An illustrated postcard of the lyrics to the Horst Wessel Lied, the official marching song of the Nazi party.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 97472

Overview

Caption: An illustrated postcard of the lyrics to the Horst Wessel Lied, the official marching song of the Nazi party.

Horst Wessel was a storm trooper who was killed as a young man by an unknown assailant in 1930. During his period in the SA he wrote the lyrics to a marching song that incorporated many slogans of the Nazi party. It was later set to the tune of an old fisherman's song. After Wessel's death, Joseph Goebbels turned him into a hero and martyr of the Nazi party and his poem into an official song of the movement.
Date: Circa 1930 - 1939
Locale: Germany
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Margaret Chelnick

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Margaret Chelnick

Keyword: DOCUMENTS HORST WESSEL LIED POEMS/SONGS POSTCARDS
Photo Designation: INTERWAR EUROPE -- Germany (before 1-30-33) -- Nazi Publications/Propaganda