The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14088 Message #4216400
Posted By: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
01-Feb-25 - 05:13 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Peat Bog Soldiers
Subject: RE: Origins: Peat Bog Soldiers
Mixed bag:
“...That same year [1935] while passing through London, the composer Hanns Eisler and singer Ernst Busch met a German who had been “freed” from Börgermoor, who gave them the lyrics and sang them the melody with a few approximations….”
“According to the authors, he was apparently a Gestapo informant.” [Inge Lammel and Günther Hofmeyer, eds., Lieder aus den faschistischen Konzentrationslagern (Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister, 1962)] On Discogs:Ernst Busch – 6 Songs For Democracy
Note: Both the American's Keynote and Stinson record labels were de facto Stalinist franchises (Amkino, NKVB, GUGB &c. &c.) The movie (below) would/should have been running in their American cinemas at the time.
The Yiddish-Soviet titles are closer to “Swamp” soldiers.
Same late 1930s Lefty-v-Nazi theme, no song (soundies were still new tech.) Peat-Bog Soldiers. Ukrainian actor Ivan Koval-Samborsky (1893 – 1962)(Walter in the film) was himself a Soviet political prisoner before the movie even premiered. It's available on yTube and Archive.org if that's your thing.