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Length
5:17
The song deals with an accident near Baia Mare, in Romania, which occurred on 30 January 2000.
Extremely heavy rainfall on 30 January caused a dam to breach, causing 100,000 m³ of water to flood a goldmine and carry with it approx. 100 tons of heavy metals and sodium cyanide into the nearby river Danube (Donau in German). The poison was carried along the river, causing havoc in several countries: drinking water became poisoned, and people fled the rivers’ surroundings to escape the deadly poison, which quickly destroyed all life in and around the river itself.
While many children were obviously affected by this disaster, the name "Donaukinder" ("Danube Children") probably refers metaphorically to the fish in the river, which are seen as the ‘children’ of the Danube. The fish obviously suffered most directly the full force of this disaster and the absence of fish in the river is the most obvious consequence of the disaster. Hence, the song rhetorically asks: "Wo sind die Kinder?" ("Where are the children?"). Furthermore, the German name for Baia Mare, where the breach occurred, is "Frauenbach" ("Woman Brook") which sustains the metaphor of comparing River/Fish to Mother/Children.
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