Overview
- Description
- Fest steht, reworked in English as Forward, You Witnesses, is among the most popular of Jehovah's Witness hymns. This performance, evoking some of the song's original spirit, took place under Frost's direction at an event held in Wiesbaden, Germany, during the 1960s.
Simone Arnold Liebster, who sings the English version of the song, was born in 1930 in Mulhouse, French Alsace. After the incorporation of Alsace into the German Reich during World War II, Liebster's family suffered increasing harrassment from the Nazis for following the Jehovah's Witness faith. Eventually both her father (Adolphe Arnold) and mother were arrested and sent to concentration and detention camps while she was placed in a correctional institution for "nonconformist" youth. Liebster has published an autobiography, Facing the Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe. Erich Frost (1900-1987), a musician and devout Jehovah's Witness, was active in the religious resistance to Hitler's authority. Caught smuggling pamphlets from Switzerland to Germany, he was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin where he composed this song in 1942. Later deported to a labor camp at Alderney, Channel Islands, Frost survived the war and returned to Germany to serve the Watchtower Society. - Alternate Title
- Fest steht
- Date
-
Composed:
1942
- Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Johannes Wrobel
- Contributor
-
Lyricist:
Erich Frost
Composer: Erich Frost
- Biography
-
Erich Frost (1900–1987), a musician and devout Jehovah’s Witness, was active in the religious resistance to Hitler’s authority. Caught smuggling pamphlets from Switzerland to Germany, he was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin where he composed this song in 1942. Later deported to a labor camp at Alderney, Channel Islands, Frost survived the war and returned to Germany to serve the Watchtower Society.
- Format
- MP3
Physical Details
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
- Copyright
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Conditions on Use
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum places no restrictions on use of this material. You do not require further permission from the Museum to reproduce or use this film footage.
Keywords & Subjects
- Geographic Name
- Sachsenhausen.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Recorded Sound Provenance
- This song was included in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's web exhibition, "Music of the Holocaust" https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/ curated by the Museum's musicologist.
- Recorded Sound Notes
- Men's Choir directed by Erich Frost
Lyrics:
1. Fest steht in grosser und schwerer Zeit
ein Volk seinem König kampfgeweiht.
Er lehrte es kämpfen und siegen,
er lehrte es kämpfen und siegen.
Hell ist das Auge und ruhig das Blut,
ihr Schwert ist die Wahrheit, das schwingen sie gut,
was nützet dem Feinde all Lügen?
Was nützet dem Feinde all Lügen?
(Refrain)
Zeugen Jehovas, unverzagt!
Ist heiss auch das Ringen,
tobt wild die Schlacht.
Sind hart auch die Bande,
die Fesseln schwer,
doch mächtig der Arm, der euch decket!
Zeugen Jehovas im Feindesland
und fern von der Heimat, vom Liebsten verbannt;
Hebt auf eure Blicke zu dem,
des Hand für euch ist schon ausgestrecket!
2. Wahrheit und Rechte, durch Menschen verkehrt.
Der Name Jehovas, von Teufeln entehrt,
die müssen wohl wieder gelten!
Die müssen wohl wieder gelten!
Heiliger Krieg, von des Höchsten Mund,
nun war er geboten zu rechter Stund,
den Schwachen, den macht er zum Helden,
den Schwachen, den macht er zum Helden.
(Refrain) Zeugen Jehovas unverzagt!
3. Schuldlos im Kerker, der Freiheit beraubt!
Spottend erheben die Feinde das Haupt,
sie möchten uns gerne regieren,
sie möchten uns gerne regieren.
Wir doch, wir hören an jedem Ort
nur unseres Königs Kommandowort.
Nur er kann doch sicher uns führen,
nur er kann doch sicher uns führen!
(Refrain) Zeugen Jehovas unverzagt!
4. Feindliches Drohen, der Freunde Flehn,
doch von dem Kampfe abzusteh‘n,
die konnten uns nimmer erweichen,
die konnten uns nimmer erweichen.
Hunger und Schläge und harte Fron
sind unserer Treue grausiger Lohn,
und viele, die mußten erbleichen,
und viele, die mußten erbleichen!
(Refrain) Zeugen Jehovas unverzagt!
5. Doch kommt der Tag einst, der alles befreit,
was zu des Höchsten Ruhme geweiht,
aus Satans finsteren Banden,
aus Satans finsteren Banden!
Jubelndes Singen die Lande durchdringt,
von allen Bergen es widerklingt,
Das Reich unsres Herrn ist erstanden,
das Reich unsres Herrn ist erstanden!
(Refrain) Zeugen Jehovas unverzagt!" - Recorded Sound Source
- Bret Werb
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-21 07:29:02
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn671458
Also in "Music of the Holocaust" web exhibition
Songs included in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's web exhibition, "Music of the Holocaust" https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/music/. Music was heard in many ghettos, concentration camps, and partisan outposts of Nazi-controlled Europe. While popular songs dating from before the war remained attractive as escapist fare, the ghetto, camp, and partisan settings also gave rise to a repertoire of new works. These included topical songs inspired by the latest gossip and news, and songs of personal expression that often concerned the loss of family and home. Classical music—instrumental works, art songs, opera—was also produced and performed during this period, notably by prisoners at the Theresienstadt (Terezín) ghetto and transit camp in Czechoslovakia, as well as in several other ghettos and camps. For many victims of Nazi brutality, music was an important means of preserving and asserting their humanity. Such music—particularly the topical songs—also serves as a form of historical documentation. Like “audio snapshots,” these works offer a telling glimpse into the events and emotions that their creators and original audiences experienced firsthand.
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