Nazi Anthem Pulled From Alberta Lottery
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By HANNEKE BROOYMANS
The Ottawa Citizen Saturday, 22 January
2005
EDMONTON—A Nazi party anthem that was accidentally selected
as background music for a Royal Canadian Legion lottery
advertisement
caused so many complaints it was pulled the day it first aired
on
Alberta-wide radio stations.
"It should never have happened, that's why it was taken off,"
said
Harvey Shevalier, first vice-president of the Alberta and
Northwest
Territories command for the Legion.
"It sounds good, but it's not the appropriate kind of music,"
he added.
"(Members) are very disgruntled or disappointed that it would
even get
out there without somebody knowing what it was. And rightfully
so."
The anthem, called the Horst Wessel Lied,* features the deep drums
and energetic brass typical of marching songs and calls for a
sprinkling
of Hitler salutes throughout the song.
Mr. Shevalier, a veteran of peacekeeping missions, said a
military
historian, called the Legion to alert them to the musical
mistake
on Monday.
The music was judged suitable by the Calgary marketing and
lottery
management company Stride Management, and the Legion lottery
committee, said Laurel Harris, a media director for the
company.
The music was selected from a random tape of marching music
that
did not have song titles on it, she said.
"We felt the music was completely suitable, but obviously we
were
unaware," she said.
Wessel was a Nazi party member until his murder in 1930. His
song became
part of the German national anthem in 1933, according to a
paper by
George Broderick published in International Folklore
Review.
A regulation attached to a printed version of the song in 1934
made it
clear the right arm had to be raised in a Hitler salute
whenever the first
and fourth verses were sung.
After Hitler came to power, the song formed the second part to
the national
anthem after the Deutschland Lied* and remained as such until the demise
of the Third Reich in May 1945.