Deutschland by Rammstein: An Analysis 

POV: a german guy explains your own country's history to you in a foreign language

Rammstein literally said “f*ck nazis” and people freaked out because they said nazis :|

Being a Polish person and knowing our troubled history with our neighbours I honestly say that this video brought a tear to my eye. I have a lot of friends in Germany, I've been to Germany many times, I also speak German and I know their turbulent history very well. I totally understand the message of this song and this video. I understand how hard it is to live with the burden of your parents and grandparents wrongdoings. I understand how troubled history German people had. I might be one of the few Polish people who openly reach a friendly hand and send love to my German friends, but I will do it over and over again to bury the past and look for the future.

One of my favorite visual references in the video (there are so many, and they come and go so fast) was when Ruby Mossey as Germania appeared in a gold chainmail bikini, with sunglasses and a fur coat, holding back four snarling dogs (and backed by a squad of armed Bundespolizei) - an obvious reference to and subversion of the statue of Victoria in a four-horse chariot which tops the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

DU

If only every nation was as brutally honest about its history...

‘Nationalism is easy to overdose on’ is an absolutely fantastic, genius phrase

As a Jew I was never offended by the brief trailer for the video depicting band members about to be hung. Because it INSTANTLY hit me as a stark condemnation- a big middle finger- to the Third Reich and all it stood for. It never seemed like a cheap stunt to me, and I didn't understand the controversy. Thanks for exploring the other images in the video and explaining the related history, of which I as an American know very little.

Buy a coffee for 30,000 marks, sell it back to the barista for 60,000 two minutes later. Stonks.

So I came here to see why it takes 27 minutes to analyze a video, and got educated on german history.... I love the internet.

"Rammstein says punch nazis. There you go" hell the fuck yes

I feel like every country needs their own ‘Rammstein’ to make art like this so everyone knows the real history their country tries to hide

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the level of thought & effort that goes into pretty much every Rammstein video? Very few artists go to these lengths, always next level.

Germania is black, but she also wears red and gold to symbolize german flag.

Casting Ruby Commey was pure genius, not because of the colour of her skin, but because of her performance. It's hard for me to picture someone else playing this role.

German here: This is why I cry when watching/hearing the song. Germans are not easy to understand, but we did (mainly) evolve past WW2. So much wrong did create something better in the end. This song really strikes a nerve, but it does it in a way that makes sense.

You missed the part when monks and priestes feast upon the body of Germany and when, the same clerics, happily hug nazis; a clear reference about how church has always preyed on the people misery and it is also been very appleasant and collaborative with an antisemitic and uberconservative leadership such as the nazi's one. Thank for the explanation about the weimar's turbolent history elements shown in their clip.

I think the witch who was burned was Germania. Which leads me to the interpretation that the burning of books is meant to be a burning of Germany, in a cultural and intellectual sense.

I wish that we the British were as honest as both Rammstein and Germans generally are about the ‘dark’ parts of their history. They really do deserve credit for laying it all bare. This song aside, just visit Berlin and see how they expose and live with their past. I often tell people that as a race, they are really moderate and liberal compared to we in the UK who seem to be veering to the right. How ironic that we revel in defeating Nazism, only to catch this infectious disease when we should and do know better.

Thank you so much for this!! As someone who learned German as a foreign language in high school, Rammstein were pivotal in keeping my interest in German culture and literature alive, as all of their songs have a plethora of more or less cryptic references to Goethe (in "Dalai Lama"), Feuerbach, (in "Mein Teil"), Brecht (in "Haifisch") and so on. Probably wouldn't have had the same drive to learn and understand the language without them. I love how they create this double layer for the audience - a "superficial" layer of interpretation that is just gory, shocking and weird, and a "deeper" one that is dense with poetry and commentary and kind of hidden behind a linguistic/cultural barrier. I sincerely believe Rammstein actually intended to spark a controversy. They knew some people would have taken the imagery at face value without making an intepretive effort. It's almost as if the shocking imagery was meant to cause a "Verfremdungseffekt" and force the audience to think deeper. Cheers from Italy, a country which hasn't problematized its past nearly as much as Germany did, unfortunately.

