2019.
Du (du kannst, du kannst, du kannst, du kannst)
Ich (ich weiß, ich weiß, ich weiß, ich weiß)
Wir (wir sind, wir sind, wir sind, wir sind)
Ihr (ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt)
The chorus of Deutschland plays on in the typical Rammstein style – the lyrics sung over the music, both their own entities but always tied together inextricably. It is the first new piece of music they have released since their last release in 2011 and it does not disappoint. Explosively brilliant music with equally brilliant, yet simple, lyricism. The drums that wreck your ears and the guitar that leaves you on the edge. And all of this brought to absolute perfection in their characteristically absurd, but horrifyingly fascinating music video replete with symbolisms that acutely contextualise the lyrics and the music while also telling a story of their own.
This comeback piece of Rammstein deals with the dilemma of national identity. The central dilemma of the German identity is, of course, most visibly associated with its Nazi past and Holocaust. While this is one of the primary themes of the song evident through the Nazi imagery and Holocaust visuals in the music video, Rammstein goes beyond that. The music video begins in Germania Magna, 16 A.D and moves through the annals of German history to finally end with a glass coffin being launched into space (a recurring imagery is some of their latest music videos as well). Throughout these visuals there is one that remains a constant – the figure of Germania portrayed by Ruby Commey. Her attire and nature changes through the ages, but the figure herself remains constant. The band members, through varied visuals – from Roman invasion to Nazis to Nazi prisoners, seem to portray the German populace or the German experience – Nazis, Jews, and everything in between and beyond.
Thus, the central theme of the song is the range of complicated feelings that Rammstein and the contemporary German conscience experiences towards their Fatherland. This is expressed in the song through simplistic lyricism like:
(Deutschland) mein Herz in Flammen
Will dich lieben und verdammen
(Deutschland) dein Atem kalt
So jung und doch so alt
(Deutschland)
(This roughly translates to:
Deutschland, my heart is in flames
I want to (at once) love and condemn/curse you
Deutschland, your cold breath
Is so young and yet so old
Deutschland)
Even a beginner in German like me could understand the antithesis presented in the lyrics fairly easily. The feeling of reconciling with the past, specifically the Nazi past, can also be traced to the post-war German processes now termed as Vergangenheitsbewältigung, which basically means coming to terms with the past. The German people (like all people), are not just themselves but also the entirety of German history. How does one reconcile the legacy of Martin Luther and Goethe with the baggage of imperialism and Nazism? How does one come to terms with the fall of the Berlin Wall and essentially a takeover of East Germany (GDR) by West Germany (FRG)? How does an East German shed the values that they held dear all their lives and reconcile with the Western neoliberal consumerist culture as well as economy? How does one look at the tyranny of state in GDR while keeping the core socialist values intact? And the answer, perhaps, is to be found in a certain resignation where one comes to think of it in terms of “can’t live with you, can’t live without you”.
The questions that Rammstein is asking of Germany are the questions that could be, and are being, asked of any local context, I’m sure, for such is the curse of the nation-state. As such, I cannot help but resonate with this song. I, too, am caught in this dilemma of acceptance and rejection – of India, of Indianness. I wonder, what does it even mean to be an Indian? How do I reconcile a more syncretic, colourful past – the secular value – with the rising intolerance of the last few decades which has now festered into manifest, bright orange hatred and violence? How do I reconcile with the IITs, in fact – the institutions which were, well, instituted ostensibly towards the project of Nation-Building which have now turned into breeding grounds of casteist and elitist structures? How do I reconcile my personhood and all the freedoms that I yearn for therein with the Womanhood that India would impose upon me at the first chance it gets?
Such being the State Of The Matter, it is very easy, I think, to become depressed at the reality of our fragmented nationhood. So what can I do but turn to the wise words of Whitman and accept that countries, like people within them, contain multitudes. All we can do is take along with us that which we can take along with us.
The divisions and hatred, more subdued – present, but quietly so – in the past decades, have risen sharply in the past few years – Russia invades Ukraine, Israel carries out a genocide in Palestine, Hindu right wing tramples upon the Muslim minority. The Muslims are the new Jews, it seems, world over. The Zionists claim the right to genocide in the history of their victimhood; the Hindu right wing in some mythical past of homogeneity interrupted by “Muslim invasions” about a millennia ago.
And I no longer know how to understand Deutschland. The song yearns for reconciliation with a bloody and troubled national past. But what does one do when living in the bloody and troubled present that has not yet become the past? How does one reconcile with their conscience over their inaction, deliberate silence – can one ever truly reconcile with it, in fact?
I suppose the questions of Deutschland, merely five years after its release, have only become more urgent. And ultimately what this song represents for me, now, is a series of unanswered (hopefully, not unanswerable) questions that must be Lived Through.
Or, as Rammstein says:
deine Liebe
Ist Fluch und Segen
(Deutschland) meine Liebe
Kann ich dir nicht geben
(Deutschland)
(which roughly translates to:
your love
is a curse and a blessing
(Deutschland) my love
I cannot give you
(Deutschland))
Listen to Deutschland by Rammestein on YouTube and Spotify
Edited by Amirtha Varshini V C
Design by Alphin Tom
Article 19 