Hoffmann, August Heinrich (1798–1874)

German poet and philologist. He published Unpolitische Lieder 1840–41, a work expressing democratic and liberal ideas and including ‘Deutschland, Deutschland über alles’, later used as a national hymn. He also wrote Horae Belgicae 1830–62, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenlieds 1832, and Soldatenlieder 1869–70.

He was born in Fallersleben, Lüneburg, and educated at Göttingen and Bonn. He became professor of German at Breslau 1830 but was obliged to resign his chair upon publication of his Unpolitische Lieder. He then travelled for three years, returning to Prussia after the 1848 revolution.