[Pablo]

Originally Posted by moscowexile

I should think that hearing Vera Lynn warbling away "The White Cliffs of Dover" and "We'll Meet Again" whilst on U-Boot patrol would destroy the "total immersion" factor somewhat; likewise the playing of swing and jazz would have been "streng verboten", I should think, in the Kriegsmarine. The same goes as regards listening to Marlene Dietrich's songs: she had defected to the USA by the time WWII kicked off in Europe and was considered as a traitor by the Nazis after she had done the voice overs for Hollywood produced propaganda films against the Third Reich.

I am not expressing any fascist sympathies here, just thinking of historical accuracy.

Hi!

Our research indicated that jazz music was really unpopular with the Nazi heirarchy, but that it was popular with the U-boat crews, who were given something of a dispensation (and a lot of protection from the Gestapo and political education officers) by Dönitz. In the end, it seems that the individual U-boat commanders had great discretion in this area; for example, Werner Henke reportedly had a large collection of Cole Porter records, while Wolfgang Lüth forbade U.S. or British tunes on board.

We cut Ms. Dietrich the same kind of slack, on the assumption that recordings forbidden in Germany could have made their way to France, where U-boat officers could have purchased them between voyages if they chose to do so.

Pablo