@cyberfux]

How can you say that??? Walls work, see the Berlin Wall or Trumps big southern one ;-) @@PropperNaughtyGeezer

[@ldubt4494]

It would have been better if they conquered them tho.

[@danielrodel1334]

Interesting point to add here. The wall had a bit a positive effect for the romans. They also builded high-quality roman representive towns near the border to germania, and try to catch the tribes with the "roman civilization" like good roads, market places, shopping abilites, hight quality houses, trading etc. The at least some Germanic people were actually attracted by this offer of advanced culture. The romans never invaded the germanic territory, but surely got influence on society level. But I don't know to what extent this also applied to Scotland during the Roman Empire.

[@suit1337]

Well not quite - the Danubian Limes cut off a significant part of nowadays southern germany including parts of bavaria - basically the Danubian Limes serves the same purpose as the Hadrians Wall.

[@claudiarichter439]

I cried, when i first heard this song. So much feelings comes up

[@brendabinau1187]

Thank you so much for this video! I’m so happy that someone decided to look into Germany’s history!!! I absolutely hate when people “react” to this song without knowing any German history!! Bless your heart! And Thank You! So many people need to know this!!

[@SvenGadgetKlemmbausteine]

I only know it from stories and from school, etc. But my great grandmother was born in the Empire in 1890. Experiences the collapse of the Empire, the First World War, the upswing in the Weimar Republic and its collapse with hyperinflation. Then the Nazis came to power, the complete change in society, the Holocaust and World War II. After the Second World War, the division, reconstruction and economic boom. Then she also experienced all the technical progress. She did not live to see the reunification of Germany because she died in 1987 at the age of 97. She experienced all the bad and beautiful events of the last century in Germany. I don't even want to know how you could get through something like that and still be the proud and independent woman I was able to get to know.

[@Quallenkrauler]

I relate to this very much. I deeply regret not asking my great grandmother about the uncomfortable parts of her ridiculously long life. She was born a bit later than yours in 1903, but lived to see the reunification and then some. She died in 1915 aged 111, having been the oldest German for three months (it's ok to brag about her age, she gave us permission to do that when she hit 100). I had of course always known that she was VERY old but I remember when it really hit me. We were clearing out the house after my grandfather's death and found a portait of her from 1943. It was the middle of WW2 and she was already 40 years old. She grew up wealthy in eastern Germany as the oldest of ten children, took care of all of them after her mother's death when she was only 14. Married an even wealthier man, had a few kids and then WW2 happened. She lost everything. Her husband died in a Soviet prison, their property (a manor and a bunch of land) was taken by the Soviets and she fled to the west with her children, barely scarping by. Then her eldest daughter (my grandmother) met my grandfather after he was released as a former POW and they settled down with my grand greatmother living with them until her death. She was such an impressive woman and I never asked her about her life. All of the above I got told by my family. There is one thing about my family's history that I can still learn about, but I deeply dread it. That's my grandfather's war diary. I know my uncle has it and I really want to read it, but I'm also scared of what I might learn about my Großvati...

[@MissYijare]

@@Quallenkrauler Ein kleiner Tipp: Lese es nicht als Buch deines Großvaters, lese es als ein Buch eines Soldaten. Sie sind zwar untrennbar verbunden, aber auch er ist in den Krieg gegangen um das zu Schützen, was er liebte.

[@nicoleeilersstruever4920]

Die ganze Wahrheit hat man uns natürlich nicht gesagt....

[@Legilimentable]

I really like your videos because I can see your genuine interest in the videos you react to :)

[@nathalieeamiramistydiva2016]

As a Dutch woman i know German history because we ,as countrys,as neighboors. Its a brave beautiful clip. Pure art.

[@aoeuable]

Regarding the 1953 uprising there's a poem by Brecht, "Die Lösung", "The Solution", which reports about leaflets declaring that the people had lost the trust of the government, which needed to be re-gained by fulfilling increased work quotas. The poem then asks: Wouldn't it be easier for the government to dissolve the people and elect a new one? The speech patterns root in Thespian German, back in the days pretty much every politician spoke like that because it's optimised for clarity and radio transmission quality wasn't exactly stellar, It then fell out of fashion quickly and there's not that many politician's speeches from that time which aren't by Nazis so people started to associate it with Nazis. A similar thing actually happened to Fraktur which Nazis first used (it's just how print looked back then) but later decried as "Schwabacher Jew-Letters" (which has, unsurprisingly, not a single grain of historical truth to it) and switched to Antiqua because they didn't want their 1000 Year Empire look old-fashioned.

[@Maxicraft.]

we have Brecht in german rn and the Kz's in history very fittinbg to watch rn

[@MrFreezeYo]

Oh Mert. Your reactions are always so on point, you really show interest, educate yourself and ask the right questions. There are so many reactors who are just there for the clicks - but your interest in my country, our history and also Rammstein, our people, humor, satirical comedians, I really really enjoy every reaction of yours. You really add something to the clips you react to, which is not what other reactors do. I watch everything you do, but everything which is political is so well done by you. Keep going with our german cabaret and please dive deeper into Rammstein. Feel free to read what the songs are about before you listen to them if you want - but I am sure you will get the meaning and the lyrics unlike many other reactors. I would recommend "Radio" by them as mentioned in this clip for a political reaction, or "Zeit" because of another masterpiece from them recently. Or if you really want to be slapped in the face - maybe something like "Wiener Blut" - please use the version from "educatedmarine" with subtitles and explanation. Usually I would tell you to watch every clip with lyrics - but I am sure, you would do it that way anyways. Rammstein always is and always have been a polarizing band, they have a huge following and also a lot of people hating them - but lyrically and show-wise they are absolutely great. I myself thought they were lame - discovered them a year ago and have been to two concerts since then, and have my tickets to 2024 show already here. I would appreciate you digging deeper in that rabbit hole. Good luck to you :)

