Charlie and his Orchestra (also referred to as the "Templin band" and "Bruno and His Swinging Tigers") were a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-sponsored

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

swing band.

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music styles were seen by Nazi authorities as rebellious but, ironically, propaganda minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

conceived of using the style in

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

radio broadcasts aimed initially at the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and later the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, after the German declaration of war on 11 December 1941. British listeners heard the band every Wednesday and Saturday at about 9 pm. The importance of the band in the propaganda war was underscored by a BBC survey released after World War II, which indicated that 26.5 percent of all British listeners had at some point heard programs from Germany.''Wir haben damals die beste Musik gemacht''
Von Steinbiß, F. und Eisermann, D., Der Spiegel, April 18, 1988. The German Propaganda Ministry also distributed their music on 78 rpm records to POW camps and occupied countries.

History

During the 1930s there was a great demand in Germany for jazz music, especially swing (which included elements of the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

sound). However, such American influences which consisted of African American and some Jewish elements were viewed as counter to goals of German racial purity; by 1935 they were outlawed, and the Nazis informally labeled it as '' Negermusik''. An underground jazz scene, however, persisted in Berlin. Here bandleader Lutz Templin and drummer Fritz Brocksieper brought together key swing figures of the late 1930s, including singer Karl Schwedler ("Charlie"), clarinetist Kurt Abraham and trombone player Willy Berking. They escaped notice by pasting pro-German lyrics over sheet music and using instruments like harpsichords for

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

rhythms. During this period Alfred Rosenburg, the head of the NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs, and Goebbels would pose conflicting opinions about jazz. Rosenberg would argue that Jazz contradicts the ideology of the Nazi party, imposing his power to work alongside local leaders. This resulted in local prohibitions of jazz across Germany. In April of 1940, Goebbles was permitted to bring Berlin's best jazz musicians into the music-propaganda program, where Charlie and his Orchestra was born. Alongside bringing in jazz musicians across Germany, Templin had to recruit musicians from German-occupied countries because many of the interwar jazz musicians were Jewish and were deported to concentration camps. As an official ''Reichsministerium'' band, the group made over 90 recordings between March 1941 and February 1943. Arrangements were by Templin, Willy Berking and Franz Mück, with lyrics written by the '' Propagandaministerium''. Schwedler was permitted to travel to neutral and occupied countries to collect jazz and dance music, which helped the band and propaganda ministry to produce more recordings. Outside their "official" duties, many band members supplemented their income by playing in underground venues. During World War II the German youth retained an interest in swing music. These youth would take a stance against the militarization of German society and create groups known as schlurfs. Created across Germany, these groups would repurpose propaganda efforts by the Nazi government and listen to propaganda bands like Charlie and his Orchestra due to the ease of access to swing music. By 1943, bombardment by Allied planes took a toll on German broadcast operations; the studio, employees, and musicians were moved to southern Germany to perform on the ''Reichssender Stuttgart'' radio station. During this transition, they were forced to move to a smaller broadcast studio and slowed their operations, due to allied bombing. Even when the city finally came under attack by ground forces, the band played jazz hits live on international shortwave radio, as German domestic stations played the "cuckoo" air-raid warning. Once Stuttgart was captured by the Americans in April 1945, they were impressed with their musical talent and commissioned some of the band to play for them. After the war, the musicians reorganized under Fritz Brocksieper with the name '' Freddie Brocksieper'', but were still recognized as "Goebbels' band". They played at US Armed Forces clubs in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. Conductor Lutz Templin became one of the founders of the ARD broadcast network. Schwedler (in varying accounts) either emigrated to the US in 1960 or became a businessman who retired at

Tegernsee Tegernsee () is a Town#Germany, town in the Miesbach (district), Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the banks of Tegernsee (lake), Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) AMSL, above sea level. A spa town, it is su ...

