World War II-era entertainers from the Third Reich and elsewhere.
Latest hand-picked WWII news.
Johannes Heesters, who suffered 90-years from being Hitler's favorite actor, passes away at the age 108
A Dutch-born actor who became a favorite of the Nazi Party - and was dogged by controversy because of it for the rest of his life - has died aged 108. Johannes Heesters rose to fame in Germany in the 1930s. After the war he was allowed to keep performing because he was not involved in propaganda or Nazi activities. But his willingness to perform for Hitler's regime meant he was treated as an outcast in his native country. "Sure, I acted in films in the Third Reich, which distracted countless people inside and outside Germany from daily life during war. I wanted to make my career and I remember well at the time how many people in the Netherlands were proud that I made a career in the huge neighbouring country. But apart from my career - and the fact that, through no fault of my own, Adolf Hitler was one of the fans of my art - what have I done?"
(sky.com)
New biography claims Marlene Dietrich plotted to kill Hitler?
One day, according to Douglas Fairbanks, Marlene Dietrich asked for his help in an extraordinary plan. She would agree to make one film in the Third Reich, on condition that she could be alone with the Fuhrer, giving her an opportunity to kill him. Dietrich told Fairbanks: "I would gush over how I feel about him, intimating that I am desperately in love with him. I've heard Hitler likes me and I'm certain he would agree." Fairbanks added: "Fortunately, her idea didn't go any further because she didn't figure out how to complete the assassination, but she was a very brave girl and I know she would have gambled her life if she thought she had a chance of success."
(mailonsunday.co.uk)
105-year-old singer Johan Heesters: Hitler was a good guy
A singer whose career in Third Reich has troubled his reputation is back in the limelight after telling a tv show Adolf Hitler was a "good guy." Johan Heesters was asked by a journalist what he thought of Hitler. "A good guy, that's what he was," he said. His wife Simone Rethel corrected him, saying that Hitler was the worst criminal in the world. "I know, doll, but he was nice to me," Heesters replied, adding that: "...through no fault of my own, Adolf Hitler was one of the fans of my art. What have I done?" Heesters was never a propagandist or anything other than an artist willing to perform for the Nazis, but some view him as irredeemable.
(huffingtonpost.com)
Dutch entertainer Johannes Heesters disputes singing for SS at Dachau camp
A 104-year-old Dutch-born singer who made his name performing in Adolf Hitler's Third Reich is trying to clear his name of allegations he sang for Nazi guards at the Dachau camp. Johannes Heesters admits that he toured the camp in 1941, but is suing in a civil court in Berlin to have an author and documentary maker retract claims that he entertained the SS troops while there. "It never happened," Heesters said in a statement explaining his links to Nazi-era Germany on his online site. Author Volker Kuehn has no intention of taking back the allegation, which is based on a 1990 interview with former Dachau inmate Viktor Matejka.
(eurojewcong.org)
Jo Stafford - "G.I. Jo" - was the voice of the American homefront during World War II
Jo Stafford, the singing voice of the American home front during WWII, died aged 90. Her U.S.O. tours and V-Discs (recordings made for servicemen) earned her the nickname "G.I. Jo". Her recordings pure, nearly vibrato-less voice conveyed devotion and reassurance with delicate understatement. She was the vocal personification of every serviceman's dream girl faithfully tending the home fires while he was overseas. First as a member of the Pied Pipers, who sang with Tommy Dorsey and accompanied the young Frank Sinatra, and later as a soloist, she had a stream of hits from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s.
(nytimes.com)
104-year-old Nazi-era singer returns to stage: Performed for Adolf Hitler
104-year-old Dutch cabaret singer Johannes Heesters has given a concert in the Netherlands for the first time in 4 decades - with protests and tight security around the theatre. Although Heesters says he never embraced Nazi politics, he performed in Nazi Germany for Adolf Hitler and visited the Dachau camp. Many Dutch people have never forgiven him. "He kept singing for the Nazi regime, for the Wehrmacht, and he earned millions," said Piet Schouten, of a committee formed to protest against performance. Heesters was never accused of being a Nazi propagandist, and the Allies let him to continue performing after the war.
(bbc)
Adolf Hitler has was a big fan of British comedy
In 1945 Albert Speer let slip the revelation that The Führer was an avid listener to the BBC. His favourite show was ITMA aka It's That Man Again, with Tommy Handley: a vaudeville romp set aboard a fake pirate radio station called Radio Fakenburg (Radio Luxembourg). "Oh yes," Speer recalled fondly chuckling as he spoke: "The Führer loved your Tommy Handley." He then proceeded to imitate the voice of Mrs Mopp. When Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator came out during WW2, a satirising of Hitler by Chaplin designed as anti-Nazi propaganda, lampooning his every pompous gesture, Hitler ordered a number of copies, watching it over and over again laughing throughout.
(guardian)
Vera Lynn at her 90th - Boosting the morale of World War II troops
War veterans, politicians and entertainers sang Happy Birthday to Dame Vera Lynn at a reception marking her 90th birthday. Dame Vera, the original Forces Sweetheart, was serenaded by Katherine Jenkins with two of the classic songs she used to sing to boost the morale of troops during World War II. Jenkins, the current Forces Sweetheart, sang We'll Meet Again and The White Cliffs Of Dover at the reception at the Imperial War Museum. Dame Vera mouthed along as Jenkins sang the wartime hits for which she is so well known and appeared tearful during a short film about her life.
(icwales)
A Woman at War: Marlene Dietrich Remembered
"Outside the barracks, by the corner light. I'll always stand and wait for you each night." So goes the lyric in "Lili Marlene," sung famously by Marlene Dietrich. A German from top to toe, she loathed Adolf Hitler and while WWII raged she performed on stages for U.S. near the battlefields. The movie queen who trudged, in Army fatigues, through the mud of wartime Europe, a woman who risked her life to "aid and comfort the enemy." That's how her angry germans saw it. It is this Marlene who is celebrated in "A Woman at War: Marlene Dietrich Remembered" by J. David Riva, Dietrich's grandson by the star's only child, Maria Riva.
(nypost.com)
Marlene Dietrich DVD: The Glamour Collection
With Marlene Dietrich: The Glamour Collection Universal taps into one of the biggest stars of the 1930s and one of the truly most glamorous women of the 20th century, a mysterious creature of a million male daydreams. Marlene Dietrich became the Trilby to Josef Von Sternberg's Svengali for a series of exotic romances. And she was one of the most beloved figures of WW2, reportedly associated with the song Lily Marlene by soldiers on both sides of the conflict in Europe.
(dvdtalk)
The five lives of extraordinary Leni Riefenstahl
Five Lives chronicles in pictures the life of one of the 20th Century's most extraordinary women, the notorious German film-maker, Leni Riefenstahl. Its title, Five Lives, gives some clue as to its subject's remarkable ability to reinvent herself. The young Leni started as a dancer, touring as a solo performer until injury forced her to quit. In the 1920s she transformed herself into a film star, showcasing her beauty and athleticism. At the time it was unheard of for an actor - let alone an actress - to make the transition to director, yet Riefenstahl managed it. She made a feature film, The Blue Light, whose fans included Adolf Hitler.
(bbc)