Monday, August 18, 1941. Lili by the lamp light.

On this day in 1941, Radio Belgrade played Lale Andersen's recording of Lili Marleen. It became an instant hit.

The song was originally a poem written in World War One by a conscripted German school teacher.  It was set to music and then recorded by Andersen in the late 30s, but it wasn't a hit until Radio Belgrade began to play it.  With a wartime theme, and very romantic, it became hugely popular with troops from both sides.  The better known version for Allied troops was the one recorded by Marlene Dietrich 

Bei der Kaserne
Vor dem grossen Tor
Steht 'ne Laterne
Und steht sie noch davor
Da wollen wir uns wiedersehen
Bei der Laterne wollen wir stehen
Wie einst Lili Marlen
Wie einst Lili Marlen

Unsere beiden Schatten
Sah'n wie einer aus
Dass wir lieb uns hatten
Dass sah man gleich daraus
Und alle Leute sollen es sehen
Wenn wir bei der Laterne steh'n
Wie einst Lili Marlen
Wie einst Lili Marlen

Deine Schritte kennt sie
Deinen schoenen Gang
Alle Abend brennt sie
Doch mich vergass sie lang
Und sollte mir ein leids geschehen
Wer wird bei der Laterne stehen
Mit dir Lili Marlen?
Mit dir Lili Marlen?

Aus dem tiefen Raume
Aus der Erde Grund
Hebt sich wie im Traume
Dein verliebter Mund
Wenn sich die spaeten Nebel dreh'n
Wer wird bei der Laterne stehen
Mit dir Lili Marlen
Mit dir Lili Marlen

Wenn sich die spaeten Nebel dreh'n
Wer wird bei der Laterne stehen
Mit dir Lili Marlen
Mit dir Lili Marlen.

The song and the poem lament the situation of a soldier longing for "Lili by the lamp light" who waits outside the Kaserne by the big door.

The song wasn't popular with the German authorities, but they proved unable to do anything about it.  Oddly, the German language song was popular with English speaking Allied troops, being more popular than the English language versions.

Andersen lived a troubled early life but went on to a more settled one after the war, after which she rarely preformed.  She herself wasn't keen on the Nazis and her sentiments were known, but the popularity of the song deterred the German authorities from doing much about it.

Concerning music, on this day German authorities raided clubs in Hamburg frequented by "Swing Kids", young Germans who favored jazz and swing music and who were a type of German counterculture.  300 individuals were arrested and some sent to concentration camps.  Initially the raids hardened their opposition, which was already there, to the Nazi culture and even harsher repression then followed.  They were an interesting example of a relatively large group of young Germans whose rejection of Nazi ideology was pretty widely known, if muted.  Favoring English language and American derived music, they also affected a style of dress that was very similar to that of Zoot Suiters in the United States.

Both of these items are cataloged here:

Today in World War II History—August 18, 1941

President Roosevelt signed the bill extending the Selective Service Act in the United States.