German band: **Being german** Rest of the world: .... German band: **references German history in their art** Rest of the world: **Starts sweating profusely**

A political observation I noticed: In the concentration camp scenes, Germania is wearing her eye patch over her left eye. Perhaps to symbolize that Germany was only "seeing" through the right (wing) at the time.

It amazes me how many people still think Rammstein are Nazis after watching this video. After reading the lyrics, I immediately understood the video and why they chose to show a Jewish exicusion among other things. The entire point of the video is showing that Rammstein loves their country, but also understands it's dark past and actions

To be honest German lady looked like she was having fun with her role. Just look at her smile, it's so precious

Teacher: Why are you so good in german histoy? Me: I watchted, listened and understood Deutschland by Rammstein

I think "mein Land" and "Amerika" also give some perspective on how they see imperialism and nationalism.

Not only could I pick up on the general jist of "wanting to love your country despite its frankly awful history", but I could also relate to it. The US is much like Germany in many respects. “Überheblich (overbearing / presumptuous), Überlegen (superior) Übernehmen (taking over), all of these apply. The biggest difference, however, is our stance on Nationalism. While Germany is rightfully cautious of being overbearing, the United States is anything but. Our country has committed countless atrocities across the world, some without the people's consent, most with our enthusiastic permission. And yet, much like lady Germania in *that one scene*, most of us are still blind to it. Some of us have taken the eyepatch off, others insist on keeping it on. But most of us took it off once or twice, hated what we saw, and decided to keep wearing it. But let's just say that the strap becomes pretty tight with a proper American education.

That had to have been the coolest music video ever. It had lasers, knights, astronauts, transvestites, angels, tanks, sex slaves and beautiful women in golden armored dresses.

Childish Gambino : This is America Rammstein : hold my beer

I gotta say as a Jew I was at first worried when I saw the snippet when they released it but I wanted the whole context and Rammstein did not disappoint. Even in the snippet it didn’t seem exploitative and I was furious at how people were reacting to it. I was glad to see how right I was when the whole video was released. It is an amazing piece of art and has a ton of meaning. Thank you for breaking it down.

If they were angry about the Holocaust references then they missed the point of the video.

As a Russian/Belgian national I find this song extremely relatable and the lyrics works 100% accurate for both my national identities, if I replace Deutschland with Russland or Belgien. These are exactly the questions we're asking ourselves: who are we? is it possible to love our country after all the horrific things done? are we able to redeem ourselves? does this country have to exist at all? or we're too different to live together? or the existence of this state only brings misery and the world would be better off without it? And HUGE respect to Germans for asking these questions out loud and being brutally honest about their history. Thank you for giving a voice to my own feelings

"But please, while you're watching this... keep in mind that everything I say in this video is completely right, uncontroversial and not up for argument " - quality disclaimer

My favorite part of the song: "Wer hoch steigt der wird tief fallen, Deutschland, Deutschland über allen" "The higher you climb, the farther you fall, Germany, Germany above all"

