Origins of The Song
The lyrics of the song were written by Niel, a German composer of marches. The exact year of the song's origin is not known; often the date is given as "about 1930," a date that, however, has not been substantiated. The song was originally published in 1938 by the publishing firm Louis Ortel in Großburgwedel. It was a great success even before the start of World War II.
Niel, who in early May 1933 joined the NSDAP and was among others became a "leading" Kapellmeister at the Reichsarbeitdienst, created numerous marches that largely served the National Socialist propaganda campaigns. In particular the Reichpropagandaminister Joseph Goebbels, as Berszinski writes, noticed early on that down-to-earth, simple songs were a useful propaganda tool. The more that the songs served as a departure from the hard reality into dreamful felicity and affected a sentimental love song idyll, the better the "true face of Nazi Germany" could be hidden behind the joyful major-key notes. The close connection of National Socialism with the new technical mass media, especially film and radio, came to the contrary and swiftly ensured the popularity of the Nazi songs.
The military hits and marches were the "answer closer approaching war." In all about 15,000 National Socialist songs were produced between 1933 and 1945, as well as about one and a half million sheets of documents that alone were related to music.
Read more about this topic: Erika (song)
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