After the recent glut of WWII threads in the SDMB I found some episodes of the classic “The World at War” BBC documentary. In the (Operation) Barbarossa episode there was a catchy tune by the German Wehrmacht called Wenn die Soldaten:
Wenn die Soldaten
Durch die Stadt marschieren,
Öffnen die Mädchen
Die Fenster und die Türen.
Ei warum? Ei darum!
Ei warum? Ei darum!
Ei bloß wegen dem
Schingderassa,
Bumderassasa!
Ei bloß wegen dem
Schingderassa,
Bumderassasa!
More on the link with MP3 versions of the song, including a surprising Marlene Dietrich cover.
It seems that even though the song was a favorite of the Wehrmacht, that it was based on a Children’s song, :dubious: and the reason why the producers of a recent Marlene D compilation had no trouble putting that cover of the song in her album is that the song does not have any Nazi messages. :dubious:
When I pass the lyrics through Babel Fish:
*If the soldiers
By the city march,
Open the girls
The windows and the doors.
Egg why? Egg therefore!
Egg why? Egg therefore!
Egg only because of that
Schingderassa, ( )
Bumderassasa! ( )
Egg only because of that
Schingderassa,
Bumderassasa! *
That is why I got the idea that it originated from a children song, but it had soldiers as a subject. The questions are:
Did the song really had no Nazi messages? Did it came from a children’s book or song? Anyone can help with a better German to English translation? Any further info on why the Wehrmacht did use it? You would think that it sounds not manly enough for that kind of crowd…
I can’t tell you that much about the song but apparently it predates the nazis by a while. According to Wikipedia cabaret star Claire Waldoff sang it in 1912. In this case “Ei” is just a cute interjection that indicates mild surprise. In real life it’s mostly used for two purposes: Fudging on the meter of a song or talking to toddlers and puppies.
“Schingderassa, Bumderassasa!” describes the sound of marching band. It is given as the reason why the girls are so interested in soldiers, why they like to kiss them, why give them wine and roast, why they miss them and why they are all married when the soldiers return from the war. Feel free to see hidden additional meanings.
If there is a recording/film of soldiers singing this, then it was a staged propaganda event. Don’t forget that the Wehrmacht was supposed to be a G-rated family-friendly army. Show tunes suggesting that being a soldier gets you laid were about as risqué as it got.
I did go back to the documentary and I can see at the 2 minutes and 20 second mark, that the Wehrmacht did add a line about the Führer just before the beginning of the song:
I see now that that change was used only during the 3rd reich and that Marlene D never did use it.
I have a German songbook comprised of folk and composed works, the publication dates of the youngest songs listing composer and lyricist: the 1860’s. And sure enough, “Wenn die Soldaten durch die Stadt Marschieren”
is in there.
That various groups latch on to a song: Okay, so if the Nazis used it to promote their brand of nationalism, German refugee Marlene Dietrich was clearly using it in the same sense that American folksingers were using “Where Have All the Flowers Gone Long Time Passing?” as a protest song. In her case against the Nazis. A recent documentary detailed the great help she was to fellow performers who escaped to the United States.
; in American folksingers against our involvement in Vietnam.
In another of the arts Thomas Mann, very Germany middle class who had won the Noble Prize for literature, fled with his family first for Switzerland, and then for the US. There are reams of his broadcasts on BBC(?) I think to the German people throughout the war and his series of Joseph novels–Joseph in Exile, etc. are an ongoing protest. In the late 20’s, he and his older brother–a very radical Heinrich were in Italy and saw Mussolini’s rule up close.
Thomas Mann wrote a novelette, Mario and the Magician in which Mussolini is the magician, hypnotizing his followers to follow him unthinkingly and Mario, an unsophisticated member of the audience who catches on to the very sinister nature of the magician and shoots and kills him Magician. While that was written in direct ref to Mussolini, I think one cn easily see how the same could have been applied in Mann’s head shortly thereafter to Hitler.
The song itself is quite innocent. Young men go off to war dreaming of glory, of girls being thrilled with their bravery but the reality is that life goes on without them, and while handsome in uniform. . . .
The original version is even a bit older than the ones mentioned so far – it’s from a burlesque “Die Seeräuber” (The buccaneers) by Cosmar that premiered 1839 in Breslau (Wroclaw).
It was also sung during the Vormärz and by many cabaret artists and singers associated with the labour and the peace movement in the Weimarer Republik, so calling it a Nazi song is as ridiculous as it is sad.
It’s one of the many examples of traditional and/or popular pieces of cultural artefacts that were used and twisted by the Nazis and inevitably stained by the connection.
I wanted to add more of an explanation why something that might look at first sight like a typical soldier’s song could also be popular with anyone who opposed war and anything related to militarism.
The reason is the turnaround into the absurd that is present throughout the song in each stanza with the repeated …
Ei warum? Ei darum! Ei warum? Ei darum!
(So, why? Just because! So, why? Just because!) Ei bloß wegen dem Schingderassa, Bumderassa, Schingdara!
(“Because of the military marches” would not even be close to the meaning because the marches are described in onomatopoetic words that are as lighthearted as they are deprecatory; there is some disrespect toward the military not quite hidden in those words and a certain “whim of a moment”-attitude at work here)
… and the arc of the story deepens the irony present in the chorus: The girls merrily welcome the soldiers who march into their town, hug and kiss them, feed them and drink red wine with them (which can be interpreted less innocently), shed tears when they are under heavy fire at the front line and are already married when the soldiers finally return home.
The irony is heavy in this song and can be easily turned towards the bitter, the comical, the absurd and even the genuinely austere. In other words: it’s pretty typical for many of the older songs that were popular among soldiers, and the Nazis were usually clever enough to not suppress this outlet but use it.
)