The Lorelei: “Verfasser unbekannt” – Fact or Fiction’

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Media Studies (MA)

Hopmann, Brit (2017)

The Lorelei: “Verfasser unbekannt” – Fact or Fiction’

Master thesis | Media Studies (MA)

‘The Lorelei: “Verfasser unbekannt” – Fact or Fiction’ explores the earliest sources of a rumour, saying that the Nationalist Socialists changed the attribution of the famous German folk song from Heinrich Heine, its actual author, to ‘author unknown’. Research shows that the rumour has its roots in the German emigrant press, being repeated so often that it even persists today. The rumour appeared late 1934, i.e. earlier than the source that is usually named as the earliest source: the preface of Walter Behrendson’s book ‘Der lebendige Heine im germanischen Norden’. The conflict between the song as a symbol of genuine German culture and the author’s Jewish origin was even mentioned before 1934, namely in a satire dated early 1932.

German emigrant press