GBlog

Wer war Ilse Weinberger?



ABSIE was the London-based European service for the Voice of America, operated by the United States Office of War Information. “Music for the Wehrmacht” was a half-hour program broadcast from the ABSIE studios in the basement at Film House (the Gaumont-British Film Company), 142 Wardour Street in London, which were underground to protect from German V-1 flying bomb and V-2 guided missile attacks. The program was presented with a half-hour newscast specifically formatted for the German armed forces. Other ABSIE programs were beamed to the German public. Unlike the crude propaganda presented by the enemy, the VOA and ABSIE were ordered to present straight news, as directed by OWI director Elmer Davis, the former CBS news executive and anchorman. The ABSIE German-language section producers strongly believed the German military and people were intelligent and skeptical of the sort of unrealistic and exaggerated propaganda presented by their own Nazi-controlled Domestic and Foreign radio services. Therefore, ABSIE presented news, information and entertainment in as straightforward a manner as possible under wartime conditions and messages were coordinated with the SHAEF Psychological Warfare Division (PWD). Among the most popular ABSIE programs were a half-hour series sending messages from Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine POWs in the United States to their families in Germany.
Major Miller and the ABAEF were loaned from SHAEF to ABSIE for “Music for the Wehrmacht.” The program focused on presenting American artists to the German forces. In addition to the ABAEF, others appearing on the program during visits to the UK included Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Morton Downey and Marlene Dietrich.

Spike Jones and a contingent of his City Slickers also appeared, although it is highly doubtful they performed their signature “Der Fuehrer’s Face” on the program.
The ABSIE production staff created a system of phonetic scripts to help Miller, Crosby and others who did not speak the German language to read at least passable German. Since the Wardour Street Studios were too small to accommodate a large orchestra, the ABAEF musical parts for “Music for the Wehrmacht” were pre-recorded at the EMI Abbey Road Studios and survive in excellent audio fidelity.

Ilse Weinberger war die Deutsch sprechende Ansagerin der Sendungen. Es ist nicht viel über sie rauszukriegen (hier hat es schon einmal jemand versucht), aber Sie können sie bei KEZW/Denver in den Original-Sendungen hören, fachkundig kommentiert: Hier die Folgen von “Music for the Wehrmacht” recorded Monday, October 30, 1944 EMI Studio, St. John’s Wood, Abbey Road, London Broadcast Thursday November 8, 1944, und recorded Monday, November 6, 1944 EMI Studio, St. John’s Wood, Abbey Road, London Broadcast Thursday, November 15, 1944 (und hier als mp3)

Ilse hat auch mal mitgesungen:


Die Qualität der Abbey Road-Aufnahmen von 1944 ist in der Tat faszinierend!
+ Archäologie (CCCLVIII): "Das Zeugenhaus", die historische Leistung der Anti-Hitler-Koalition und die geehrten Kollaborateure
+ Von der Anti-Hitler-Koalition zum Kalten Krieg und zu Cold War 2.0

Wer also war Ilse Weinberger?

For more information please reread.