Wolfgang Niedecken - Werner Rennen 2018 39

"Kristallnaach" ( Colognian for ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

'', or the Night of Broken Glass) is a political song by Colognian rock group

BAP BAP or bap may refer to: Food * Bap (bread), a bread roll * Bap (rice dish), of Korea People * Bap Kennedy (1962–2016), Northern Irish singer-songwriter * Bronze Age Pervert, Romanian-American right-wing writer and podcaster Music * BAP (Germa ...

. It was released on their 1982 album (From the Inside to the Outside). The track was the album's only single and reached number 25 on the

German charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

. The song was meant to raise awareness of the resurgence of right-wing populism in Europe and critique

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's ''

Vergangenheitsbewältigung ''Vergangenheitsbewältigung'' (, "struggle of overcoming the past" or "work of coping with the past") is a German compound noun describing processes that since the later 20th century have become key in the study of post-1945 German literature ...

'' of the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. "Kristallnaach" regularly features in the band's live sets and is its second most frequently played live song.

Development and background

In the summer of 1979, during a trip through

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, only a few years after the country had rid itself of its

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

, BAP's lead singer

Wolfgang Niedecken Wolfgang Niedecken (, ; born 30 March 1951) is a German singer and musician. He founded the Kölsch-speaking rock group BAP at the end of the 1970s and soon became famous with BAP all over Germany. He is the lead singer and only remaining found ...

worked on a set of lyrics about

neo-fascism Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...

, choosing the

November Pogrom ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

as its theme. In their early years, BAP drew heavily on the culture of political folk songs in the tradition of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

. The motivation for the track was to raise awareness of the resurgence of

right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establis ...

in Europe and critique (West-) Germany's insufficient ''

'' of the Nazi period.

Lyrics

Niedecken's lyrics are as political as they are poetic, with references to Bruegel,

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...

and

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

. This is also evident in the booklet accompanying the album, with the painting Christ Carrying the Cross, formerly attributed to Bosch, used as background for the song's lyrics. The lyrics feature emotional imagery and are accompanied by somber music. The main theme deals with Germany's ''Vergangenheitsbewältigung'' at a time when right-wing conservative tendencies were resurging throughout Europe. Unusual for a single release, the song does not feature a catchy chorus; only the word "Kristallnaach" is repeated in each of the six verses. Niedecken did not situate his lyrics in the Pogrom Night of 1938, but in the present, in order to raise awareness of the looming threat of crimes being committed against marginalized communities like

gay people This is a list of notable gay men, lesbian or bisexual people who have been open about their sexuality. The definition of sexual orientation has changed greatly over time and the general term "gay" was not used to describe sexual orientation unt ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

, originating from the same social conditions and psychological processes that led to the November Pogrom. In the 1990s, Niedecken drew on the themes of the third verse once again—incendiary slogans, the public's feigned ignorance of assaults and the propagation of racist and sexist prejudices—when he contributed the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous song to the '' Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander!'' (Ass up, teeth apart!) initiative, encouraging people to not look away but to stand up, speak out and take action against

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but ...

. In retrospect, Niedecken voiced concern over coupling the lyrics of "Kristallnaach" with catchy music. "Everybody sings along and nobody reflects on what the song is actually about. But I can't begrudge anyone for doing so, because people come to see a concert, not to think about the pogroms with me." In his book ''Catastrophic State Germany: National Socialism in Popular Songs of the Bundesrepublik'', German cultural historian Ole Löding points out that the song's lyrics, aside from highlighting political activities in the right-wing spectrum, include a strong critique of the capitalist system, particularly in the two final verses, which suggest that the danger of the society's renewed fascistization arises from a submissive-aggressive personality structure of the German people. According to Löding, the song equates the November Pogroms with a number of contemporary

social issue A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

s, thus turning the November Pogroms into a metaphor of all kinds of inhuman behavior. In doing so, Löding argues, the song contributes to a historicization of

national socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

and fails to fully reflect the root causes of the pogroms.

Other versions

In 2016,

Samy Deluxe Samy Sorge (; born 19 December 1977), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, is a German rapper and record producer from Hamburg. Early life Samy was two years old when his Sudanese father left Germany. Samy grew up with his mother's family. His ha ...

performed a rap version of Kristallnacht on the German TV show ''

Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert ''Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert'' ( "Sing My Song – The Exchange Concert") is a German reality television series produced by Schwartzkopff TV Productions and broadcast on German television station VOX. Part of '' The Best Singers'' ...

''. In 2017, Niedecken recorded a new version of the song in

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

. With this recording, he supported not-for-profit initiative Projekt Demotapes, through which musicians and filmmakers show their support for democracy.

References

{{Authority control Political songs