World War I, Hasslied

1914
The Hasslied

Hasslied by Ernst Lissauer.
Originally published in Jugend, 1914, Translated by Barbara Henderson in The New York Times.
(This version appeared in Source Records of the Great War, Volume I, Charles F. Horne, editor, The American Legion, Indianapolis, 1930, pps 417-18.)

French and Russian they matter not,
A blow for a blow and a shot for a shot;
We love them not, we hate them not,
We hold the Weichsel and Vosges-gate,
We have but one and only hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone.

He is known to you all, he is known to you all,
He crouches behind the dark grey flood,
Full of envy, of rage, of craft, of gall,
Cut off by waves that are thicker than blood,
Come, let us stand at the Judgment place,
An oath to swear to, face to face,
An oath of bronze no wind can shake,
An oath for our sons and their sons to take.
Come, hear the word, repeat the word,
Throughout the Fatherland make it heard.

We will never forego our hate,
We have but one single hate,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe, and one alone --

ENGLAND!

Take you the folk of the Earth in pay,
With bars of gold your ramparts lay,
Bedeck the ocean with bow on bow,
Ye reckon well, but not well enough now.
French and Russian, they matter not,
A blow for a blow, a shot for a shot,
We fight the battle with bronze and steel,
And the time that is coming Peace will seal.
You we will hate with a lasting hate,
We will never forego our hate,
Hate by water and hate by land,
Hate of the head and hate of the hand,
Hate of the hammer and hate of the crown,
Hate of seventy millions choking down.
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone--

ENGLAND!
Return to World War I Document Archive
Comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome:
Jane Plotke (content) or Richard Hacken (form).
Last Updated: February 1, 1996.