Heinrich von Kleist wrote the poem “Germania to Her Children” in spring 1809 and sent copies to friends and acquaintances before he took his own life in 1811. However, it was not until 1813 that the ode was published in magazines and handbills. Like Kleist’s play The Battle of Hermann and the pamphlet Catechism of the Germans, “Germania to Her Children” is a work of political agitation. It is hate poetry, intended to mobilize the population for war.