I came across a copy of an 8th century German epic poem published in Germany in 1945, either right after the war or in its final moments. It tells the tale of a father and son who meet on a battlefield and honorbound to fight. What allegorical meanng ds ths hv, cnsdring th tme at whch it was pblshd?

by KosherNazi

Sorry for the wonky title, I ran out of room and the question wouldn't have made sense if I removed whole words.


I came across a copy of the Lay of Hildebrand, published in 1945 in Halle, which is on old German epic poem. From wiki:

The opening lines of the poem set the scene: two warriors meet on a battlefield, probably as the champions of their two armies.

As the older man, Hildebrand opens by asking the identity and genealogy of his opponent. Hadubrand reveals that he did not know his father but the elders told him his father was Hildebrand, who fled eastwards in the service of Dietrich (Theodoric) to escape the wrath of Otacher (Odoacer), leaving behind a wife and small child. He believes his father to be dead.

Hildebrand responds by saying that Hadubrand will never fight such a close kinsman (an indirect way of asserting his paternity) and offers gold arm-rings he had received as a gift from the Lord of the Huns (the audience would have recognized this as a reference to Attila, whom according to legend Theodoric served).

Hadubrand takes this as a ruse to get him off guard and belligerently refuses the offer, accusing Hildebrand of deception, and perhaps implying cowardice. Hildebrand accepts his fate and sees that he cannot honourably refuse battle: he has no choice but to kill his own son or be killed by him.

They start to fight, and the text concludes with their shields smashed. But the poem breaks off, not revealing the outcome.

Wiki goes on to say that other versions of the poem indicate that the son attempts a treacherous attack after signaling his surrender, and the father is then honor-bound to kill him.

Is there some significance in this being published right after the war (or in its last months, I'm not sure when exactly it was published)? It seems that a poem like this, published so soon after a devastating loss, must have some sort of allegorical purpose... but I can't decipher what it is. Should we be reading Germany as the treacherous son, who backstabbed (barbarossa) his opponent, and is now destined to dishonorable defeat? Is it less overt, and just trying to frame the war as an epic tragedy? Is it trying to rally Germans to fight to the death? That the war was inevitable? Am I just reading too much into this, and there was no allegorical intent, and it was just an entertaining story?

The_Alaskan

Who was the listed publisher? That would have some implications on the goal. Also, is there any accompanying material -- any interpretation or notes attached?