Nina Hagen
She thought Merkel’s tattoo wish was fake news
Nina Hagen explains the background of her big hit
© imago / Eibner
At first she thought it was a joke that Angela Merkel wanted to hear “You forgot the color film” when she said goodbye to Nina Hagen.
When Angela Merkel (67) says goodbye on Thursday with a big tattoo, the song “You forgot the color film” by Nina Hagen (66) will be on. Last but not least, the artist herself initially thought it was a joke, as she announced on Facebook.
On Sunday, Nina Hagen wrote: “… I also noticed that our Chancellor, among other things, wanted the song ‘You forgot the color film’ from the old GDR for her farewell ceremony.” She added in brackets: “Which, by the way, I think is a fake report, although I just see that even the Tagesschau had reported …” In addition to Hagen, the songs “For me it should rain red roses” by Hildegard Knef and the ecumenical hymn “Great God, we praise you” are running.
Songwriter, convicted sex offender
The explanation for Hagen’s disbelief, however, is not in Merkel’s taste in music but in the background of the song. “That is a song with lyrics by Kurt Demmler, and that Kurt Demmler was a GDR ‘state poet’ with special privileges and later a sex offender convicted of systematic child abuse who committed suicide in prison … will hopefully be known to her.”
Demmler was charged again in 2008 after being fined eight years earlier for sexually abusing children. In his most recent criminal case, he was charged more than 200 cases of child sexual abuse. He committed suicide the night before the second day of the trial.
Hagen himself continues to play the song anyway: “No, I don’t distance myself from the song, but I won’t hide from the facts, and I won’t pretend they don’t exist.” She also makes it clear that it is painful that Demmler “hanged himself in custody in Moabit prison and ran away without a sound.”
Keyboard player was a role model for “Micha”
The singer has the exact background of how the song was created on Tuesday also shared in a long post. It tells, among other things, how Hagen came to the band Automobil, how they and keyboardist Michael Heubach got together, how Demmler was probably inspired by him for the lyrics and how quickly the song blossomed into a big hit.