Lili Marleen (German version) - A song full of contradictions and history

The history of the song, Lili Marleen, is full of contradictions. A German composer set a poem born of the trenches of the First World War to music, and a German woman enamored of a Jew provided the voice that would make those verses famous. And oh, did I mention a natural-born German but Nazi-hating actress singing it both in German and English but rooting for the enemy? Mix all these things together and you have the making of a musical piece for all ages bound to break through all cultural and even ideological barriers. Broadcast just before 10 o’clock each night by a military radio station, Lili Marlene united and gave hope to the distraught and persecuted of all Europe. The world was cruelly divided into two irreconcilable camps, but Lili Marleen traveled across all frontiers and war zones, moving within an ambiguity that flouted norms - it was a product of the Third Reich sung by English and American soldiers, too. Unlike traditional wartime compositions, Lili Marleen is about the harsh