[@PropperNaughtyGeezer]

Till´s singing is like the speech of H. but H didn't invent it either. It is also the lyrical way of speaking of classical theater. When it comes to Shakespeare, people speak differently than they usually do on the street. Of course they want to appear martial on stage and this language also seems scary and intimidating. He wants to trigger emotions. They just try to make unpleasant and disgusting topics just as unpleasant and disgusting as they are. This also includes the singer's first-person perspective. You think, "What a scary guy is that" but then you think "hey, what he sang really happened." A lot of people don't understand that if they just listen to it briefly. Some songs have highly complex, lyrical lyrics and have mastered the art of formulating something so ambiguously on several layers that you first have to think about what could be meant. This may still be a skill from the GDR era, when things were not allowed to be formulated clearly.

[@hermione3muller674]

German here. Regarding inföation, yes, the fear of inflation is engrained in us for generations. In my family, to this day, we all fear the money losing value. Regarding the romans, in my school we read the text germania by tacitus in latin class and it was the topic of final exams of grammar school. I do not know how much historical value the text has but some parts resonated with me, especially the part about presents: germans like presents, but they do not feel obliged by receiving gifts and do not expect favours from giving gifts. Very true with me and many of my friends. We do not calculate or count gifts, we just give freely and receive freely without thinking much about them.

[@RayvenGuard]

As said in the analysis, the controversy about the execution scene happened mostly before the release of the video, when they released the trailer. As someone who knows about who Rammstein are, I anticipated that this would not be all the video would be about. However, I do agree that it was a very bad move to use this scene for promotion purposes the way they did. The video ended up being such a masterpiece, though, that I couldn't help but to forgive them for the trailer.

[@michaelutech4786]

18:15 - "How did that affect the people?" - I think that's one of the most important questions to ask in history. My answer is that a national identity is only a part of what defines a people. The context in which people grow up in is at least as important. I was born in 1968 in Germany and for the first say 30 years, that era defined my view of reality. I assumed that this is and will always be "the world". A lot changed in these 30 years, but I did not realize that all these small or big changes taken together would eventually change the world. Today I'm in my 50ies and I'm living abroad for about 15 years. I still feel like I'm German, but I more and more see that I'm not the same German that most others are. They changed, and so did I. The rest of the world also changed and I'm not quite clear how many of my surprises about changes are due to my generational calibration and which are due to cultural differences in Germany and the place where I live now. The difference between me and Germans living at the time around the two world wars is that I always only saw gradual changes creeping into my reality. Many compare Trump with Hitler or contemporary anti-semitism with something that led to the Holocaust. I don't think it's wise to make such comparisons lightly and that it's important to understand the context in which historical events occurred. Even though I am German, I did not inherit the insecurity most Germans experienced between the wars. This is as alien to me as I guess it is to a Scotsman. I probably know more about it, because German history lessons focus on German history, but most of these lessons describe events and times that I can no better empathize with than with Alexander the Great. I spend a lot of time trying to understand how the Holocaust could have happened, how a nation of civilized people who defined themselves as enlightened and benevolent could become a murdering machine. I think I learned a lot on that way, but that was difficult because I never felt like "them". I think the reason why Germans are so "resilient" or why it's possible that a country that went through and created so much devastation could just "bounce back" to be a normal member of the western world is simply because starts from scratch. I currently live in a Muslim country that got rid of a dictator during the arab spring. That didn't change much. There was no bouncing here. Many would say that this is because "Democracy is not for all cultures" or some such. But people here did not grow into changed circumstances. Nothing really changed and so neither did the culture. German culture helped Germans, because it was the culture of a successful and industrialized empire. Even after a complete destruction, people remembered how production works, how roles and responsibilities in a civil society work, even if the latter was mostly suspended in the 3rd Reich. The practical and social aspect of Germans culture have not been destroyed, just the infrastructure and the various stages from a (then still young) monarchy to a modern western society. Most of that was also framed by the allies, so there was only a small chance for that to spring back to the chaos of Weimar or Fascism. So apparently all it takes for a country to be rebuild from scratch in next to no time is some common experience with how that works and circumstances plus a few decades for adjustment. Looking at the USA today, this can just as easily be reversed in about the same time, evolving a western civlization into a dysfunctional mess prone to be taken over by wannabe autocrats.

[@ch.k.3377]

The withdrawal of scientists to the USA with Operation Paperclip was manageable, but what got the USA to where it is today was the forced expropriation of German patents. The Allies captured over 300,000 volumes of patent files. From 1901 to 1939, Germany had 32 Nobel Prize winners to the USA 17, after 1945-2020, Germany 39 to USA 335.

[@thomash3003]

That is true, but also Japanese industry got the benefit as the German patents were officially laid open and public domain - so everyone worldwide (outside of Germany) coud use them without compensation. For example the coating to minimize reflection on the surface of optical lenses (Zeiss) which allowed new types of camera lenses or the scavenging process for two stroke engines (Schnürle - DKW) which was copied worldwide by motorcycle industry.

[@strenter]

Have you seen the video "Amerika" from Ramstein already? This basically was their first song having a political meaning.

[@Big1Doc]

*Rammstein

[@FlorianGuitar85]

*Stammreim

[@strenter]

@@FlorianGuitar85 Stammreim and the wasted Beavers. Schöne Idee für einen Bandnamen. 😂

[@FlorianGuitar85]

@@strenter Leider schon vergeben 😁

[@Big1Doc]

It's really great that you try to dive deeper into the historical context for a better understanding!