4 yrs ago: tHaT's aNti-jeWIsH Today: yEs fCk iSrAeL

when i saw the song video and listened to lyrics for the first time i almost cried, i am not german, but being former yugoslavian, i understood the images, the emotions, the pride and shame.. this song even thou it is about german history and how common people in modern times got tormented inside for the actions of their ancestors and being judged even today with things they have nothing to do, why do i understand it. because as a croat i feel, felt the same. my country is responsibel for so many crimes in its history, especialy durgin ww2, then communistits came who were on so many levels same as ustasi (nazies), then yugoslavia fall apart and new war came, i am actualy survivor of ethnical cleansing, my own brother is c. camp survivor and he was only 16. i went thru hell when city felt and after war, many years later i joined the support group for young and child survivors, met people from bosnia and croatia, who were croats, serbs, bosniaks, who talked about same hell they went thru, but their tormenteros were serbs, croats, bosniaks, dpending on their ethnicity. knowing so many things and so many historical facts it is sometimes so hard to be proud of your own heritage, national identity, but then again, there are things for which everyone of us should be proud, every country is having criminal history parts. dark parts wich should be teached and shamed off so that they never happen again. and there is so many things we all should be proud about our countries. many people i know from my country have that same love and hate feeling towards naional pride, history etc. we all need to work on tomorro'w history, we cant changed what already happend, we should not be judged coz of sins of past done by our ancestors, we have nothing to with those, instead we all should work together that in future generations which are coming are proud of the world they will be living in, to acceot every person as a unique individual, without labels and presumptions coz of their natiopnality, history of their country, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation. we all are humans, living on a same planet, only planet we have and we keep doing same mistakes over and over inevery corner of this earth. when people will consider themselves as a citizens of planet earth, equal to anyone else on this planet, then everything else what makes their own idnetity, then we will be abel to go somehwere as a spicie, till then many more will expirence and have same feelings towards their own countries for many more years to come.every person on this planet must face the thruth, accept the history and crimes and sins of heir own ancestors, of their own countries instead allowing the rewriting of history. my country done exactly that, when yugoslavia felt ww2 history was rewriten, kids were teached wrong facts, then after recent war crimes of our own were covered and people got rewriten version, but many people did not want to be quiet, they stood up and 30 years after recent war we finaly speak about our own crimes commited towards others in recent war and history books about ww2 are finaly covering the right historcial facts, without any sugar coating... i understand the whole song so perfectly, and i am not even german. this song is universal...

Do you see the symbolism in germanias colours? Her BLACK skin, her golden(YELLOW) chainmail and her RED lips or background. Those colours make a german flag.

I wasn't expecting this, but I'm not complaining.

Can’t believe I had to wait for two years until someone puts together all the details of the video to provide us with such an insightful analysis of the German history. Absolutely brilliant and professionally made and well-explained. I remember watching many amateurs analyzing the video the moment it came out, but since they were all super fast to post, videos were lacking in quality, lots of crucial information and were very superficial. There was a huge room left for improvement. I knew that one day the deep dive into a German history based on the Rammstein video would come. And it’s finally here! Bravo and props to you for your hard work and every tidbit brought up in this video!

I honestly love the fact that its a black actress who portraits germany in the music video. Its really a nice way of attacking and mocking the idea of a "White" Germany. It also points nicely to the fact that modern Germany is a nation of many races, religions ethnic groups and the whole spectrum of sexuality that most certainly has come along way from 1944.

It's a shame how often German bands that present anything other than the stereotype of Europop camp get the "are they Nazis?" question, despite being so openly anti-Nazi (like Rammstein here, or KMFDM). Nobody ever asks if Dschinghis Khan is fascist...

Rammstein: *Kissing on stage, singing Liebe ist für alle da, waving LGBT+ pride flags, declaring they hate Nazi's, portraying themselves as the oppressed victims of the Nazi regime* Critics: Are these far-right nationalists?? NAzis??? I actually remember having someone ask me after I said I loved Rammstein, that aren't they hard right-wing?? and I was like ? No? I can sorta see where the shock elements in the hard aesthetic would remind you of that, but they're distinctly counter-culture and counter-authority and have a very clear disdain for fascism. They also have zero issue portraying minorities such as POC or LGBT+ individuals in an empowered and positive light in their music Why can't the controversy be more centred around how damn filthy they are sometimes lmao. You absolutely cannot detach the sexual element of their music from the band, but can you not fuck your throat til you vomit on stage pls danke

I'd never heard of Rammstein before this, and it got me listening to the band. Aaaaand having listened to more of their work, RU-vid pointed me at Sabaton, and I have to wonder how much grief their subject matter puts them through.

the best analysis/explanation of this video i have seen so far. Thank you for that!

