Wolfenstein Theme Song

[Kurai Tsuki]

I know that the theme song that was used for the original Wolfenstein (possibly the new one too, havn't played it) was an actual Nazi themed song. I heard it played at a small Nazi gathering at a boarding house in this movie about south africa..the name of which i also forget. But anyway, what is the name of this song? And does anyone know how it originated?

[M_Rawlins]

It's called "Horst Wessel Lied" - Horst Wessel's Song

Horst Wessel was an average SA (Sturmabteilung -- literally, Storm Detachment; which was the Nazi goon squad) trooper and local party leader in Berlin. He was killed in a street brawl with Communists in 1930, but not before leaving the words and music to the tune that became the Nazi anthem. It was played along with the official German national anthem, whose tune is still used today, although with different lyrics than what was played in Nazi Germany. :hammer:

Lyrics:

Horst Wessel Lied

Die Fahne hoch die Reihen fest geschlossen
S. A. marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt
Kam'raden die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen
Marschier'n im Geist in unsern Reihen mit

Die Strasse frei den braunen Batallionen
Die Strasse frei dem Sturmabteilungsmann
Es schau'n auf's Hackenkreuz voll Hoffung schon Millionen
Der Tag fur Freiheit und fur Brot bricht an

Zum letzen Mal wird nun Appell geblasen
Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit
Bald flattern Hitler-fahnen Uber allen Strassen
Die Knechtschaft dauert nur mehr kurze Zeit

Die Fahne hoch die Reihen fest geschlossen
S. A. marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt
Kam'raden die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen
Marschier'n im Geist in unsern Reihen mit


Translation

Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
march in spirit with us in our ranks.

The street free for the brown battalions,
The street free for the Storm Troopers.
Millions, full of hope, look up at the swastika;
The day breaks for freedom and for bread.

For the last time the call will now be blown;
For the struggle now we all stand ready.
Soon will fly Hitler-flags over every street;
Slavery will last only a short time longer.

Flag high, ranks closed,
The S.A. marches with silent solid steps.
Comrades shot by the red front and reaction
march in spirit with us in our ranks.

[Kurai Tsuki]

Wow thanks, you're pretty informed.

[BOZG]

I found this, not sure if it's what you're looking for. I haven't played Wolfenstein in about 10 years.

http://www.mazedude.com/originalvgmusic/Wolfenstein3D.mp3

[Kurai Tsuki]

That's a nice audio clip, but the one I'm thinking of is the tune that is played when you first open the game.

[M_Rawlins]

Some more detailed info on the whole Horst Wessel thing, the idea that he died from a brawl in the street is Nazi propaganda (my apologies):

The Horst Wessel Lied was the anthem of the Nazi Party, chosen to glorify Horst Wessel as a Nazi martyr. Wessel (September 9, 1907, in Bielefeld-February 23, 1930 in Berlin) was the son of a pastor who abandoned his studies of Law in 1926 to join the Nazi Brownshirt paramilitary in the final days of the Weimar Republic. He soon caught the attention of Joseph Goebbels, who sent him to Vienna in 1928 to organize the Nazi youth movement there. Intelligent and politically astute, Wessel was also extremely violent. Upon returning to Germany, he organized an attack on the local headquarters of the Communist Party in Friedrichshain, Berlin, during which four workers sustained serious injuries. This prompted Heinz Neumann, editor of the Communist Red Flag daily to call on party members to "Beat the fascists wherever you find them," exacerbating the already tense political situation. On January 14, 1930, Wessel got into a heated argument with his landlady, the widow of a Communist Party member.

Although the exact details of the argument are still debated, what is know is that: 1) she claimed Wessel refused to pay his rent--alternately, she may have tried to raise it and Wessel refused to pay the difference; 2) she claimed he threatened to beat her; 3) Wessel refused to pay rent for his girlfriend, a prostitute (according to some accounts, a former prostitute reformed by Wessel)--since the landlady was herself subletting to Wessel, she feared she would lose the rights to her apartment because a prostitute was living there. Rather than approach the police, the landlady went to a local tavern frequented by Communists for help.

The Communists saw this as an ideal opportunity to avenge themselves on Wessel for the earlier attack. Two men, Ali Höhler, a tough with underworld connections, and Erwin Rückert, an active party member, went to Wessel's apartment. When he opened the door for them, Höhler shot him in the head. He died several weeks later from his injuries. The shooting was immediately exploited by by the Nazis and the Communists to further their political aims. The Communists portrayed Wessel as a pimp, while the Nazis claimed he had actually saved his girlfriend from a life of prostitution by introducing her to the Nazi Party and its values. Goebbels organized a public funeral for the new "martyr" to the Nazi cause, and 30,000 people lined the streets of Berlin to see the procession. Goebbels delivered the eulogy in the presence of Herman Göring and Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia.

During the Nazi era, his life was glorified in memorials, books, and films. Some months before he died, Wessel had written the verses to what would become the "Horst Wessel Lied," but it first gained popular currency when a choir of Stormtrooopers performed it at his funeral. It was later recorded, and in 1931 it became the official anthem of the Nazi Party, played alongside Deutschland über Alles at all official occasions. The song celebrates the SA (whom Hitler would soon purge in the Night of the Long Knives).

from here (http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/horst_wessel_lied)

And heres a short clip of it:Horst Wessel Leid (http://www.455th.ukpc.net/tomfeise/455th/wessel.wav)