[@gluteusmaximus1657]

Imagine the loss of three legions! That was 10 % of all military in the whole roman empire, lost in a single battle.

[@neb-taui-djeser1060]

Not a single battle. 3 days of, as we would say, guerilla warfare.

[@gluteusmaximus1657]

The battle of Verdun in WWI lastet from february to december 1916. According to a short use of google search. There are more and very long other battles mentioned as well, but this would bust the commentary section. But anyhow - Rome lost three legions at once.@@neb-taui-djeser1060

[@agricolaurbanus6209]

22:25 What should be mentioned is that the guy here who was captured was a former $$ officer and assistant to SD Chief Reinhard Heydrich, who was not prosecuted after the war and had later become president of the Federal Association of Employers.

[@frauknusper89]

I can also recommend the song Jeanny by Falco. From 1985. The first part of which triggered one of the biggest scandals in the history of German-speaking pop music.

[@RastiGan]

​@@Pr0vidence555 Austrians might have a word about that

[@jwiz2974]

The exploit that Rammstein was rightly accused of, wasn't all about showing the hanging scene in the Nazi concentration camp in their Deuschland video but about them using *precisely* that scene to promote their video at boot, fully taking into account the sensationalistic material and uproar that would ensue.

[@Kokuswolf]

About the Leonberger pubs. I think they refer as who we are now ... or try to be. Wikipedia says and maybe that's what Rammstein sees in us now: The breed standard calls for Leonbergers with strong temperaments with self-confidence and confident composure, a medium temperament, a willingness to be submissive, good learning and memory skills and insensitivity to noise. A Leonberger that meets the standard in this way is an extremely child-friendly dog that can be taken anywhere as a family and companion dog.

[@Enkrod]

Mert, you are my favourite reactor. The pure fact that you actually react to the Three Arrows Down video essay after viewing Deutschland to inform yourself and your audience absolutely cemented you as my top choice. The act of getting additional info from a more informed side and not just adopting the view but building a critical construct out of your own thoughts, theirs and creating an informed opinion is SUCH an important skill that is imho sadly not being presented in media enough. Most reactors just give their thoughts and leave it at that, others do some research, but don't show the process of how they informed, if necessary revised and updated their opinions, they just give their fully formed opinions and that's it. Simply showing an analysis might be just a little part of that process, but every little bit helps! Thank you!

[@Pascal_Wager]

Hel (no i did´nt wrote this wrong) YEAH. Tell me. Where is this super cool accent from. I love it. This might be the first Video i saw, as a German, where a Person from another Country not making Jokes or beeing agressive, talking about the Country i live in. He seems to be interestet. Abo! I really like how we can talk about each others without lumping everyone together. Behind the Bars of Borders that we did´nt build.

[@Pacifissimus]

LOVE from Germany - come when ever you wish .... You are invited !!

[@Peter_Cetera]

This ist the mentioned song "Radio": kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2e4f5ePZd2UmrM With english lyrics 🙂

[@fanneboom]

story from my grandpa, when he was a child they did go shopping with a basket full of paper money but endet up with leaving the basket to pay the bread.

[@Vive-la-Resistance]

Nice Job! Thank you❤

[@crossfire2204]

Rammstein is art ! Thats all. Not ever in light version, but for me the best musik ever. Your react is also great ! 🙂

[@CavHDeu]

You should also watch their video of their song Zeit. Democracy isn't better when it comes to equality. So their criticism is way more than just a criticism on the GDR only. The songs Radio and Angst show that even more clearly.

[@danielkaufmann15]

Let me tell you something about the German anthem. This anthem was written a long time bevore Germany as a whole country exists. Germany was a bunch of princedoms, with own laws, own taxes. And the meaning of the anthem is, to overcome this situation, and become one united country,, like the UK, three Kingdoms became the United Kingdom. "Germany above all," doesn't mean the Germans are entidelt, and above other people, it simply means, that the Germans should care first to be one united Nation. Best wishes from Germany

[@michaelutech4786]

"Links 1-2-3", "Heart on the right side", "It's beating on the left" - I did not know that. It's awesome word play with sides and ails. These guys are really smart and creative.

[@Schwigie]

I am a big Rammstein fan since i was a kid. im from germany and i loved it when they dropped the snipped, because i knew there will be a controverse , wonderful song.

[@Azachiel]

Another thing about the line "Deutschland Deutschland über Allen" in the song that I noticed wasn't mentioned but I feel adds some necessary context ist looking at the line that directly preceeds it, namely "Wer hoch steigt der wird tief fallen", or "Those that climb high will fall deep", so saying that and directly following it with saying Germany above all also serves as both comment and perhaps even warning of the depths the country could sink to. After all, he who has climbed above all will fall further than all others.

[@Orbitalbomb]

Hitler had a very distinct way of speaking. Basically you won’t find anyone speaking like him even back then. Rolling the R like Hitler and other harsh pronunciations of him, is used to mimic or make fun of Nazis today

[@PropperNaughtyGeezer]

He was also an Austrian who lived in Bavaria, they roll the R more as usual anyway. But you can also hear in old films that the R used to be rolled more.

[@jbZahl]

It's also something that he only put on for these speeches, which where highly choreographed and trained. There is one surviving audio of him talking "normaly" during a meeting. It was done without his permission and cuts of when the guards find out. I think he talks a little about how the war in the east is going. But the content was not the shocking thing. To me as a native speaker it was very strange because he sounds like a normal guy. You can hear his austrian accent a little bit. The impression that I got was someone who really loves to hear himself talk, but I might be biased, because I really don't like him even before that (to put it mildly).

