The German Army revives one of its most famous military marches from World War II

Germany's military traditions have lived for decades with the burden of having lost some elements of its recent history.

Panzerlied: the German military anthem played in France, Italy, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea
'Lili Marleen': A great short film about World War II and some interesting facts about the song

This is particularly evident in the musical sphere. Much of the Bundeswehr's (German Armed Forces) military march repertoire dates back to the Prussian era or the years of the German Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The imprint of Nazism faded from the German Army after World War II, but some elements remained, such as the popular song "Lili Marleen" from 1937 and a march made world-famous by this scene from the 1965 film "Battle of the Bulge":

The name of this march is "Panzerlied" (Tank Song). Four years ago I published an article about that song here, showing the versions of it sung in the armies of France, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, and Chile. As I pointed out then, the "Panzerlied" was written in 1933 by a German Army officer, Kurt Wiehle, based on lyrics from a German Navy song and the melody of a song titled "Luiska-lied".

Since the song's original lyrics made no reference to Nazism or its ideology, the "Panzerlied" continued to be sung in the German Army after the World War II, appearing in various official songbooks published by the Bundeswehr for decades. However, in 2017, the then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (now President of the European Commission) vetoed its publication in these songbooks, considering it a nazi anthem, despite the fact that there is nothing in its lyrics to indicate such an ideological affiliation.

However, on Friday, August 29, the YouTube channel Bad Bonsai published a video showing the Wilhelmshaven Naval Band playing the "Panzerlied" with an arrangement by Marcus Müller. This military march was performed instrumentally, without singing the lyrics, during a military parade held on the occasion of a change of command of the 1. Panzerdivision Oldenburg (1. PzDiv) at its base in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, on August 28:

The video has gone viral in Germany and abroad, with over 647,000 views so far. In the comments, many German internet users are celebrating the revival of this military march, whose performance at an official event would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Still today, on the Bundeswehr website there is not a single reference to that song, as if it were taboo.

As a curiosity, at the end of the video, the Wilhelmshaven Naval Band plays its official march, "Anker gelichtet". You can see the band playing the same march here in 2010:

Obviously, this is not a German march: it is the famous US Navy military march "Anchors Aweigh", a magnificent musical piece composed in 1906 by Lieutenant Charles A. Zimmermann, alias "Zimmy", director of the Annapolis Naval Academy Band from 1887 until his death in 1916.