Marlene Dietrich's secret role in a women-only spy ring - and the brazen act that put a Nazi price on her head

UK Daily Mail ^ | 03/01/2025 | Ruth Walker

[DFG]

Marlene Dietrich made her way to a recording studio in the middle of New York’s Times Square, about to give one of the most audacious performances of her career.

The Berlin-born screen siren had renounced her German citizenship five years earlier, and become a proud American - a move that had so enraged Hitler, he’d put a seven-figure bounty on her head.

But Dietrich was undeterred, and went on to become a key figure in the US war effort, singing for Allied troops in Algeria, France, Italy, and Germany - often in extremely dangerous conditions.

What is less well-known is her role as part of a top secret team of ‘black propaganda’ specialists whose work helped break the Nazis’ stronghold in Europe.

And on the night of August 16, 1944, Dietrich wasn’t about to record just any album.

In her new book, The Propaganda Girls, author Lisa Rogak reveals that the classic songs on the set list were destined to be beamed into enemy territory - with their subtly altered lyrics written specifically to undermine the Germans and chip away at morale.

Lili Marlene, for instance. The German love song was based on a World War I poem written by a soldier who was missing his sweetheart back home.

But in Dietrich’s version, the soldier was dying, losing not just his love, but his life as well.

‘With one manicured hand Marlene caressed the silver microphone that could be easily mistaken for a grenade in the dark, while a Lucky Strike dangled from her other hand,' writes Rogak.

‘She lowered her head as if in prayer; she needed a moment to collect her thoughts. First, her family back in Germany. She knew that what she was about to do could be signing their death sentence.

[dfwgator]

This is my favorite German army song

Erika
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkeKak1T7nw

[rlmorel]

I’ve heard that before-it isn’t hard to imaging men marching to that song!