[@CamaroMann]

That part with "the roled r or the hyper clear pronunciation of the lyrics things often associated with the very specific speech patterns in Adolf Hitler's speeches" is utterly bullshit - that is simply "stage german" (Bühnendeutsch, → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BChnendeutsch), its purpose is to ensure that actors, who in the past had to provide sound even in larger theatres without microphones and amplifiers, are better understood even in the last rows. Hitler used Bühnendeutsch in his public speeches because it was better understood (there were already microphones, but the quality of these was not particularly good). It is nonsense to immediately associate everyone who speaks Bühnendeutsch with Hitler.

[@Robards18]

After watching this video for what felt like the 100th time, I think I found a new meaning for the puppies at the end. I had somehow never understood this part. In the credits shortly afterwards, you see the puppies as full-grown bloodhounds in front of a special police unit. Whether this is to be interpreted as a new generation of aggression and obedience or as a kind of hope, negative or positive, is certainly debatable.

[@titangaming7915]

There is another scene in the the song not explained in this video, were the band, dressed as monks are feasting while germania lies on the table her torso opened and disembowled. This references the time before the reformation started by Martin Luther ((which resulted in a christian schism(s) and the creation of multiple new christian, protestant faiths and religious wars), where the catholic church had become rather corrupt and sold letters which absolved people of their sins, so called "Ablassbriefe".

[@silphonym]

You said that you wanted to learn more about German history, so I thought I'd recommend some channels/videos. First there would be the channel that made this video, he has a different channel called The Iron Dice, where he goes into a lot of detail about the inter-war period in the series The Fight for the Republic, but the whole things is hours long, so I don't think it would work that well for reacting to it. The channel Fire of Learning also has made some videos that cover the history of Germany, some are quite quick and answer a specific question related to the topic, but there are also some longer videos which give an overview of the complete history (the first is called History of German - Documentary).

[@balli7836]

02:30 Yes, the Nazi part is only a small part of the entire Video, but it nevertheless caused the entire Video to be seen in a controversial way. You can say the same thing about the history of Germany, though. The Nazi regime was only a small part of it, but it will always be the part, people will always think of, when they hear Germany.

[@danijobi]

Regarding the "Nazi speech patterns": yes, surely there is a recognizable cadence in Hitler's speeches, imitated by other Nazi higher-ups and mocked abroad relentlessly during and after WW2. Comics like Charlie Chaplin or Louis de Funes didn't even need to speak German in order to invoke this ultra-shouty, ultra-pronounced, consonant-heavy, high-pitched tone on the border to loss of control and screaming, and it's still a major factor to people having bad stereotypes of the German language as hostile-sounding and harsh. The fact is that Hitler actually used an acting/speech coach (there is only one recording of his natural conversational voice, which of course sounds nothing like his speeches or outbursts) and channeled (and exaggerated) a long tradition of German stage-speech. So while his form of speech was immediately either taboo or mocked after WW2, you could still hear classically trained actors like Gustav Gründgens having a very similar pronunciation, the last of which probably was the infamous Klaus Kinski, who in the 60s and 70s intentionally tried to resucrrect the by-then outdated "classical" german stage-pronunciation. So yes, Rammstein with their rolling Rs and overly pronounced Ts and CHs do sound like a throwback to either that stage tradition or that Nazi era, and with several actual right-wing rock bands around the suspicion was understable. But I think they made their political disdain for both the East-german dictatorship as well as the right-wing Neo-Nazis very clear along the way. (Now if they only could have avoided that tour groupie sex scandal...)

[@agricolaurbanus6209]

I don't know about the type of videos "about that time", but I would suggest another video by Rammstein called 'Mein Herz brennt' (My heart burns) which I found very impressive. It is based upon a real story, but also has a broader meaning.

[@emiliajojo5703]

Rammstein did clickbait,ONLY showing the cc scenes,after the video was released, there was no controversy anymore.

[@peterweiss123]

haha facts

[@mellertid]

Often, those decisions are not made by the bands. No idea about this case.

[@justus6632]

If you are very interested to learn about the Weimar Republic I recommend you a book called "Fabian: The Story of a Moralist(in english)" from Erich Kästner. Its long ago I read it but I thought it was very interesting and it helped me understanding this time frame a little bit better. Erich Kästner is a very famous german writer from that time period. He and Stefan Zweig are amazing german speaking autors! greetings

[@panther7748]

"How it feels to be German" is made up of a collection of disparate ideas and emotions, I think that's what Rammstein wanted to convey with their song. The central lyrics symbolize this: "Germany, my heart in flames | (I) want to love and condemn you" (Pretty straightforward); "Germany, your breath cold, so young and yet so old" (Germans have a long history, but our time as a nation state has been rather short and included extreme conflicts and changes); and finally: "Germany, you love is a curse and a blessing | Germany, my love I can't give you." For me, these lyrics perfectly describe how it feels to be German. They speak to my soul, that's why I think this song and video is not just a piece of music art, but also a piece of true poetry. There is an immediate truth in it that many Germans can relate to.

[@robertk5522]

Amazing, how many contents got this song. I love that video! Well, I'm interesting the history, so part of this i knew. Greetings from Poland 😀

[@WolfHagenSdW]

Kinda sad, that noone gets the meaning of the Leonberger puppys at the end. They where a breed, that almost died out after each of the two world wars. All nowadays existing Leonbergers can be traced back to 8 dogs. And they are the biggest, sweetest companiondogs you could get. Maybe a nudge at the resilliance and now sweeter temper of most germans. Unfortunatly they only get to live roughly seven years years, but you'd seriously have a really good buddy for those years.

[@wolfgangkohlhof2180]

As another example of difficulty to cope with our history, I remind everyone of the millions of refugees (like my mother fled from Pommern when the Russians took over, my father was send to Bavaria because of the bombing of Hamburg), and of the still open wound: "had" they to pay? Is the bill even by now? Are we still guilty, also of ignorance after the war? What shall the coming Germany look like, if it's about to be loved by us?

