A total of 93,857 professional musicians were under contract across Nazi Germany when the Third Reich came into existence in 1933 and by war’s outbreak in 1939 this number had grown to a staggering 172,443, thanks to Propagandaminister Joseph Goebbels realising the power that music & radio had on a population. Within a year of the Nazis coming to power, he had personally taken charge of this vital propaganda tool for the German government which eventually led to some 5 million German homes receiving state radio broadcasts across the Reich..!
Goebbels successfully & skillfully balanced the world of entertainment with the field of politics and by 1938 light entertainment music or Unterhaltungsmusik, accounted for nearly two thirds of all music output. Nazi radio was very popular for its willingness to play the latest dance records and by war’s outbreak in 1939, the number of listeners had risen to some 10 million and the demand for Unterhaltungsmusik grew so much, that Goebbels actually ordered more of it to be played and broadcast to the growing radio audience and so it was that the very talented Hungarian musician Barnabas von Géczy (1897-1971), already an accomplished band-leader & violinist in 1930s’ Berlin, took a starring role in this wonderful musical renaissance that was taking place across the Third Reich.
Initially a personal favourite of Adolf Hitler, Barnabas very soon became a Nazi favourite across the whole of the German Reich, leading his own highly versatile and extremely talented orchestra & dance-band and by 1941, over 50 million listeners were tuning in to his regular and highly popular broadcasts. Now this exciting CD, produced to broadcast radio quality from an original private shellack 78rpm record collection found in Dachau, offers a producer’s introduction together with 13 of those wonderful and heart-lifting dance-tracks so beloved of The Führer including: Komm mit nach Madeira - Kautschuk - Sag’beim Abschied leise Servus - Ich tanze mit dir in Himmel hinein - Gute Laune -Frische Brise - Abendlied and Es geht nicht ohne Liebe…