"Peat Bog Soldiers" (German: ) is one of Europe's best-known protest songs. It exists in countless European languages and became a Republican anthem during the Spanish Civil War. It was a symbol of resistance during the Second World War and is popular with the Peace movement today. It was written, composed and first performed by prisoners in 1933 in a Nazi concentration camp.
Background
This song was written by prisoners in the Nazi labour camp Papenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Emslandlager ("Emsland camps") – as they were known – were for political opponents of the Third Reich, located outside of Börgermoor, now part of the commune Surwold, not far from Papenburg. A memorial of these camps, the Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum (DIZ) Emslandlager, is located at Papenburg.
In 1933, one camp, , held about 1,000 Socialist and Communist internees. They were banned from singing existing political songs so they wrote and composed their own. The words were written by (a miner) and Wolfgang Langhoff (an actor); the music was composed by and was later adapted by Hanns Eisler and Ernst Busch. When creating it for Busch, Eisler made several changes to the rhythm, including condensing the meter into two-four time.
It was first performed at a Zircus Konzentrani ("concentration camp circus", a word play on circus Sarrasani) on 28 August 1933 at Börgermoor camp. Here is Rudi Goguel's description of it:
The song has a slow simple melody, reflecting a soldier's march, and is deliberately repetitive, echoing and telling of the daily grind of hard labour in harsh conditions. It was popular with German refugees in London in the 1930s and was used as a marching song by the German volunteers of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. It was soon picked up by other nationalities and it appears in almost all the collected anthologies of Spanish Civil War songs.
Lyrics
Langhoff and Esser's original song runs to six verses, plus refrains (see below). For performance – and, therefore, for most translation – shorter lyrics are used. These omit verses two, three and four of the original.
Wohin auch das Auge blicket, Moor und Heide nur ringsum. Vogelsang uns nicht erquicket, Eichen stehen kahl und krumm. Refrain:
Hier in dieser öden Heide ist das Lager aufgebaut, wo wir fern von jeder Freude hinter Stacheldraht verstaut. Refrain
Morgens ziehen die Kolonnen in das Moor zur Arbeit hin. Graben bei dem Brand der Sonne, doch zur Heimat steht der Sinn. Refrain
Heimwärts, heimwärts jeder sehnet, zu den Eltern, Weib und Kind. Manche Brust ein Seufzer dehnet, weil wir hier gefangen sind. Refrain
Auf und nieder geh'n die Posten, keiner, keiner kann hindurch. Flucht wird nur das Leben kosten, vierfach ist umzäunt die Burg. Refrain
Doch für uns gibt es kein Klagen, ewig kann's nicht Winter sein, einmal werden froh wir sagen: Heimat du bist wieder mein. Final refrain: Far and wide as the eye can wander, Heath and bog are everywhere. Not a bird sings out to cheer us, oaks are standing gaunt and bare. Chorus:
Here in this desolate moorland the camp is built, Where we live without any joy behind barbed wire. Chorus
In the morning, the columns march towards the moor to work, digging under the searing sun, but home is on their mind. Chorus
Homewards, homewards everybody longs for parents, wife and child. Some chests heave with a sigh, because we are imprisoned here. Chorus
Up and down the guards are pacing, no one, no one can get through. Flight would mean a sure death, facing guns and barbed wire greet our view. Chorus
But for us there is no complaining, winter will in time be passed. One day we will cry rejoicing: Homeland, dear, you're mine at last! Final chorus: ."The Song of the Peat Bog Soldiers – Metamorphoses of a Song" by Gisela Probst-Effah, Institut für Europäische Musikethnologie
Music Original
Source"Le Börgermoorlied" by Élise Petit, Music and The Holocaust, World ORT (in French)
Eisler arrangement
Source
Renditions & Covers In 1965, "The Chad Mitchell Trio" released a cover of the song in both English & German on their album "Violets of Dawn".
"The Dubliners", released their version of the song in English in 1970 on their album "Revolution."
Swan Arcade sang a truncated English-language version on their first LP in 1973.
In 2017, Irish folk band “Lankum” released a cover of the song in English in the album “Between The Earth And Sky”.
References
Further reading Hanns Eisler, "Bericht über die Entstehung eines Arbeiterliedes", in Musik und Politik, Schriften 1924–1948 (Ed. Günter Meyer, Munich, 1973, pp. 274–280) Wolfgang Langhoff, Die Moorsoldaten. 13 Monate Konzentrationslager (new edition, 1995)
External links "Moorsoldatenlied" by Guido Fackler, Music and The Holocaust, World ORT , Paul Robeson (in English and German) Die Moorsoldaten in multiple languages