[@SuperBreed101]

Fun Fact: the national anthem of Germany, is just a version of the song " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" written from Joseph Haydn 1797 AD, for Emperor Franz Joseph II. Habsburg of Austria and King of Hungary and Bohemia. The Emperor song was even played on the funeral of Otto von Habsburg on 16th of july 2011 in Vienna (Requiescat in pace!) Austrian Version kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWmUfoZupqmVbpI German national athem kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX2xioCBnKhqd6c

[@grewzteN]

If you liked "Deutschland", you should also react to "Radio" from the same album. It has already been hinted at in this video, because it is closely related and is about freedom of speech and expression in the GDR. The video for that song is also superb, and the song really hits home the difficulties of normal people in the GDR to get access to free information. I really like that you start to get into the nitty-gritty and complicated details of German identity, history and nationalism. With two world wars, german division and re-unification and a long history since even before roman times, germany has had a very involved history.

[@Mischnikvideos]

Germanicus reached the battlefield of Varus during the campaign against the Germanic tribes under Arminius. He was also able to recapture two of the three lost standards. The third remained missing. Germanicus remained undefeated, but had to withdraw due to heavy losses. Rome then stopped further major attacks. However, the Roman troops remained active with Germanic allies. Nevertheless, 100 years later they had to give up Celtic southern Germany and retreat behind the Danube. The Germanic tribes then occupied the area. Another 200 years later, the barbarian invasions began from the Germanic areas and destroyed the Western Roman Empire. The Roman province of Gaul comes under the control of the Germanic Franks, who give the country its name: France. With Charlemagne, the Germans and French also have a common king. Under him the Germanic tribes become Germans / Deutsche. The Weimar Republic was the first democratic state in Germany. Nobody knew exactly how this worked or wanted to know. Added to this is the global economic crisis and the reparation payments. The first republic was never able to stabilize. That's why the call for a strong hand like the emperor became louder. Under the conditions of the Cold War there was a restart, which was successful. The GDR government can be accused of many things, but not that they held parties at the expense of the population. After the fall of the wall, people could go into their closed settlement. There were no golden taps there. The furniture came from the same factory that ordinary citizens get their furniture from - just extra ugly. The same Eastern European cars that drove along the streets everywhere were parked in the garages. The only luxury was a supermarket where you could buy western goods with Eastern marks. The party leaders could hardly ask their relatives in the West to send them a package with Western goods, as normal citizens did and received. The GDR's political elite consisted of people with conviction. But that was not enough for a functioning state. There was also a workers' uprising in West Germany. With the introduction of the German mark, Economics Minister Erhard released prices so that the market could regulate everything independently. The result was extremely high inflation, similar to the 1930s, and a general strike broke out. American tanks then rolled out of the barracks to put down the uprising. The American general forced Erhard to reintroduce fixed prices and the situation stabilized again. The RAF was active until 1993, but they had their most active period in the 70s. In 1998 they dissolved themselves. They had already lost support in the left-wing scene in the 80s.

[@Lumbeseckel-Oo]

Well even germans don't know much about their history. All we learn in school circles around the years 1930-1945. Those years are important to rember without doubt, but we have a really interesting history, that got lost somehow. Sadly we're slowly heading into the same political direction in the last few years...

[@CoL_Drake]

jaeh the one thing to add, the jailed members of the RAF "killing themself" ... by shooting themself in teh back of the head basicly ... jaeh that wasnt sucicide taht was murder

[@michaelutech4786]

"What German's think of Operation Paper Clip" - Well our version of Hippie was about fucking around in communes on the happy side and opposing or supporting Nazis. There were decades of unrest long after the war most prominently the conflict between the state and the RAF (not royal air force, red army fraction). Most Germans see the RAF as a terrorist group that killed innocents (which is true on the face of it), but they ignore that they were facing injustices that the justice system wouldn't address. The pardoning of Nazi criminals and their reinstatement into positions of power (or their export to let the land of the free benefit from their spirit - "Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen") was a big part of that. Conspiracy theories became fashionable and most of them are incredibly stupid and ridiculous. But the more you learn about history, the more practical things look.

[@quattrotobi]

Americans would never have made it to the moon without the Germans. The Atlas 5 Rocket was built by Wernher von Braun.

[@IchHalteDichInDerDunkelheit]

This music video is a piece of Musical and German history. It is so well put together and powerful. In July, I traveled to Germany and saw Rammstein in their homeland. This song gave me goosebumps when it was played. It was an incredible thing to witness 70,000 people all sing along to a song about them. About their history and their future. For that moment, I felt German. I felt the pride & the pain of the German people.

[@mye7381]

I just think that they describe the German identity well in this song. Of course I kind of like my country. Because my friends, my relatives and everything I know are here. And I'm not ashamed to say abroad that I'm German. My mother told me that she was really ashamed of it when she was young. But of course that was much closer to the time. But I would never say that I am proud to be German. And I think this song conveys that well. And perhaps also shows what drove this country to do it without shifting the blame. History doesn't happen in 15 years. The people who lived in this country before have experienced terrible times. But of course other countries did too. But Germany had the concentration camps and murdered millions of people. And every German (whose family lived in Germany during that time) had Nazis in their family. I know that there were enthusiastic Nazis in my family. And probably not unimportant ones. I think it's very important to look into this. Yes, my family was involved in a system that murdered people. Is that my fault? No. But it is somehow my responsibility. Even if that sounds very pathetic. And last but not least: I was a big fan of Rammstein. Unfortunately, I can't listen to any of their songs right now. I'm not saying that others shouldn't, I'm just saying that I can't right now because of the accusations that female fans have made.