I've watched this video a few times, and I never once got the impression they were being exploitative or insensitive or anything like that. There's no disrespect. They're talking about their relationship with their homeland, a mix of pride and shame, love and hate, joy and pain. There are things to hold Germany up for, and things they should hang their heads for. Same as any country, though Germany has had a rocky road for one of the leading modern economies of today. How could they just leave out the Nazis? That would've seemed.. Like they were trying to pretend it didn't happen. It did. And they are ashamed of it. That's why they made themselves the victims. They sympathize. I just don't get the criticism. It's a mini movie of Germany's history. Can't just cut out the parts people would rather not think about. That would be wrong. I think it's beautiful and sad and it was moving. I love it. Rammstein has always been pushing the boundaries. I don't think this is one of those times. They're expressing their mixed feelings about their heritage in art. That's it.

26:10 "Recalling Germany's past without leaving out the ugly parts is not only necessary for our own sake, but also for Europe-- a project we share with others." This is important for the world over. As is popularly mentioned, especially around topics about Germany's history: "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

This was an excellent analysis, and I'm glad I watched it. Thanks for putting this all together!

WONDERFUL analysis! And history lesson. So much I didnt know before! I REALLY enjoyed this! Danke!

I'm Italian but this song give me shivers everytime, and often stop in silence for minutes. This video is one of the few musicvideo worth watching again and again. It's a display of a wide range of emotions: Love, mostly, but also sadness, shame, hope and anger. It's a piece of Fine Art and i will be forever thankfull to Rammstein fot it. Also thanks to you, Three Arrows for the deep analysis of ths masterpiece.

I’m an American, and lately I’ve found myself questioning my own patriotism. I’m glad you took the time to break this video down, and confirm my initial impressions of the video. I find it resonates powerfully with the current American political climate.

Iam a native german and realy love this song as a great masterpiece. The interpretation in this video is very detailed and good 😊 Thank you for this video and greetings from germany 🇩🇪

Very good and interesting video! You covered so much aspects of history and put them into context !

Re. the theme of their other song “Radio”, I didn’t realise what the “every night, for 1 or 2 hours” meant until a Berlinerin metalhead explained it. The jamming of Western radio stations by the East would go down for a few hours very early in the morning. So that was the only time when the East Berliners could catch the illegal news and music from the West, instead of the Schlager songs and propaganda from the East.

As an Israeli Jew, I find this beautiful and not offensive at all. I have very controversial feelings towards Germany. I love this country, the language is beautiful so I learned it, the culture and food are great, and the people are really nice (at least today). However, as I said I am Jewish, moreover my parents are from Russia, I have everything to lead me to hate the country. Sometimes I feel guilty for loving it and being in Berlin got me in tears, thinking I am having good time where my great grandpa fought almost to death against the power of evil. I believe this song and its' video are representing the German patriotism, while criticizing their country and not being nationalist. They are afraid/ashamed to express their national feelings, and when they do we understand why. The moment I watched the video and I saw the lead singer dressed as a Jewish prisoner in a death camp saying "Deutschland über allen" I was like "NOW THAT IS ART". This cynical expression of feelings towards your own country, made me feel like the Germans (as a nation and not as a state) did leave it in the past, and yet it is a part of who they are. I don't want to make this comment to long, but there is much more to say.

Thank you for this - it lead me to watch the video, as somebody who never really got into Rammstein, and it is incredibly beautiful and affecting, especially as somebody who was born in a corner of Italy where we experienced Germanitas up close and personal, if you know what I mean. It even made me want to brush up on my German, hoping that I could get to the point where I could say "Hi" in it, which is more than the three previous efforts have led.

This was by far one of the best and educational videos I have ever seen on RU-vid. Well done and bravo! I had to become a subscriber after this. I look forward to checking out more of your videos as time allows.

