Love, Longing and "Lili Marlene"
Monday, November 10, 2008
"Lili Marlene" was the unlikely anthem of the World War II, a song popular with German and Allied soldiers. The love song -- about a young woman waiting for her lover to return from the battlefield -- began as a poem written by a German soldier during World War I. On the eve of Veteran's Day, we look at the fascinating story of this song with Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller, authors of "Lili Marlene: The Solders’ Song of World War II."
Soundcheck blog: The remarkable story of Lili Marlene.
Soundcheck blog: The remarkable story of Lili Marlene.
Comments [10]
I just received this book as a Christmas gift from my daughter. I am so excited to read it. My husband's natural father was Karl Friedrich Pasche, with whom Lale Anderson had a relationship. He was also her pianst. Thank you so much for writing this book and preserving a moment of history.
Wars are filled with contradictions, and the popularity of Lili Marlene on all sides of World War II is a remarkable manifestation of such contradictions.
I first heard of Lili Marlene when I was a soldier in an American unit in Germany some 20 years after WWII. This book by Messrs Leibovitz and Miller answers many questions and is way overdue.
Congrats to the authors.
F. Barry Nelson
Hi Matt,
Congrats to you and Leibovitz on this amazing story!
Regards,
Sarah Litwiller - daughter of Judy & Andy Bartolone. Your mother sent the website to me.
Hello Marina, we are the authors of Lili Marlene and would be delighted to speak with you. We have sent you an email already but if there is any problem you can try contacting us directly at lilibook (at) gmail.com. We hope everybody enjoys the story of Lili Marlene and invite you all to hear us speak tomorrow (Tuesday the 11th) at the Barnes and Noble at Broadway and 82d street in Manhattan, 7 pm.
Interesting segment! Very good question JS had about whether the phenomenon could happen with our current wars, and a thoughtful response by the authors.
A technical note - I tried the Amazon link to learn more about the book, but it was broken. I think this is the correct url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393065847/wnycorg-20
Hi,
I am a journalist from Argentina. I work for the largest circulation magazine in the country, VIVA, and I would love to get in touch with the autors for an interview. Tks.
My one-woman show, "Lilli Marlene," just ran off-Broadway for 3 weeks in Sep/Oct. It got great reviews and in it I sang the title song. As I continue to perform it around the country I am amazed that so very few people ever heard of this song!!
How may I contact Mr. Liebowitz and Mr. Miller? I visited their site but there was no contact info.
The millions of German soldiers on the Russian Front could also hear Radio Belgrade's broadcasts of the song, and soldiers on different sectors of the front created bitter renditions of the song about the 1941-42 winter battles. I've also read that some American servicemen in Vietnam sang or played the song.
What an incredible story...so glad it was discovered before it was lost in time.
This is fascinating.. I remember hearing a version called the D-Day Dodgers that related to those soldiers that landed in Italy towards the end of the war
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