[@mellertid]

Yeah. It's odd, this pride and shame of things that happened totally removed from us. We (as in humans) can not accept too much pride or shame from the past. A little - seems inevitable, and maybe fair enough.

[@uliwehner]

@Mert, what i see is missing in this, as well as other analyses of this video, is the fact that the band plays both sides of the conversation. They wear the uniform, they are hanged as jews, homosexuals, political prisoners, etc. That is the whole point. All of this was done by germans to germans. This is what makes german history, there are not only perpetrators or only heroes. That is in fact what causes the ambivalence evoked by the lyrics. of course we are proud of being german, but we are also well aware of the atrocities committed by germans. This should be quite relatable to someone from the UK?

[@michaelutech4786]

Btw, I think the wars between Germanic tribes and Romans should count at least partially as shared German and Scottish history (depending on whether you're a high- or lowland Scott that is).

[@andysgarage233]

Rammstein shows you the mirror of history

[@Louy878]

U need to get to know hape kerkeling, for sure mate! Can U watch this? ---> Horst Schlämmer - Gisela hey mert you need to watch horst schlämmer aka hape kerkeling, he is a legend here in germany, once he disguised as queen beatrice and got into her palace. He is a genius comedian. please have fun and i love to see your reaction. I love to see german humor appreciated.

[@MattiasF-w9p]

Fun fact: Mauritius, was the chosen holy man of the saxon nobles. A very famous saint in the middleage, a soldiers saint. As the name says: mauro=Afrika. In many old churches is a statue. One of the most popular saints in Germany of all time. The holy Black man, St. Mauritius. Nowadays nobody knows.

[@PowerBischi]

Thanks for this video! If your interested in learning more about Germany in the late 1960s and 70s, I recommend you watch the movie "The Baader Meinhof Complex". This film offers a good overview of the events surrounding the "Red Army Faction".

[@Pacifissimus]

Love this channel - this guy speaks good clear English I can understand all n everything - very good. Klasse - Gruß

[@Wollestar]

When I heard that Rammstein was going to release new music and than the trailer for Deutschland came out, it was exactly what was to be expected from them. They are masters at taking shots at all sides at the same time. A bit like Bill Burr once said, the trick is to piss off everyone equally by saying: Trump is such a dope, he actually made me vote for a woman. XD

[@ileana8360]

The self-proclaimed experts and critics fell into the trap Rammstein layed out for them. It might have been a cheap trick, but it did show how some people judge without seeing the whole picture (can you say this in English?) or having all the facts. Rammstein called them out.

[@Wollestar]

@@ileana8360 yes, seeing the hole picture works in English as well 😊 Exactly.

[@Tiisiphone]

English is not my mother tongue so please bear with me. I'm a fifty-something punk/metalhead who happens to be half-jewish. My great-grandparents were polish, ethnic german jews. Since I know about Rammstein's left-wing opinions and their use of provocative imagery I was never shocked by them showing nazi stuff because, well, this is part of Germany's history, never mind if you want it or not. It shouldn't be put under the rug. I think that the trailer showing only concentration camp inmates was probably very clumsy, because people not knowing the band would think they were using a tragedy for marketing purposes. However, I don't think it was the case. Why? We have the example of the original project for Sonne. When the music was written for a boxer's entrance on stage was rejected by said boxer, the project was recycled, lyrics were added and they talk about the horrors of nuclear war (Here comes the Sun, we are bringing nuclear fire to your city). The clip should have shown the band sitting in the cockpit of the Enola Gay bomber, on its way to Hiroshima. The idea was abandoned in order not to offend the Japanese survivors. This is why I think Rammstein is usually very aware of the reactions they can provoke. Deutschland's trailer is maybe not a good idea, but I don't think it's a cynical use of holocaust imagery. Just my 2 cents on it.

[@iwonttellmynametoamachine5422]

I always wonder why it's a difficulty for english speaking persons to say "Stein". I mean.... "Ei" is pretty similar to "eye". But they never woul say "My e's are blue"

[@HKBSirNiclas]

I remember the controversy about the trailer of the song. As far as I know it was mostly about the trailer showing promenently and mostly the holocaust-scene to get a advertisment as big as possibly. I think most of the critics were against the use in the trailer not against the scene in the video itself.

[@emiliajojo5703]

Wow,can't wait to watch!

[@rueeggerme]

I am a Rammstein Fan for nearly 20 Years. ❤ And no i was not surprised - rammstein is always kontroversal. Have a nice day from a Rammstein from Switzerland 👋

[@thomashandschuh8476]

