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10 Sep 10 - 12:19 PM (#2983996) Subject: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: GUEST, Sminky There's a lovely story on the BBC about Wigan-born Margery Booth who sang with the Berlin Opera after moving to Germany before the outbreak of WW2. During the war she was allowed to perform for British POWs and used to sing 'a variety of English folk songs' before closing with Land of Hope and Glory. She even sung before Hitler himself, though sadly, we don't know what (presumably not LoHaG). And all the while she was smuggling secret documents out hidden in her knickers! She was tortured by the Gestapo, but they were no match for a Wigan lass - she told them nowt and they eventually let her go. Here's to you, Margery Booth. |
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10 Sep 10 - 06:34 PM (#2984217) Subject: RE: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: Jim Carroll She was tortured by the Gestapo, " I suspect that the one about him having only one ball didn't help his reputation. Jim Carroll |
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10 Sep 10 - 10:54 PM (#2984309) Subject: RE: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: Ebbie Great story, Sminky. I'll have to do some more reading. Thanks. |
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11 Sep 10 - 02:40 PM (#2984648) Subject: RE: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: Tootler [ot] I've just joined a local community band and one of the pieces we are doing is Colonel Bogey. I can't help singing the words about Hitler only having one ball in my head while we are playing it. [/OT] Back on topic. It takes a special sort of courage to do what she did. She deserves to be remembered. |
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11 Sep 10 - 07:18 PM (#2984790) Subject: RE: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: Clontarf83 I was singing "Peat Bog Soldiers" at a local street market when a small woman emerged from the listeners and stood beside me and sang it in German. Her Dad taught it to her when she was growing up in Germany. The song itself is testament to the ability of the human spirit to overcome the most apalling circumstances. |
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13 Sep 10 - 09:57 AM (#2985705) Subject: RE: Hitler: Folk Songs part in his downfall From: GUEST, Sminky I've looked a bit deeper into this story - the ending is not pretty. Margery Myers Booth's birth is registered at Wigan in 1906. On August 8th, 1936 she marries Doctor Egon Strohm at All Saints church, Southport. After her exploits in Germany she escapes to Bavaria where she is picked up by the advancing US Army. She divorces and goes back to England where she makes her information available for the Old Bailey trials of William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) and John Amery. Both men are hanged. She recovers her British nationality and returns to live in Wigan. However, because of her German connections she is treated like a pariah by her neighbours and she emigrates to the United States. She dies of cancer in New York in 1952 at the age of 47. There is no record of her ever singing again after the war. Bless her heart, she didn't deserve that. |