Die Gedanken sind frei

After Swiss songs") in Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano's circa 1805 folk poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Vol.

It was adopted by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in his Schlesische Volkslieder mit Melodien (Silesian folk songs with melodies) collection published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1842, who referred to it as "from Neukirch bei Schönau".

Mein Wunsch und Begehren kann niemand verwehren, es bleibet dabei: Die Gedanken sind frei!

Ich bin nicht alleine bei meinem Glas Weine, mein Mädchen dabei: die Gedanken sind frei.

Drum will ich auf immer den Sorgen entsagen und will mich auch nimmer mit Grillen[5] mehr plagen.

Since the days of the Carlsbad Decrees and the Age of Metternich, "Die Gedanken sind frei" was a popular protest song against political repression and censorship, especially among the banned Burschenschaften student fraternities.

[6] In 1942, Sophie Scholl, a member of the White Rose resistance group, played the song on her flute outside the walls of Ulm prison, where her father Robert had been detained for calling the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler a "scourge of God".

Earlier, in 1935, the guards at the Lichtenburg concentration camp had ordered prisoners to stage a performance in celebration of Hitler's 46th birthday; the imprisoned lawyer Hans Litten recited "Die Gedanken sind frei" in response.