Hey Dude🎉thanks for asking ! I spent 2hours on reading these comments 2 find out what sort of input your viewers try to link to yor questions😅😢 Now here I go with my personal input ! Start with the bandname: it refers to a horible accident in 1988 that happened @ a US~airbase in Germany(west@ those days) killing~70 innocent spectators with a jet crahing into rhe audience~ what a choice~for a east berlin punk band ...the wall was still up @ that time! It fell on Nov,09 in1989! Later in 1995 I personaly mett Mr. T.Lindemann at an examination for stage~pyrotecs when he was aplying for a official licence to do stage~pyro~performances just like me at Berlin! He could'nt find a pyrotec that would risk to light his special,~effect~stage'suit' ,so he decided to pass the test himself ,to be able to do it on his own behalf of the stage performance of the Band~ real DIY I was working as "local~crew" on Berlin stages in those days.... Later I had to serve the Band Rammstein,among a Lot of other Bands who came to play concerts in Berlin (i.e.Pink Floyd'theWall'~show@Reichstag) & Bruce Springsteen,etc... You name it, I worked there!... Back to Rammstein: later the liveperformance of Bück Dich @ wuhlheide open air stage in Berlin~Köpenick: we were asked to buy the biggest Dildo avalable🎉& mount a waterline to it, & I had to sit under the stage and open the tab,when he was preforming the song to make him sqert😂@ the first rows of the audience & 'penetrate' the Drummer of the Band as part of the Show on Stage~ Later they played @ Olympiastadion & symbolism went worse~ the last show I had to serve this band was the 'made in germany'~tour @ Velodrome,Berlin: The socalled "Loadmanager" b.harder (real name!) attaced our 'colored' crew members during loadout wth physical violance,beating them & callung them 'lazy bimbos' We stoped work as a protest & production refused to pay for the loadout~crew that night😢 That was the night that I decided not to work for them anymore! Sofar my personal experiences with R+ ...I aint gonna work on Maggie's farm no more! They make gillions out of innocent & unconious fans & buy a lot of realestate in Berlin to terrorise the tennents with over~price~rents as a sort of 'pension' for the Bandmembers ~ not so cool,eh!?¿! & now the " row~ 0 ~scandal" with that Pre~~selection~ of horny groupies for a blowjob on Till's 'Schiedelwutz', sorry,now you lost me!.... Hope I could help! t.

[@leisen9679]

What bugs me is that many people forget that imortant parts of Germany were inside the Roman Empire: Cologne, Frankfurt, Mainz, the whole of south west Germany, where I am from was Roman. The border (limes) was several 100 km inside of what is now Germany. So it is factually wrong to start with the battle of the Teutoburger Wald. It is an important narrative, but that doesn't make it the birth of the German nation. That comes much later.

[@emiliajojo5703]

16 ad,Arminius was killed,through betrayal.

[@Happymali10]

10:50 I have ancestry in the former east-germany, and they said a lot of people in their town had an antenna hidden in their chimneys. They would raise it up a bit at night to hear west-german radio stations without anyone noticing.

[@herrhorst5453]

One nice detail - Germania is often in the colors of the german flag (She's Black and wears red and gold, or has even red coloured eyes in the KZ szene)

[@dmwalker24]

Even though I am only an American with family who were German immigrants, I take offense to the knee-jerk reaction of some to brand Rammstein as right-wing nationalists. Everything about this song/video is clearly about the internal conflict that arises from having to come to terms with the dark history of one's country. Something many Germans have done, and something a great many Americans could also stand to do.

[@CherAnthrax]

The mentioned zeppelin was the Hindenburg and crashed on the sixth may 1937 which was seen in the beginning of the music video. Also the book burning happened from March to October 1939 in which students and professors burned books from ostracized Autors.

[@Pacifissimus]

Mert is english - that is SAXXON Wonderful! As German it is easy to listen - I can understand every !! Mert is german/kelt .... He speaks wonderful /wunderbar) Big Daumen hoch!

[@jkosch]

4:30 During Germanicus campaign he found the site where 7 years before in 9 AD the Battle of Teuteburg Forrest had happend and holy groves where Roman Soldiers had been scarified in the aftermath. According to Tacitus, they found "heaps of bleached bones and severed skulls nailed to trees, which they buried." The hanging is conjecture, as later Norse sources mention that human and animal scarifies to Odin where hanged and it likely that a version of the more Southern Woden/Wotan version of Odin was already worshiped by the Germanic tribes of the 1st century.

[@michaegi4717]

The rolling R is a really complicated thing. Whenever one want to reference to Hitlers speach they use this kind of pronounciation. But there are regions in Germany where this is just part of the traditional dialects (e.g. Franken). But as far as I know Rammstein has no connection to those German regions.

[@AH-li7ef]

I added a link in the comments to a recording of his "normal" voice, but my comment has disappeared. Are comments censored if real names are used? Anyway, here's a link to the recording made in Finland, and the train car is currently in my hometown. By the way, my username does not refer to that person 😂kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXaZnqGGot-npbMfeature=shared

[@michaegi4717]

@@AH-li7ef I don't care about the voice of the dictator. I was just refering to the musican. The dictator was not a German but Austrian.

[@AkahigeNoAmo]

There is also another thing strongly contradicting those Nazi allegations on Rammstein, during their youthful times in the GDR, they were Punks, sometimes getting into brawls against Nazis during or after their stageshows (lol... this was written, maybe 30s before the interview was presented XD )

[@holgerlinnertz495]

thank you for your deep dive here.

[@Pacifissimus]

Good Boy --- we love your analysis ....

[@S-yr9il]

I think You cannot say something about German History without mentioning the Holocaust. Besides I think it is important that one member of the band has a pink triangle (mark for gay) on the jacket, one has a red and black patch (inmate with antisocial and political background) etc. so there is a reminder to all people in concentration camps, not only the Jewish people

[@johankaewberg8162]

Pink triangle, check. The gypsies, did they have a mark? Many dead in that group as well…

[@JaMaZz77]

@@johankaewberg8162the german wikipedia article Kennzeichnung_der_Häftlinge_in_den_Konzentrationslagern features more detailed information about classification, numbering and marking different groups of unwanted people. As it seems, no distinct mark for gypsies, though I suppose they would classify them by their nationality/nation of origin in combination with a black triangle (antisocial) according to their "system" Again, so elaborate and systematic that it is just baffling demonic...

