Spring is in the air in Germany and the rest of the northern hemisphere. There are plenty of spring songs and poems talking about the awakening nature. One of these poems is “Alle Vögel sind schon da” (All birds are already here), written by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1835.
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798-1874) was a German college professor, poet, collector and publisher of different language writings. He wrote “Das Lied der Deutschen” (Song of the Germans) which is the German national anthem, and children’s poems.
Von Fallersleben’s spring poem “Alle Vögel sind schon da” was set to music in 1837 by Ernst Richter.
But the melody we know today comes from an unknown composer. It’s the same melody as the 18th century farewell song “Nun so reis ich weg von hier” (Now I travel away from here).
Lyrics of "Alle Vögel sind schon da"
Alle Vögel sind schon da,
alle Vögel, alle.
Welch ein Singen, Musiziern,
Pfeifen, Zwitschern, Tiriliern!
Frühling will nun einmarschiern,
kommt mit Sang und Schalle.
Wie sie alle lustig sind,
flink und froh sich regen!
und die ganze Vogelschar
wünschen dir ein frohes Jahr,
lauter Heil und Segen.
Was sie uns verkünden nun,
nehmen wir zu Herzen:
Wir auch wollen lustig sein,
lustig wie die Vögelein,
hier und dort, feldaus, feldein,
singen, springen, scherzen.
Sing along with this video:
All the birds are already here,
all the birds, all.
What singing, music making,
whistling, chirping, trilling!
Spring wants to march in,
is coming with song and sound.
How merry they are,
swiftly and joyfully stirring!
Common blackbird, thrush, finch, and starling
and the entire flock of birds
wishing you a happy year,
well-being and salvation.
What they are proclaiming now,
we take to heart:
We also want to be merry,
merry like a the little birds,
here and there, across the fields,
singing, jumping, frolicking.
Popularity
The song was very popular and was (and is) published in many different song books. In the first half of the 20th century, there were illustrated postcards and in 1926, a parody about military recruits was published in “Der Kamerad. Deutsche Soldaten- und Seemannslieder. Gesammelt von Fr. Schwagmeyer”, a collection of soldier and sailor songs. You can read the eight stanzas (in German) here. You can read other lyrics, sung to the same melody, in the Volksliederarchiv.
Later, the song went through various stages of popularity, being added to the school curriculum, taken off only to be added again a couple of years later. Suffice it to say, most Germans know the melody and song, if not all stanzas then at least the title. You can find variations of the title and song as newspaper headlines, parodies, and newly written lyrics. When not referring to birds, they often relate to other things arriving in spring: bikes (since more people are biking again when the weather gets nicer) and pollen.
Multiple newspaper titled articles about the bird die-off as follows:
- Viele Vögel sind bald weg … (Many birds will be gone soon) – Badische Zeitung, May 22, 2007
- Nicht alle Vögel sind bald weg (Not all birds will be gone soon) – idw (Informationsdienst Wissenschaft) , August 15, 2011
- Alle Vögel sind schon bald weg (All birds are going to be gone real soon) – NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung), November 9, 2018
- Alle Vögel sind bald weg (All birds are going to be gone soon) – tz (Tageszeitung), August 15, 2019
In 2023, Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna in Austria, rewrote the text to go along with their Bicycle Day and their call for more and safer bicycle lanes for school students.
alle Räder, alle.
Sicher radeln wollen wir,
Politik mach mehr dafür.
Schulradwege brauchen wir!
Fairer Platz für alle!
all bikes, all.
We want to cycle safely
Politics, do more for that.
Bike lanes to schools we need!
Fair space for all!
Satirical poet Eckhard Lange wrote a poem about pollen in his book “Allerleireim” (2018):
alle Pollen – ALLE!
Weidenkätzchen, Haselstrauch
und die Gräser blühen auch,
alles fliegt beim kleinsten Hauch,
wird dir jetzt zur Falle.
Was sie dir verkünden jetzt,
nimm es dir zu Herzen.
Vergiß nie dein Taschentuch,
gehst du einmal zu Besuch.
Draußen sein wird dir zum Fluch,
bringt bloß Leid und Schmerzen.
all pollen – ALL!
pussy willow, hazel bush
and the grasses are also blooming,
everything flies at the softest breeze,
this is now a trap for you.
What they are proclaiming now,
take it to heart.
Don’t ever forget your tissue,
if you are going to visit somebody.
To be outside is a curse, only brings misery and pain.
Sad History
This spring song is innocent enough, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used and misused. The Nazis used this song (and many, many others) in work and concentration camps to humiliate the prisoners. In Auschwitz, the camp band played “Alle Vögel sind schon da” when new prisoners arrived.
In 1933, when inmates were moved from the prison Freiendiez to the concentration camp Esterwegen they had to sing the song. Otto Paul Krüger reports that the last lines were rewritten and the song was also known as the “Hümmlings-Einzugsmarsch” (Hümmling being the region around Esterwegen, Einzugsmarsch – entry march). In the early 1930s, many prisoners were political prisoners and were released after a certain period of time; here the time is one year.
Alle Vögel sind schon da
alle Vögel alle!
Amsel, Drossel, Fink und Star
und die ganze Vogelschar
wünschen dir ein frohes Jahr
lauter Heil und Segen!
Doch uns wird im Herzen bang:
so ein Jahr ist, ach, so lang
ein Jahr Esterwegen!
The last three lines are new: But we get a sinking feeling: one year, oh, is so long, one year Esterwegen!
On July 30, 1942, Hans Bonarewitz is executed in the concentration camp Mauthausen in Austria for escaping in a wooden crate. He was caught 18 days later and hanged. The camp orchestra, founded by Wilhelm Heckmann, played “J’attendrai ton retour” (I shall wait for your return)., the “Alle Vögel sind schon da” right before execution. Following the execution of Bonarewitz, the “Polka of the beer barrel” was played.
Many of the photographs of the conditions and atrocities in Mauthausen have survived because of the Spanish Civil War veteran Francisco Boix who was a prisoner in the concentration camp. He and fellow inmates risked their lives to save the negatives. There are two movies about Mauthausen: the documentary “Mauthausen, una mirada Española” from 2008, and the Spanish movie “The Photographer of Mauthausen” from 2018. You can watch the latter on Netflix.
Sources and Resources
- Wiki – dt
- Historisch-kritisches Liederlexikon
- Der Spiegel 47/1991: Voll Blut und Wunden
- Volksliederarchiv
- Guido Fackler: Lied und Gesang im KZ, In: Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture, 46. Jahrg. (2001), pp. 141-198 (58 pages), https://www.jstor.org/stable/849512
