3

Today, a friend sent me a link to the cheery song "Lied vom Volkspolizist" by Blascore on the compilation "Rote Lieder (Die Besten politischen Lieder aus der DDR)", but listening to the song lyrics ("Wir helfen den Menschen, ich bin mit dabei, ich schütze die Kinder als Volkspolizei") and the wacky sounds, it is hard to tell if it is a parody or not. Indeed, googling the song name or the band Blascore indicates that the song was not released until 1999 or possibly 2008.

So my question is, are the songs on this compilation really from the GDR era? Some are obviously so, such as the national anthem, but some cause me to have doubt.

Toivo Säwén
  • 130
  • 5

1 Answers1

4

A quick look makes the list of artists seem quite genuine. Oktoberklub, Ernst Busch etc are original GDR artists.

The one example you picked out here — "the people's policeman song" — is a GDR composition, obviously in this cover version format recorded by another band much later.

But it is wacky music in the original. The original is a children's song meant to guide good socialists into becoming good citizens, also played on TV when it was time for decent pre-schoolers to go to bed. Or taught in kindergartens.

This is a video of the original music: Der Volkspolizist, der es gut mit dir meint…
(Context: the linked video here matches the stop-motion animation style of the show "Unser Sandmännchen", and it is a genuine pre-1990 GDR-times/version/video. But it is a so-called (NSFW) underground porn parody, unearthed and widely publicised by the Franco-allemande TV station arte and shown in the documentary "Satirischer Knetgummi-Animationsfilm von Micha S." in: "Von Blümchensex und Knetfiguren – Pornografie Made in DDR" (src, full documentary on Youtube (starting at 33:00).). The possible 'original' for this is like other open socialist propaganda pieces — like our little sandman with the people's army enter image description here – completely censored from archives that are available online. More info on that show in:
— Volker Petzold: "Das Sandmännchen. Alles über unseren Fernsehstar", Edel: Hamburg, 2009.
— Volker Petzold: "Das große Ost-West-Sandmännchenlexikon", vbb: Berlin, 2009.

The 'adult version' of that song's political theme is more pathetic overall: Lied der Volkspolizei - Song of the People's Police (East German song).

Lyrics for 'the helping friend of kids' that was the people's policeman here.

I'm standing at the sidewalk, traffic's rushing, I'm scared to cross, I'm scared to go near! The People's Policeman who's kind to us, He's taking me across, he is our friend!

The cars are honking, the train is ringing! Don't jump on the car, don't hang on to it! The People's Policeman, who means well, He shows us the way, for he's our friend!

I'm lost, the city is so big, Mommy will be waiting. How will I find her? The people's policeman who's good to us, He will take me home. He is our friend!

And when I grow up, just so you know, Then I'll be one of those people's policemen. We help the people, I'm in on it, Protect the children as the People's Police!

(own translation)

The original was written by Erika Hangel and Hans Naumilkat, credits would be "Uschi (3) & Der Kinderchor Des >>Edgar-André-Ensembles<<", released between 1967–1977. (On Various ‎– AMIGA HITstory 1967 - 1977, AMIGA ‎– 88697064852), more probably in 1972.

LangLаngС
  • 44,005
  • 14
  • 173
  • 172
  • 1
    Perfect answer, this resolves my question - I assumed that this music style would not have been recorded in the GDR so it makes sense that it's a cover. As a sidenote, I think you mixed up the links. The adult version is truly horrifying!! – Toivo Säwén Mar 19 '20 at 17:35
  • 1
    @ToivoSäwén Indeed, it's very misleading to encounter some kind of bad Wallace & Gromit porn[sic!] when following a link that suggests that it was the original song played to pre-schoolers before they go to bed. – Schmuddi Mar 19 '20 at 19:46
  • @Schmuddi Can you elaborate? As that (W&G-pr0n) is what they did on TV. (Tho am sure that a young pioneer choir or the original 'Uschi' will also be in the archives somewhere). The W&G thing is what *'Sandmännchen'* sticks often looked liked. – LangLаngС Mar 20 '20 at 10:22
  • Your clip lacks any context. As it is, it's a video uploaded by an unverified YouTube user. As such, it doesn't count as a primary source anyway. At [the end of the clip](https://youtu.be/Jirj2Sl6orE?t=189), the anonymous off-sceen voice states that "erotic clips like this are naturally not accessible to the common GDR citizen". In all honesty, I have no idea what I'm looking at when I watch the clip. Is this a commentary made by someone from Western Germany? Is it a clip only for internal circulation? We don't know. This is a bad source for skeptics.SE. – Schmuddi Mar 20 '20 at 12:30
  • @Schmuddi Ah, got me. Thx. Was too hasty: I did not watch it until the end. The stop motion style & figures matches exactly other *Sandmännchen* clips. The true original is now censored from the ongoing TVshow's online archives, just like 'toddlers want to become NVA tank drivers' etc. – LangLаngС Mar 20 '20 at 13:34
  • 1
    @ToivoSäwén Sorry for the rejected edit. The canned reasons are really unfit for this case here. Does the current version clear up the confusion for you? – LangLаngС Mar 20 '20 at 14:11
  • 1
    @LangLangC, with the new edits, I think the context is clear. I think the wording "adult version" confused me as I interpreted it in the "NSFW" sense. – Toivo Säwén Mar 20 '20 at 14:19
  • Thanks for trying to clarify this. However, I'd suggest you delete the link to that particular clip as well as the whole context section that you added. The claim that you want to address is whether the "Lied vom Volkspolizist" is a genuine GDR composition. The rest of your post does answer this claim – the "adult" version, the link to the lyrics, the other records all show that the song is indeed genuine. Removing the confusing link and the context section will only bring this out even more clearly. – Schmuddi Mar 20 '20 at 14:22