Bismarckleed (Official Video)The Bismarck Monument, erected in 1901 in the town of Norden/East Frisia, is in a dilapidated condition at the present time - early 2022. A good opportunity to have a discussion about contemporary monument culture in general and about the Bismarck Monument in Norden in particular. Should it be removed? Or should it be restored? If so, in what form should this be done? The chairman of the local heritage association Norderland, David Gronewold, for example, brings the term "critical appreciation" to the discussion (Ostfriesischer Kurier, 07.02.22).
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by excessive patriotism and repression, in which a different opinion was often punished with imprisonment. In "Norden im Wandel der Zeiten" (Ufke Cremer, 1955, published by Heinrich Soltau) it says: " Despite all social differences, the overwhelming majority of the population seems ... to be faithful to the emperor and obedient to the authorities. A bourgeois-conservative upper class sets the tone politically and socially. Symbolic of the spirit of the times is the unveiling of the Bismarck monument on the market square on 5 May 1901, celebrated by several hundred locals and guests, in memory of the Reich Chancellor who died in 1898. The commissioners are a patriotic-minded committee and the municipal authorities under Mayor Johannes König."
"Bismarckleed", which was re-recorded in 2022, was already written at the end of the 1970s and describes the attacks with red paint on the Bismarck monument in Norden during that time. In 2007 it appeared on the CD Temmi and in the same year made it onto the Liederbestenliste, a kind of Charts of German-language songs compiled by journalists and radio and television editors.
The song asks questions that are still relevant today: Bismarck, who put you here? Who needs the memory of your time? Who wants or who should remember you? What values should this monument symbolise? And don't other people of this era deserve to be remembered? For example, those who suffered under the repressive policies of the imperial era?
Bismarck Monument, Market Place Norden/Ostfriesland (Germany), ca. 1901
Bismarckleed (Words in Low German language and Music by Herbert Bartmann)
Bismarck, wat deist du hier?
Bismarck, wat steihst du hier?
Bismarck, du steihst hier al völs to lang.
Well hett di hier henstellt? Well will di still sehn,
hett nödig dat Andenken an diene Tied,
stellt di up ’n Steen, so hart as Granit?
Bismarck, dien Tied is um!
Bismarck, du fallst hold um!
Bismarck, du steihst hier al völs to lang.
En Denkmal för de Lü, de dood sünd vandaag,
de du unner dien Foten hullst,
dat so mennig arm Slaav sük neet ückern dürs.
Up d’ Norder Markt, daar steiht en Denkmaal,
wenn ik vörbigah, denn krieg ik tovöl.
Gott mook de See, de Fresen de Dieken,
well hett uns de oll Bismarck henstellt?
Sien Kopp is ut Stahl, sien Foten ut Steen
well haalt de Hamer un gifft hum even een?
Gott mook de See, de Fresen de Dieken,
well hett uns de oll Bismarck henstellt?
Wenn ’t düster word bi Nacht, wenn annern all slapen,
denn passeert d’r wat up d’ Nörder Markt, well steiht daar denn to gapen?
Anner Morgen, wenn d' Sünn upgeiht, keen Spoor is mehr to sehn.
He sitt vull mit rode Farv, elk un een kann ’t sehn.
Man eenes Daags de Mörgen kummt, so haap ik neet alleen,
Fürst Bismarck steiht daar neet mehr rum, waar wi hum nu noch sehn.
Man eenes Daags de Morgen kummt, so hoop ik neet alleen,
Fürst Bismarck steiht daar neet mehr rum, waar wi hum nu noch sehn.English Translation:
Bismarck, what are you doing here?
Bismarck, what are you standing here for?
Bismarck, you've been standing here far too long.
Who put you here? Who wants to see you all the time,
needs the memory of your time,
puts you on a stone as hard as granite?
Bismarck, your time is over!
Bismarck, you are about to fall!
Bismarck, you have been standing here far too long.
A monument to those who are dead today,
whom you have suppressed,
that many a poor man was not allowed to rebel.
On the market place in Norden, there is a monument,
when I pass by, it makes me sick.
God created the sea, the Frisians the dikes,
who put old Bismarck there?
His head is made of metal, his feet of stone.
Who'll get the hammer and let him have it?
God created the sea, the Frisians the dikes,
who put old Bismarck there for us?
When it gets dark at night, when others are already asleep,
then something happens on the market place, who stands there and yawns?
The next morning, when the sun rises, no trace can be seen anymore.
He is painted in red color, everyone can see it.
But hopefully the day will come, and I'm not alone in this,
Bismarck won't be there any longer, where we still see him now.
But hopefully the day will come, and I'm not alone in this,
Bismarck won't be there any longer, where we still see him now.Bismarckleed
Words and Music: Herbert Bartmann
Producer: Herbert Bartmann
Mix and Mastering: Stefan Noltemeyer
Picture Credits:
Picture with Bismarck on Cover Artwork:
Archiv Medienzentrum / Herbert Visser
Picture with Bismarck Monument, ca. 1901
Postcard, Cramers Kunstanstalt, Dortmund
Picture with Herbert Bartmann, 2007
Christiaan Jongebloed
© + ℗ ruusmusik, 2022
