LILI MARLENE Rehabilitation of abused song Master Thesis by Branko Miliskovic Mentors : Prof. Jeanne Faust Prof. Michael Diers Matriculation number : 2435598 Hochschule für Bildende Künste , HFBK 20 June 2013 Hamburg-Germany 1 Intro page 3-4 Chapter One : Hans Leip and the beginning of a poem page 5-6 Chapter Two: Two decades later the beginning of a song page 7-12 Chapter Three: Interpretations page 13-21 Chapter Four: De-Nazification of the song page 22-24 Bibliography page 25 Visuals and credits page 26 Biography of author page 27 2 INTRO Vor der Kaserne, vor dem Großen Tor stand eine Laterne und Steht sich noch davor dann wollen wir uns da wieder sehen bei der Laterne vor wir stehen, wie einst Lili Marlene, wie einst Lili Marlene. Those are the first phrases of already famous German love song that rose out of obscurity to become one of the most mysterious songs ever written and composed and even more unlikely anthem of World War 2. While it’s gentle melody captured the hearts of both the Axis and the Allied soldiers fighting across North Africa and Europe , the success of Lili Marlene is more of a metaphysical phenomenon , which would be one of the main premise in this thesis along with ideological consequences this song has suffered. In 1941 , a chance broadcast of the song on a German army radio station in Belgrade , made ‘’Lili Marlene’’ an instant favourite with the Axis troops. British soldiers tuning into the enemy broadcasts eventually adopted the song as their own, and within months ‘’Lili Marlene’’ had become the universal soundtrack of a world at war. I would particularly like to research and to find out what exactly might have happened in those historical gapes to allow to this love song or shall we already call it a symbol , to become exactly it’s opposition. How is possible for one song to pass through the transition from an ordinary written poem to twenty years later the most favourite and at the same time one of the most detesting melodies for the time of Nazi regime. I would prefer to build up this research out of several main chapters and each of them would be following the historical facts in which the song of Lili Marlene has been shaped , what might have caused to get abused for certain ideological and strategical matters of that time as well as to find out the possibilities of it’s rehabilitation , which is going to be a very tricky segment , because it applies on wide range of other abused or misinterpreted symbols and songs. This theme forces me to get deeper into researching the factors of how the certain political dogma like Communism or Fascism , affects individual as well as collective 3 subconsciousness and how perfectly orchestrated and choreographed social as well as military activities may become the curtain behind which the actual destructive ideology is blooming. As an incredible important part of this thesis I would need to dedicate one chapter to Hans Leip an artist and young Prussian soldier during the WW1 who wrote the words for the poem that would eventually become ‘’The song of a young soldier on watch’’ ( "Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht" ) in the later years , during the WW2 when set to the music by Norbert Schulze , become well known as ‘’Lili Marlene’’. In order to avoid a description of the historical facts , I would be focusing more on what and which phenomenon made possible that one , on the first hand, lovely and almost naively written love song, had become such a complex and metaphysical phenomenon to be able to unite the enemies, as cited in the book ‘’Lili Marlene’’ by Liel Leibovitz and Matthew Miller. ... In the Third and Fourth chapter , I ‘ll be giving a report of what exactly formed Lilli Marlene to be a person , who or what is Lili Marlene , or perhaps who is Lili and who Marlene ? Are they just a fictional manifestation and delusion of a soldier in delirium seeking for emotional and sexual intercourse, or there is something even more complex. After giving a proper look through the phenomenology of Lili Marlene , I will conclude this thesis with the chapter entitled ,‘ De-Nazification of the Song ,‘ in which I will be giving certain methods and the possibilities for this song to get back to its original meaning eventually succeeding to get a rid of the notorious connotation which gained in the second half of the past century. Also, apart of historical references I will be talking referring on my personal investigations on this theme during the past 3 years , giving the examples of my interpretation of Lili Marlene as a phenomenon that interest , showing a glimpse of something that eventually may evolve into a big personal dramatic piece in the near future. 4 CHAPTER ONE HANS LEIP AND THE BEGINNING OF A POEM In this first chapter I would like to pass shortly through the life of Hans Leip , an artist and a soldier on his duty , falling in love, writing the poem for Lili Marleen , bringing to the light, but certainly not knowing what’s gonna become out of that song twenty years later. Hans Leip was a poet, novelist and playwright born on 22 September 1893 in Hamburg . Leip was the son of a former sailor and harbour-worker at the port of Hamburg. He was educated there and in 1914 became a teacher in the Hamburg suburb of Rothenburgsort. In 1915 he was called up by the German army and after training in Berlin served on the Eastern front and in the Carpathians. After being wounded in 1917 he was discharged on medical grounds. He first had ambitions as an artist, but then turned to writing, although he illustrated his books himself. Researching the book ‘’Lili Marlene’’ written by Matthew Miller and Liel Leibowitz , I found many hidden details from the life of Hans Leip at one point frankly confronting with him regarding several parameters that accidentally occurred. In this chapter I wouldn’t have intentions to write briefly about the life of Hans Leip but rather more to approach to the problems that forced him into writing a lyrics for Lili Marlene , at that time the poem was originally titled "Das Mädchen unter der Laterne" (German. "The Girl under the Lantern"). He reportedly combined the nickname of his girlfriend with that of a nurse. The poem was later published as "Das Lied eines jungen Soldaten auf der Wacht" ("The Song of a Young Soldier on Watch") in 1937, now with the two last (of five) verses added by Leip. It was set to music by Norbert Schultze in 1938 and firstly recorded by Lale Andersen in 1939. Hans Leip as a young man ever since arriving in Berlin a few months before to begin his military service , started detesting the sound of locomotives. For him the harsh sound of turning wheels , the clatter of men and metal tossed together at great velocity were the sounds of death. He used to observe from the distance next to his barracks , how these trains carry off loads of fresh faced young men into a battle and then, months latter bringing them back as total invalids often disfigured and burned beyond recognition. He actually couldn’t cope with the fact that those fresh and young boys were forced by their duty into something that they didn’t want frankly as well as didn’t deserve as humans. Hans have been thinking for a while , 5 how all these young lives were completely ruined just for the purpose of certain ideology. One soldier more or less , not a big deal, the mass is important and , I believe they thought as long as they have a quantity of military recruits they wont need to worry. But for Hans Leip and his artistic nature, that was just a pitiful life. He didn’t want to be a soldier being sent to fight for the country and eventually lose his life . He wanted something much more from his life. I myself also found such a great similarities with my life in the late 2000’s studying abroad and escaping military service, which as a matter of fact, influenced the majority of my works. Let’s return to the subject. In the book written by Leibovitz and Miller , they are explaining how Leip also didn’t want to get married with his girlfriend at that time Lina Stellmann. They claim that he could never be able to settle down and to start a normal life , a life of a family man, a father taking care of his children. Leip wanted to travel as far as he could imagine, wanted to be free, to see much more and to lead creative life , a life in which he wouldn’t be detached to one women waiting slowly for his death. He started thinking about two female figures that made him intrigued and inspired. One of them was Betty a strong women , white incarnates , face like a alabaster , who was peasant frequently feeding the chickens in front of her house. The second that caught Leip’s eyes was the beautiful girl called Marlene. I wanted to mention those two female characters from Leip’s early adulthood because both would play an enormous role while giving the birth to the new poem , twenty years later to become one of the most famous as well as the most notorious songs in the history. Leibovitz, Liel and Miller, Matthew (2008). Lili Marlene: The Soldiers' Song of World War II.