Macht und Ehre

History

Macht und Ehre was formed in a Berlin prison (JVA Ploetzensee), circa 1991, by vocalist Stephan Jones. Thus, they predate the seminal German neo-Nazi band Landser by one year. Throughout the years, the band underwent such a frequent rotation of instrumental musicians that Jones is generally the only one credited as a member. Macht und Ehre is officially banned by German law, but their records are recorded and released through distributors in other countries. Their song "Torsten Koch" is, according to its lyrics, dedicated to a neo-Nazi who killed himself in the same prison where Stephan Jones was serving his sentence.

The group had a website once, but it was among hundreds that were shut down by the German government in late 2000.

Macht und Ehre underwent a slight change in the 2000s, in that their lyrics are less overtly extreme. In the early days, they sang songs with lyrics like: "Auschwitz, Dachau, und Buchenwald - da machen wir die Juden auf's Neue kalt!" (Der Ewige Jude), which in English translates as: "Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald - there we'll kill the Jews again!" Other songs from their early days had titles like: "Ali Drecksau" (Ali dirty pig), "Kanacke Raus" (Kanake is a racist German word for dark skinned people, mainly from the south, equivalent to the English sand nigger).

In their more recent releases, their songs contain themes of anti-Communism, German pride, and anti-Americanism, but their lyrics are hardly as harsh as their earlier songs; for instance, now there is no explicit mention of violence—only opposition (however, violence is implied in some song lyrics). This could be to avoid legal crackdowns, to appeal to a broader audience, or both. As a harbinger of sorts, after six years of silence, the group released Schwarzer Orden in 2003, which contained re-recordings of some earlier M&E songs with new lyrics that were not as extreme as the originals.

Discography