Isn't the song about the wife of a soldier? Erika if I recall correctly.
It's a play on words, imagine the same song in English with "Rose" and the lyrics alternating between the flower and the girl:
"There's a beautiful flower waiting for me at home, it's called a rose
There's a beautiful girl waiting for me at home, she's called Rose"
So it is both then?
Yes, Erika is a kind of herb and also a girl's name in German.
This type of wordplay is common among German music. This tradition/culture is seen even today.
For example, you may have heard of the band Rammstein. Their biggest hit song is called "Du Hast". The chorus is "Du, du hast mich." This translates to "You, you have me."
However, in the second repitition of this chorus, he says "Du hasst mich", which means "You hate me". The German crowds tend to notice this, and they'll boo when he sings "You hate me", but they cheer when he says "You have me". I think "you have me" is like saying "You adore/love me".
Germans are very clever with music. Even if you don't like Rammstein for any reason (I have come to dislike them as I grew older), that cleverness is pretty cool.
It is a Waffen SS war marching battle hymn.
Pre-dates the Waffen SS. Maybe they adopted it.
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