Just watched this as an assignment for a college Ethnic Politics in the US class. Used by our German American instructor as an example of a "text" analysis we will have to complete on US media. So your message is still spreading far. Thanks for such detailed content!

Why am I, a german, watching an analysis of a german song, in english on youtube? O.o I have now clue!

Bravo.Thanks for this analysis mate, there are a lot of video reactors out there checking this Rammstein video and not understanding anything about it, so it is very useful to all of us your work. Cheers

Wow. Impressed by this analysis. Thanks you!

I love when metal and history become one. Even better that Three Arrows is talking about it.

"Rammstein says punch nazis" I didn't expect any less

Danke, dass du dir die Mühe gemacht hast!

The lyrics "I want to love you but also condemn you" hit pretty hard for me. I personally feel like it perfectly encapsulates the message of the song. They can't forget the horrible atrocities of their past, and neither will they let it go, no matter how much they want to love their country and its achievements. The craziest bit for me personally is the V2 rockets bit. From the American perspective and knowing what those rockets eventually lead to, it's a crazy contrast seeing this technological advancement achieved during the time period of such insane atrocity. The whole message I got was that to nature of the German identity is one of wanting to love a country but grappling with its many and horrific atrocities. All I'm gonna say is, watching the development of modern Germany and seeing where you and the other Germans go from here will be fascinating. (Also you validated my theory that they chose a black woman to represent the spirit of Germania to avoid or spit in the face of accusations of being "far-right.")

My german great-grandma kept all her money in 5-Mark-coins under her matress, untill the day she died. She told me, that her family (having sold two houses befor the inflation) became impoverished in the great inflation, so she never trusted banks ever again.

that actress who played Germania is fucken gorgeous.

Damn, this is so well analyzed and presented!

That was absolutely brilliant! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

Personally, I find any textual analysis of the lyrics make it pretty clear what this song is about. Rammstein want to love their country and embrace their national identity as Germans, but the country has gone down so many different dark roads that they have a largely love/hate relationship with Germany. The concentration camps scene in particular shows the band members as the victims, rather than the perpetrators, and the camera's focus on Till singing as one of said victims illustrates who they're sympathising with. Not to mention the end of the second verse being "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Allen/Germany, Germany Above All" (please pardon my terrible spelling) is delivered by a concentration camp inmate, turning back to the camera. This to me is a clear display of irony, openly mocking the fascist use of German Nationalism to kill religious and ethnic minorities within such a supposedly amazing nation.

The scenes with the monks eating off of Germania's body with the bodies writing underneath is representative of the HRE and city states era prior to Unification, with medieval lords dividing Germany up for their own fiefdoms? They briefly show Prussian soldiers raising a toast during the first scenes with the monks as well

A very thoughtful and insightful video. Thank you!

My take on the "astronauts" scanning the past is that we only see what's happening by looking back. Hindsight is 20/20. And the astronauts in combination with the puppies are, for me, that we're puppies, we know nothing of we don't look back and learn from history.

Ich viel mag Rammestein. Wann immer ich höre sie, ich versuche zu verstehe die Text. Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache so es tut mir leid für schlechtes Deutsch.

I'm a vet. I say this to stop people from saying "you don't know anything about suffering." I get that a lot of people are sensitive about things like the holocaust and Nazis. I completely understand that. But jesus. People need to get a thicker skin. Rammstein isn't praising Nazis. They're doing the exact opposite.

I'm an American that has loved Rammstein for about two decades, seen them live three times and am writing this from Berlin where I'm currently living and I can tell you that Rammstein are in no way Nazis 😅 I can also tell you that Germany as a whole is obsessed, in a good way, with their history. Everywhere you go in Berlin there are reminders and memorials. This video makes perfect sense to me. The only thing that I would disagree with is calling it lazy marketing. Rammstein is all about playing with people's perception of reality and preconceived notions in order to turn them on their head and get people talking. The conclusions that people jump to in turn say a lot more about the observer than the artist.

