The inspiration for this print came from an incident Beckmann witnessed in a railway station waiting room, when his fellow travellers began singing the National anthem 'Deutschland über alles.' The appearance of the figures in this scene make their rousing patriotic song about Germany's greatness look bitterly ironic. In the foreground a drunken soldier shouts raucously, while in the background a poor family beg for money. Another man simply rests his head on the table in despair. Even the Imperial Eagle (Germany's heraldic emblem) on the teacups looks like a pathetic scrawl or an insect.