Kernstock, Ottokar#
b. Maribor, Slovenia (then Marburg), July 25, 1848, d. Festenburg (municipality of St. Lorenz am Wechsel, Styria), Nov. 5, 1928, priest, researcher, patriotic German national poet. Wrote the text for the song "Kaiserlied", which became the national anthem in 1929/30, war poetry and the Swastika Song for the Fuerstenfeld National Society group. Although he dissociated himself from National Socialism, the Nazi regime used the Swastika Song after K.'s death for its propaganda.
Literature#
M. Liebmann, O. K. und sein Hakenkreuzgedicht, in: Campus f. das Fuerstenfelder Kulturmagazin 22, 1993; the same, O. K., der missbrauchte Dichter, in: Ztschr. d. Hist. Vereins f. Stmk., vol. 85, 1994; J. Steinbauer, "Markig und feierlich". Eine Geschichte der Bundeshymnen der Republik Oe., master's thesis, Graz 1993.