Peat Bog Soldiers
# Peat Bog Soldiers

"Peat Bog Soldiers" (German: Die Moorsoldaten) is one of Europe's best-known protest songs. It exists in countless European languages and became a Republican anthem during the Spanish Civil War. It was a symbol of resistance during the Second World War and is popular with the Peace movement today. It was written, composed and first performed in a Nazi concentration camp by prisoners.

## Background

This song was written by prisoners in Nazi moorland labour camps in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Emslandlager ("Emsland camps") – as they were known – were for political opponents of the Third Reich, located outside of Börgermoor, now part of the commune Surwold, not far from Papenburg. A memorial of these camps, the Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum (DIZ) Emslandlager, is located at Papenburg.

In 1933, one camp, Börgermoor, held about 1,000 Socialist and Communist internees. They were banned from singing existing political songs so they wrote and composed their own. The words were written by Johann Esser (a miner) and Wolfgang Langhoff (an actor); the music was composed by Rudi Goguel and was later adapted by Hanns Eisler and Ernst Busch.

It was first performed at a Zircus Konzentrani ("concentration camp circus") on 28 August 1933 at Börgermoor camp. Here is Rudi Goguel's description of it:

   The sixteen singers, mostly members of the Solinger workers choir, marched in holding spades over the shoulders of their green police uniforms (our prison uniforms at the time). I led the march, in blue overalls, with the handle of a broken spade for a conductor's baton. We sang and by the end of the second verse nearly all of the thousands of prisoners present gave voice to the chorus. With each verse, the chorus became more powerful and, by the end, the SS – who had turned up with their officers – were also singing, apparently because they too thought themselves "peat bog soldiers".
   When they got to, ... "No more the peat bog soldiers / Will march with our spades to the moor.", the sixteen singers rammed their spades into the ground and marched out of the arena; leaving behind their spades which now had, sticking out of the peat bog, become crosses.

The song has a slow simple melody, reflecting a soldier's march, and is deliberately repetitive, echoing and telling of the daily grind of hard labour in harsh conditions. It was popular with German refugees in London in the Thirties and was used as a marching song by the German volunteers of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. It was soon picked up by other nationalities and it appears in almost all the collected anthologies of Spanish Civil War songs.

The French Foreign Legion use the French version of the song, "Le Chant Des Marais", as one of its marching songs, the sombre tone and timing matching the 88 paces per minute distinctive of the Legion.

## The "short" (three-verse) lyrics

Langhoff and Esser's original song runs to six verses, plus refrains (see below). For performance – and, therefore, for most translation – shorter lyrics are used. These omit verses two, three and four of the original.

| Die Moorsoldaten Wohin auch das Auge blicket. Moor und Heide nur ringsum. Vogelsang uns nicht erquicket. Eichen stehen kahl und krumm. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Auf und nieder geh'n die Posten, keiner, keiner kann hindurch. Flucht wird nur das Leben kosten, vierfach ist umzäunt die Burg. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Doch für uns gibt es kein Klagen, ewig kann nicht Winter sein, einmal werden froh wir sagen: Heimat du bist wieder mein. Dann zieh'n die Moorsoldaten nicht mehr mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Dann zieh'n die Moorsoldaten nicht mehr mit dem Spaten ins Moor. | Peat Bog Soldiers (loose translation) Far and wide as the eye can wander, Heath and bog are everywhere. Not a bird sings out to cheer us. Oaks are standing gaunt and bare. We are the peat bog soldiers, Marching with our spades to the moor. We are the peat bog soldiers, Marching with our spades to the moor. Up and down the guards are marching, No one, no one can get through. Flight would mean a sure death facing, Guns and barbed wire block our view. We are the peat bog soldiers, Marching with our spades to the moor. We are the peat bog soldiers, Marching with our spades to the moor. But for us there is no complaining, Winter will in time be past. One day we shall rise rejoicing. Homeland, dear, you're mine at last. No more the peat bog soldiers Will march with our spades to the moor. No more the peat bog soldiers Will march with our spades to the moor. |
| - | - |

## The full version

This is the full six-verse German version, together with a literal English translation.

| Die Moorsoldaten | Literal translation |
| - | - |
| Wohin auch das Auge blicket. Moor und Heide nur ringsum. Vogelsang uns nicht erquicket. Eichen stehen kahl und krumm. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten und ziehen mit dem Spaten ins Moor. | Wherever the eye gazes Bog and heath all around No chirping of birds entertains us Oaks are standing bare and crooked We are the bog soldiers And we are marching with our spade; into the bog We are the Bog soldiers And we are marching with our spade; into the bog |
| Hier in dieser öden Heide ist das Lager aufgebaut, wo wir fern von jeder Freude hinter Stacheldraht verstaut. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten etc | Here inside this barren marshland the camp is built up, Where we are, far from any joy, stowed away behind barbed wire. We are the bog soldiers etc |
| Morgens ziehen die Kolonnen in das Moor zur Arbeit hin. Graben bei dem Brand der Sonne, doch zur Heimat steht der Sinn. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten etc | In the morning, the columns march towards the moor to work. digging under the searing sun, But our mind yearns toward our homeland. We are the bog soldiers etc |
| Heimwärts, heimwärts jeder sehnet, zu den Eltern, Weib und Kind. Manche Brust ein Seufzer dehnet, weil wir hier gefangen sind. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten etc | Homeward, homeward everyone yearns to the parents, wife and child, some chests are widened by a sigh, because we are caught in here. We are the bog soldiers etc |
| Auf und nieder geh'n die Posten, keiner, keiner kann hindurch. Flucht wird nur das Leben kosten, vierfach ist umzäunt die Burg. Wir sind die Moorsoldaten etc | Up and down the guards are walking Nobody, nobody can get through. Escape would only cost the life Four fences secure the castle. We are the bog soldiers etc |
| Doch für uns gibt es kein Klagen, ewig kann nicht Winter sein, einmal werden froh wir sagen: Heimat du bist wieder mein. Dann zieh'n die Moorsoldaten nicht mehr mit dem Spaten ins Moor. Dann zieh'n die Moorsoldaten nicht mehr mit dem Spaten ins Moor | But for us there is no clamoring, It can't be an endless winter. One day we'll say happily: "Homeland you are mine again!". Then will the bog soldiers march no more with the spades to the bog. Then will the bog soldiers march no more with the spades to the bog. |