Very good analysis! Sehr gut danke!

Ramstein are lowkey the most progressive band in the west. They make sure to be shocking.

Kudos to Rammstein for bringing a song to a wide audience that actually merits a 27 minute analysis. Beats the hell out of "baby I love you, but you wronged me and now my heart is broken."

Such an excellently explained topic, I loved this.

Excellent video. I truly appreciate everything you point out, and the fact that you weren't sure about everything in the video. As an American with a German last name and a fascination with German history I enjoyed your insight to the video, and took away similar interpretations that you did. I look forward to seeing if you are able to interpret more or provide more insight to the video, however if you don't that is quite okay. Again thank you for a wonderful interpretation and explanation.

I'm not gonna say I know exactly what it's like to have something like the Holocaust behind you, but as an American I feel like I understand how it feels to struggle to love your country when it has such a brutal history. I listened to Deutschland after I watched this video (and read the translations) and thought it did a really good job of getting that feeling across. Now of course I am coming at this from a somewhat distant perspective, but having watched the video and listened to the lyrics and reading the translation, I really get the sense that if your only takeaway was "it's tasteless to reference the Holocaust", then you really weren't paying attention.

ICH HAB' dich so sehr vermisst

Well I wasn't expecting a history lesson here but sir you got me intrigued. Awesome video!

Excellent analysis. Thanks for the video. Subscribed.

It's so nice to watch a video in which everything is completely right, uncontroversial, and not up for argument.

I feel like they would have been equally lambasted for omitting the Holocaust from a 'story of Germany' narrative. This channel has taught me a great deal- measured analysis of an often misunderstood band I happen to love is a welcome if unexpected bonus.

It's a really good song and a perhaps even more fantastic video. Not many people manage to bring in so much history, idea history and thoughts in a few minutes.

This is an awesome video my man, great explanation on your part. I understand why Rammstein turned off the comments on this particular video. But I enjoyed it and its message a lot.

18:22 "you can be black and be as much a German as everyone else" and as a matter of fact she *IS* German, Berlin-born Ruby Commey.

am a black latino, who has listen to this band since the iraq war. I have a very special connection to this band, due to my struggles and the energy that it has provided me.

Excellent work!!

Thanks for a wonderful analysis

One thing that I want to add to your interpretation about Germania being a black woman is that Germany is usually referenced as the fatherland. This is different to most other cultures that call them the motherland (or some other femenine variation). So to turn that upside down is immense. She births a litter of puppies as an Angel. What that means is anybody's guess, but it definitely flys in the face of a militaristic, masculine fatherland. Also when Germania is in the officer uniform of the Third Reich, that Shes blinded. That the Nazi party has blinded (her *Left* eye no less) and scarred her to come along (not something a nationalist would portray). After watching it and not understanding the words, i wouldn't have guessed it was right leaning even. But i love your insight arrows! Keep up the good work and I hope to see another video soon

They also use the first verse of the german national hymn in a critical way and make it a parody of itself: "Wer hoch steigt, der wird tief fallen Deutschland, Deutschland über allen." "Whoever climbs high, will fall deep Germany, Germany above all"

A beautiful work of art! Best music video ever?

Great Video! Learned a lot about German history, and have a much better understanding of the video and the song. When I view the video, it really is an introspective of what it means to be German, and what you see in the mirror isn't how you want to see yourself. The only thing I can say is, never forget the pages of your history, and always strive to make the next page of your history better than your last.

Hi! I'm from German. I'm so proud of the hard work Rammstein have put into this music video. It shows everything that went wrong in our history. It's so sad that some people blamed the group for being racists and tasteless. This video is so much better and more thoughtful than what we usually get.

it's cool that Big Joel and Harry collab'd with you :) i'm a fan of Rammstein, and i'm glad you gave a fair review here

A very intelligent, informed and concise explanation. Thanks dude respect from the UK.