Ok, gargy...The show is well worth listening to. Thank you.

Seems to be much taken from the Langhoff book, though. (I'd like to know how & where he published it in 1935.) I also see that the "happy?" take is swiped from Len, above.

Seems the original "culture show" was August 1933. That would give all the prisoners time to learn the song by Sept 3rd as per Selbmann's account. (Ok, Selbmann reads like political fantasy but I do like the story.)

One thing seems clear about the tune - consciously or not, Goguel set the words to a tune from the Thirty Years' War (1618-48). No dis to him on that - he made no claim to being a musician and he found a damn fine tune for it.

I don't know that this actually proves the Langhoff/Esser/Goguel story - outside corroboration would be nice. But no one else claims it either. I'd accept it.