I've made some searches on this song for I got interested. These bits below show the song in its worst appearance and in its best. Make out of them what you want:

- Der gute Kamerad (Ich hatt' einen Kameraden) is quite often sung these days at the end of public appearances of the German neonazis.

- It was sung as a token of protest in German concentration camps after the SS shot a prisoner.

- In Germany, political parties can be forbidden by the highest court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). This happened only twice yet. In 1952, the SRP (Socialist Reich Party) was forbidden for being a successor to the outlawed NSDAP. In the court's decision the song is cited as an example of the SRP trying to emulate Hitler's politics: "Im allgemeinen wird den Wahlreden eine Totenfeier für die im Kriege Gefallenen vorangeschickt: mit getragener Stimme wird ein Gedicht gesprochen, während die Kapelle zur Untermalung "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden" spielt."

- In 1997, the journalist Kurt Oesterle got the Theodor-Wolff prize for the best newspaper article in the 'general' category. The winning article was a history of this song, titled 'Die heimliche deutsche Hymne' (The secret/real German hymn). This article is on the web (!): click here. It is in German and much too long to translate. An impressive piece of journalism showing the extremely different facets of this song.

Wolfgang