German equality czar calls for ‘Fatherland’ to be dropped from national anthem to make it more gender-neutral

Members of German government sing the national anthem during a session of the lower house of parliament
REUTERS
Chloe Chaplain4 March 2018

Germany’s equality czar wants to change the country’s national anthem to make it more gender-neutral - including by removing a reference to "the Fatherland."

Kristin Rose-Moehring made the proposal to strike male-specific references from the anthem in a letter to staff at Germany’s family ministry ahead of International Women’s Day, German media reported on Sunday.

The equality commissioner said the word “Vaterland”, which means fatherland, should be replaced with “Heimatland,” or homeland.

And she has also called for the word “brotherly” to be taken out of the national song, arguing that her proposal suits the times.

“Why don’t we make our national anthem ... gender sensitive,” Rose-Moehring wrote. “It wouldn’t hurt, would it? And it fits with the new federal ministry for interior, construction and homeland.”

Parts of the “Song of Germany” have been the German anthem since 1922, although since the creation of the modern federal republic, only the third stanza has been used. It begins with the words “unity and justice and freedom”.

The first stanza, with its words “Germany, Germany above all else” and the second, “Germany women, German loyalty, German wine and German song”, were officially dropped from the anthem in 1991 following reunification.

The equality commissioner, who successfully sued her own ministry in 2012 after three top ministry posts were given to male candidates without consulting her, triggered scornful reactions on Twitter, especially from the far right.

“Completely over the top, and not even an April Fool’s joke,” tweeted a branch of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Another said: “If that happens, I want to change (the phrase) ‘mother tongue’ too.”

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