Culture in the Third Reich by Moritz Föllmer

Author:Moritz Föllmer [Föllmer, Moritz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192545985
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2020-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Combat and Entertainment: Media and Propaganda

The singer played by Zarah Leander in the film The Great Love Affair is used to success: she has already given many admirers their marching orders before falling for the most confident and humorous of them. She is indignant at his periodic absences until he reveals to her that he is a fighter pilot. His dangerous work does not put her off. They become more involved and plan to marry during his next home leave. Their guests have already arrived, when he suddenly receives the order to report back for duty. The wedding has to be postponed indefinitely, and the relationship can continue only by letter and through longings expressed to third parties. The man who up to now has had an eye for all attractive women now wants to be happily married: ‘I want to know who it is I’m coming back to. That someone is waiting just for me.’ Though for a long time she valued her independence, the singer too is looking forward to their life together: ‘We’ll have a little house somewhere, not too far from Berlin. A proper home—not moving around, the way it’s been up to now.’

On another leave they meet in Rome, but again the time is too short for them to get married. The pilot is needed and returns to the front, though this time voluntarily and without having been ordered back. The singer is beside herself, but sees things differently when she realizes the connection between his leaving and the war against the Soviet Union. ‘I’m so ashamed,’ she writes to him; ‘while you are risking your life the whole time, I can’t even manage to wait for you for a few weeks or a few months.’ A ban on post to the front prevents the letter from reaching the pilot, and he breaks off the relationship in order to be able fly without a weight on his mind. But when he is wounded and sent to a sanatorium in the mountains she rushes to him and the two are reconciled: ‘They made me fly three operations’, he exclaims with his old optimism, ‘just so we could finally have three weeks together.’ The couple gaze into each other’s eyes, but then look up to the sky as a squadron flies overhead. He will recover, but we do not know how long their life together will last.

The relationship between the singer and the pilot develops against the background of a national community increasingly geared to conflict. On the evening they meet, they have to go down to the air-raid shelter in the cellar. The atmosphere there is relaxed, however, and even cheerful; they play a boardgame with a young boy and offer all the residents ‘real coffee’. But as Germany’s situation becomes more serious, their love deepens along with it. While she is pining for him, she is making some guest appearances in Paris, where she sings for Wehrmacht soldiers. At first they just look at her

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