An example of this is the fascist song Brüder in Zechen und Gruben ("Brothers in mines and pits"), which copied the melody of the communist Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit ("Brothers, to the sun, to freedom"), whose melody, in turn, belonged to the march Смело, товарищи, в ногу/Smelo, tovarishchi, v nogu ("Comrades, let's bravely march"), which was written in 1895/6 by Leonid Radin in Moscow's Taganka Prison.
[3] Public performances of the song are currently forbidden in Germany (StGB §86a) and Austria (Verbotsgesetz 1947), a ban that includes both the lyrics and the melody, which are only permitted for educational purposes.
Kampflied der Nationalsozialisten ("Battle Song of the National Socialists"), also known by its opening line Wir Sind Das Heer Vom Hakenkreuz ("We Are the Army of the Swastika"), was an early Nazi hymn.
Its lyrics were written by Kleo Pleyer, while the melody was essentially based on that of the traditional German folk song Stimmt an mit hellem hohen klang, which was composed in 1811 by Albert Methfessel.
Later on, the verses of Das Berliner Jungarbeiterlied (with the opening line Herbei zum Kampf, ihr Knechte der Maschinen) were added to the song.
During the Nazi era, the song was performed by Carl Woitschach's orchestra in its full version, incorporating both melodies, as Kampflied der Nationalsozialisten/Herbei zum Kampf.
The Nazis were not reticent in employing songs and melodies previously associated wholly with socialists and communists in their quest to broaden their appeal to the working class, and the Internationale was a prime target.
Realizing quickly that Nazis were trying to appropriate the melody of their revolutionary anthem, the socialist residents countered by singing the refrain from the original text Völker hört die Signale!
[11] In 2013, Stefan Gotschacher, press secretary of the right-wing populist and national-conservative FPÖ political party in Austria, was fired after posting the lyrics of SS marschiert in Feindesland on his Facebook page.
[13] The original song's refrain (1932) was Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland / und morgen die ganze Welt ("For today, Germany is ours / and tomorrow the whole world").
In a later version (1937) this was mitigated for the Hitler Youth to Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland... ("For today, Germany hears us...").
In 2017, the Bundeswehr was banned from publishing songbooks containing Panzerlied and other marching songs by the Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen as part of new efforts at denazification.