Style

The purposes of the band were to encourage German sympathies, draw attention to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Allied losses, weaken British and American resolve, belittle

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, convince listeners those leaders are pawns of Jewish interests, demean Black and Jewish people, and convey German dictator

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's messages in an entertaining form. The songs stressed how badly the war was going for the target audience, and how it would be only a matter of time until they would be defeated. American swing and popular British songs were initially performed true to the originals until the second or third stanza when pro-German lyrics and monologues would be introduced. For example, in the Walter Donaldson hit " You're Driving Me Crazy" Schwedler croons about the confusion of new love; in the third stanza, he continues: "Here is Winston Churchill's latest tear-jerker: Yes, the Germans are driving me crazy / I thought I had brains / But they shot down my planes...". Later, the entire lyric would be modified (clearly based on the original). The band also recorded (unaltered)

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular songs. While some of their music was modified or covered by popular songs during the 1940s, they also recorded songs of their own. One of these songs is “Little Sir Echo,” which attacked Winston Churchill while promoting the dominance of the Kriegsmarine’s Submarines. This track also further exemplifies how Charlie and His Orchestra attempted to convince the British people to stop fighting in the war. Anecdotal accounts indicate that

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

enjoyed the broadcasts. There are also anecdotal accounts that the British people found these songs to be comedic, or would listen to a different radio station like the BBC. Many of the members of Charlie and his Orchestra went on to successful careers in music after the war.

Lyrical Analysis

Cornelius Ryan's nonfiction book about

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, '' The Longest Day'', includes a snippet from Schwedler's cover of

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

's 1930s hit "I Double Dare You": :I double dare you to venture a raid. :I double dare you to try and invade. :And if your loud propaganda means half of what it says, :I double dare you to come over here. “Little Sir Echo” :Poor Mr. Churchill, how do you do? :Hello, Hello, :Your famous convoy are not coming through :Hello :German U-boats are making you sore… :You’re always licked, not a victory came through, :Hello… :You’re nice little fellow, but by now you should know :That you never can win this war. “Makin’ Whoopee” :Another war, another profit, another Jewish Business Trick, :Another season, another reason for makin’ whoopee. :Washington is our ghetto, Roosevelt is our king. :Democracy is our motto. Think of what a war can bring. :We throw our German names away. We are the ewishof USA. :You are the goys, folks. :We are the boys, folks. :We’re making whoopee. “Blackout Blues” - Based on St. Louis Blues :A Negro from the London docks, :Sings the blackout blues. :I hate to see the evening sun go down. :‘Cause the German, he done bombed the town. :Feeling tomorrow like I feel today. :Feeling tomorrow like I feel today. :I’ll pack my trunk, make my getaway. :That Churchill bad man with his wars :And the things that pulls folks around by his apron strings. :One for Churchill and his bloody war. :I wouldn’t feel as so doggone sore. :Got the Blackout Blues. :Yeah. :Blue as I can be. :That man got a heart like a rock cast in the sea. :He just won’t let folks live as they want to be. :Doggone it.

Discography

Singles & EPs *“Who’ll Buy My Bublitchky” / “I’ve Got A Pocketful Of Dreams” (Shellac, 10”, 78 RPM) Date Unknown *“I’ve Got A Feelin’ You’re Foolin’” / “Washing On The Siegfried Line” (Shellic, 10”, 78 RPM) Date Unknown *“The Continental”(Shellac, 10”, 78 RPM, Mono) Date Unknown Compilations *Propaganda Swing Vol. 1 (LP, Comp, Mono) Released 1975 *Propaganda Swing Vol. 2 (LP, Comp, Mono) Released 1975 *Volume 1: German Propaganda Swing 1940 - 1941, Released 1987 *Charlie & His Orchestra Vol. 3: German Propaganda Swing, 1939-1944 (LP, Comp) Released 1988 *Volume 2: German Propaganda Swing 1940-1943 (LP, Comp, Mono) Released 1988 *Vol. 2 - I Got Rhythm - German Propaganda Swing, 1941-1944 (CD, Comp) Released 1991 *Let’s Go Bombing (CD, Comp) Released 2004

References

External links