Lili Marlene

Nina Hagen y Nana Mouskouri

¡Qué extraño habrá  sido escuchar Lili Marlene, al anochecer, en un campamento partisano, en algún lugar de Yugoslavia, a través de las ondas de la radio! Los recuerdos de los soldados, sus fantasías, sus miedos. Como traer algo de estabilidad y orden al infierno de la guerra, como sentir una voz amiga, como recordar a la amante, a la madre, al hogar.

No era un mensaje engañoso, de una propaganda, ni tenía nacionalidad ni fronteras. Era una canción que había sacudido a todos, nazis o no. Hablaba de amor y de volver, volver a ver a sus seres queridos, de vuelta a sus tierras.

Fitzroy Maclean recuerda la sensación de escuchar Lili Marlene en Radio Belgrado, en la Campaña del Desierto. El protagonismo de Marlene Dietrich con Lili Marlene. En video vemos a Nina Hagen y Nana Mouskouri cantando Lili Marlene y en vocabulario: husky

Muchos soldados aliados tenían la premisa de escuchar la canción al final del día. Fitzroy Maclean describe el efecto de la canción en la primavera del ´42, en la Campaña del Desierto…

Belgrado aún estaba lejos, pero ahora se había convertido en nuestro objetivo y Lili Marlene, con su tono nostálgico, parecía simbolizarlo…

La Campaña del Desierto tuvo lugar en los desiertos de Egipto y Libia…

Prisioneros yugoslavos supervisados por búlgaros y alemanes

Many Allied soldiers made a point of listening to the song at the end of the day. For example, in his memoir Eastern Approaches, Fitzroy Maclean describes the song's effect in the spring of 1942 during the Western Desert Campaign: "Husky, sensuous, nostalgic, sugar-sweet, her voice seemed to reach out to you, as she lingered over the catchy tune, the sickly sentimental words. Belgrade... The continent of Europe seemed a long way away. I wondered when I would see it again and what it would be like by the time we got there."

The next year, parachuted into the Yugoslav guerrilla war, Maclean wrote: "Sometimes at night, before going to sleep, we would turn on our receiving set and listen to Radio Belgrade…"

In 1944, the Morale Operations Branch of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) initiated the Muzak Project, musical propaganda broadcasts designed to demoralize enemy soldiers. Marlene Dietrich, the only performer who was told her recordings would be for OSS use, recorded a number of songs in German for the project, including "Lili Marleen".

Dietrich also performed "Lili Marlene", as well as many other songs, live in Europe for Allied troops, often on rickety, makeshift stages.

While she was touring the world in live one-woman cabaret shows from 1953 to 1975, the song was part of Dietrich's usual line-up, usually following "Falling in Love Again". She always introduced the song with some variation of this quote, from a 1960s concert, somewhere in Europe:

    Now, here is a song that is very close to my heart. I sang it during the war. I sang it for three long years, all through Africa, Sicily, Italy, to Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, to England, through France, through Belgium ... [long pause] ... to Germany, and to Czechoslovakia. The soldiers loved it, 'Lili Marlene'.

Para saber

The Western Desert campaign took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African campaign of the Second World War. Military operations began in June 1940 with the Italian declaration of war and the Italian invasion of Egypt in September. Operation Compass, a British five-day raid in December 1940, led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army. Benito Mussolini sought help from Adolf Hitler, who sent a small German force to Tripoli.

Vocabulario

Husky: (of the voice) having a semi whispered vocal tone; somewhat hoarse, as when speaking with a cold or from grief or passion.

Nana Mouskouri & Nina Hagen - Lili Marleen - In Live - 1990

Gracias por permitirnos disfrutar esto

Artículos relacionados

Dietrich was known for her humanitarian efforts during the war, housing German and French exiles, providing financial support and even advocating their U.S. citizenship… Marlene Dietrich

… describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax, which was shown… The Protocols

… when she was fighting her battle with cancer we became very close… Last Moments (Farrah Fawcett's final 6 months)