It was hoped that this gesture towards patriotic sentiment would overcome the reservations felt about the new Republic by large parts of the population. This was an indirect use of his power as head of state to determine the symbols of the state. On 11 August 1922, the Weimar Republic’s Constitution Day, Reich President Friedrich Ebert wrote in the Vossische Zeitung newspaper that he favoured the ‘Song of the Germans’ as the national anthem. It subsequently became one of the most frequently performed songs in the German Empire. Only towards the end of the 19th century did it see a renaissance: it was first sung at an official event on 9 August 1890 when Helgoland became part of the German Empire. The song then fell increasingly into obscurity. The ‘Song of the Germans’ was sung by many during the revolutionary years of 1848/49 without ever taking on the character of a national anthem. It was then publicly performed for the first time on 5 October 1841 by the Hamburg Liedertafel, a male voice choir established in 1832. The ‘Song of the Germans’ was soon available in print, published by Hoffmann & Campe on 1 September 1841. Hoffmann chose the melody composed by Haydn in 1797 for the anthem ‘God Save Emperor Francis’. The text reflected the yearning for freedom and national unity that had already been expressed by the movement for German unity and freedom in numerous songs since the wars of liberation. August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the ‘Song of the Germans’ on 26 August 1841 during a stay on the island of Helgoland, which still belonged to Britain at that time.
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