[@SakuraFluffy]

​@johankaewberg8162 they had brown triangles

[@Vanyawwd]

Kinda unrelated but I do hate how 99% holocaust movies only show Jews , yes they were the main target but they certainly weren’t the only victim in the camps and it honestly annoys me . Some people are shocked to learn there’s more victims than just Jews. I know when I was younger and learned about the holocaust, I never knew about the other victims. Its sad. Or even what happened to gay men ‘liberated’ from the camps after the war Edit : like watching reactions to this song lots of people also didn’t realise the other three patches and just the Star of David. Glad this song can educate people about it

[@BlickrichtungSueden]

Thanks for your reaction ❤

[@wernerkl4036]

Now you know more about Germany than most Germans

[@hermione3muller674]

Identity is a difficult thing. I was taught to be ashamed of being german but to be proud of being european. There is a strong uneasiness between north and south in germany. Being from the north, i suffer a lot of abuse by southern germans who call me stupid fish head etc. It is true that the south is much richer due to weapons industry concentrating down in the south, thus bringing in more money, while my north is rather agricultural and really poor compared to the south. As a result, we have poorer schools, poorer cities and towns and thus much less opportunities for education, culture and jobs.being constantly bullied by southern germans, i honestly feel very unconfortable around them and do not feel like having anything in common with them. Thus, i do not feel being german as i do not feel like being similar to them, to be honest, i feel close to scandinavia, especially regarding mentality, values, way of living, food etc.

[@Ichscheissaufdeinenlifestyle]

I think Rammstein can be easily misunderstood if you only look at them at a surface level, for example, if you just notice "oh no they roll the 'r'" or "look they reference hitler" without acknowledging the context in which it is brought up. I have the feeling that is especially true today, where most people spend so much time online and in that time within their respective bubbles that they easily get blinded by catchy/controversy opinions. I love to watch your channel, and I adore your community because it seems to me that the people here really take an interest in exchanging meaningful thoughts and learning from one another, which sadly is not the standard for online communication

[@johankaewberg8162]

Radio Luxembourg on the AM even more. Moving societies through simple music.

[@maholics]

Anyone who claims that Rammstein is right-wing doesn't seem to be very intelligent - or hasn't studied the band in the slightest. Rammstein themselves say that they are rather left-wing and they come from the left-wing punk rock corner. Their lyrics and videos are provocative, yes of course. But you can clearly see that the provocation is AGAINST right-wing sentiment!

[@Happymali10]

16:05 Mercedes actually printed their own bills at one point during the inflation because they still sold (mostly exported) cars but the amount of German Mark bills they'd have to store/handle became excessive. So they went and printed their own billion-mark-bills to keep things from going "out of hand" in a literal way.

[@Hyperschark001]

well many people are ashamed being germans. And these days many are leave the country and go somewhere else because of how less and less they love our country. Thats how crazy it is today.

[@ZerosWolf]

Hi Mert, I don't like Ramsteins music so I never listened to the song, but the analysis is great and brought a lot of new information to me. Especially DDR history is neglected to a fault at German Schools, so this is the first time I heard about the uprising. What really hit me though was what happened at Mittelbau-Dora. The thing is, my great-grandfather (ggf) was one of the engineers working on the V2 weapon. He didn't do it out of conviction, it was simply his job and he defied the Nazis as best as he could without bringing trouble on himself and his family. My great-aunt told me a story of how when mustache-man came for inspection, ggf refused to wear the party symbol. In the end he had to agree to wear it, but put it on the inside of his collar so it wasn't actually visual. I cannot imagine living in those times, just trying to survive and protecting your loved ones. I was born 1989 and grew up in a pretty liberal party. I am proud to be German and of the Germany I grew up in, but keep the past as a warning in mind. I am worried about the current political situation, but am also too occupied with my own struggles to take part in politics aside from voting. To be honest, this is my impression of many people of my generation. We are so strapped into surviving while lulled into the securities given by the state, that we hardly have a chance to actually be active while the older generations and people with hardly any connections to the broader population make the decisions.

[@leaspauli7807]

Vieles was heute über die DDR gesagt wird hat mit der Wirklichkeit der Menschen in der DDR nichts zu tun. Auch die Politiker haben nicht in saus und braus gelebt natürlich hatten Sie Vorteile aber sicherlich nicht die Ausmaße wie in westlichen Ländern. Das Leben war schlicht aber schön!

[@laurazepam8382]

Ich weiß nicht wo du zur Schule gegangen bist, aber bei uns war die DDR sehr wohl Thema....

[@ZerosWolf]

@@laurazepam8382 Niedersachsen. An meinen Schulen wurde sie nur ein Halbjahr im Deutschunterricht thematisiert, als ich 2017 mein Abitur nachgeholt habe. Während meiner Regelschulzeit Ende der 90er, Anfang 2000er wurde es nicht thematisiert. Dafür wurden wir so sehr mit drittem Reich überschwemmt, dass mit das Thema zum Halse raushängt.

[@Lord0of0Minnegard]

All that pain did have some benefits. I recently stumbled over some Notgeld from ravensburg. Artistic masterpieces they where and you could play cards with them as well as pay

[@oliverebbing6637]

As a german, i don`t remember a big controvercy about "Deutschland". Sure Rammstein always is in focus with some controvercy but i don`t remember this song in perticular being a big controvercy. The Video just goes trough german History and yeah it wasn`t always pretty.

[@dnocturn84]

One symbolism in my opinion, which many people don't get or don't go into, is Germania beheading Till, the Roman soldier, and holding on to his head for the whole video. Germania killed the Romans (and will later kill the whole empire), but liked the idea of being an empire, a super power herself. She kept the head as a reminder and always tried to become that empire. She even bites it in anger, like being fooled by this vision for all of this time, after one of those attempts failed her dramatically (the 3rd attempt).

[@jbshiva865]

Great catch, I've never thought of that.

[@methos4866]

The unreasonable demands put on Germany after WW1 by the allies (Britain, France etc.) can be seen as the catalyst for what brought the Nazi's to power and i don't think this video puts enough emphasis on that.