"" (Thoughts are free) is a traditional German song about freedom of thought. The original lyricist and the composer are unknown, though the most popular version was rendered by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1842.
The idea represented in the titleâÂÂthat thoughts are freeâÂÂwas expressed in antiquity and became prominent again in the Middle Ages, when Walther von der Vogelweide (c.1170âÂÂ1230) wrote: ("yet still thoughts are free"). In the 12th century, it is thought that Austrian minnesinger Dietmar von Aist composed the song "" ("only thoughts are free"). About 1229, Freidank wrote: ("this band may no one twine, that will my thoughts confine").
The text as it first occurred on leaflets about 1780 originally had four strophes, to which a fifth was later added. Today, their order may vary. An early version in the shape of a dialogue between a captive and his beloved was published under the title "" ("Song of the persecuted in the tower. After Swiss songs") in Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano's circa 1805 folk poetry collection , Vol. III.
The text and the melody can be found in (songs of the girls from Brienz), printed in Bern, Switzerland, between 1810 and 1820. It was adopted by Hoffmann von Fallersleben in his (Silesian folk songs with melodies) collection published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1842, who referred to it as "from Neukirch bei Schönau".
The rhyme scheme of the lyrics is a â B / a â B / C â C / d â d where capital letters indicate two-syllable feminine rhymes.
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. In the aftermath of the failed 1848 German Revolution the song was banned. The Achim/Brentano text was given a new musical setting for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler in his 1898 Des Knaben Wunderhorn collection.
The song was important to certain anti-Nazi resistance movements in Germany. 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. In 2022, the song appeared in the Netflix series 1899.
In 1966, American musician Pete Seeger released an adaptation on his album Dangerous Songs!?