Marlene Dietrich, 1936.
Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek
IT WAS DECEMBER 1944, and the Battle of the Bulge was raging across the Ardennes Forest of Nazi-occupied Belgium. A woman with a German accent, wearing an American soldier’s uniform, sat shivering in the snow in the midst of some American soldiers. German troops were moving in, closer and closer. She fingered the pistol in her pocket. She now had to face the thought she had been trying to avoid ever since she had come back to Europe: would the Germans find her, and if so, what would they do to her?
Her name was Marlene Dietrich. She had been born in Berlin, Germany, in 1901. As a young woman, she had become a stage entertainer and then successful movie star, first in her native Germany and then in America. Her films were so popular in Germany that in 1937, Adolf Hitler (who owned a collection of her movies) sent personal messengers to Marlene to offer her a very rewarding movie career: she could be the “queen of German film” if only she would return from the United States to Germany and make films for the Third Reich.
She told the messengers that she was currently under contract to make films in Hollywood with her longtime mentor, Jewish-German director Josef von Sternberg, but that she would gladly make a German film if he would be allowed to direct it.
There was a tense silence. Marlene finally broke it. “Do I rightly understand,” she asked, “that you refuse to have Mr. von Sternberg make a film in your country because he’s Jewish?”
The German messengers began to talk at once. They said that Marlene had been “infected” with false American propaganda and that there was no anti-Semitism in Germany. Marlene knew better. Hitler had drastically altered the Germany of her youth. Many of her Jewish friends in the German film industry were mysteriously disappearing. She helped many of them—not only movie stars and directors but also those who worked behind the scenes at German film studios—escape prewar Germany by giving them money to take a “vacation” in England or another country where they would be safe.
Her response to Hitler’s offer to become a Nazi film star? Not just “no,” but “never.” As if that weren’t a clear enough answer, she also immediately gave up her German citizenship to become a U.S. citizen instead. An American paper responded to Marlene’s new citizenship with the following headline: “[Marlene Dietrich] Deserts Her Native Land.” A Nazi-run German paper was even more accusing: “Shirt-sleeved judge administers oath to Dietrich so that she may betray the Fatherland.”
Both papers, German and American, seemed to misunderstand Marlene’s actions. Later, she clearly explained her motives, saying, “I was born a German, and I shall always remain German. I had to change my citizenship when Hitler came to power. I’ve become a good [American] citizen, but in my heart I’m German.”
But Marlene wanted to do more than change her citizenship and help a few German-Jewish friends; she desperately wanted to be part of something that would defeat Nazism. When the United States officially joined World War II, she got her chance: she joined the USO.
The USO (United Service Organization) was a U.S. organization of volunteers geared to help soldiers and raise their spirits by keeping them in touch with civilian (nonmilitary) life. USO volunteers all over the country served cookies to soldiers, danced with them, sewed buttons for them, and visited military hospitals. Marlene belonged to a branch of the USO that was called Camp Shows, Inc. Camp Shows was a group of professional entertainers who put on live programs—music, dancing, jokes—for large groups of servicemen.
While American soldiers were training for war, all USO activities, including Camp Shows, took place in the United States. But when U.S. troops crossed the Atlantic, some entertainers from Camp Shows followed them into battle. Marlene was one of these courageous entertainers. One day she climbed aboard a creaky airplane with the other entertainers in her acting troupe for a frightening, stormy, and nauseating trip across the Atlantic Ocean. They first landed in North Africa, where Allied soldiers were fighting.
Marlene’s shows usually consisted of her playing on a musical saw, telling jokes, and singing songs. While most of her songs were well-known American songs, when she crossed the Atlantic, she added a German song to her repertoire, a song that would forever be linked with her: “Lili Marlene.” “Lili Marlene” is a love song describing the sadness of a wartime soldier separated from his girlfriend. The lyrics had been written by a German soldier during World War I, and the song was beloved among German troops although propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels tried to ban. He wanted his soldiers to be obsessed with military victories, not sighing for their girlfriends back home.
Marlene entertaining Allied troops in Italy.
Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek
Everyone knew that Marlene was part of the USO. But what many didn’t know was that she was also part of an American espionage organization called the Office of Strategic Services, or the OSS. She was one of the entertainers working for their Morale Operations (MO) division. The MO sponsored a radio program in Europe called Soldatensender West, which consisted of Allied news and American songs translated into German. Some of them were popular songs played only so that the soldiers would stay tuned for the propaganda that would follow. Others openly mocked the Nazi leaders. Still others were sad songs designed to make the German soldiers weary of fighting.
Marlene Dietrich was one of the singers who made recordings for the MO, and one of her songs was, of course, “Lili Marlene.” Although her German recording of the song was often played on Soldatensender West, once she was given an opportunity to sing it live for the broadcast. As soon as the microphone was handed to her, she shouted in German, “Boys, don’t sacrifice yourselves! This war is [trash]! Hitler is an idiot!” Then she began to sing “Lili Marlene” in German.
Marlene in a jeep behind enemy lines, just over the German border in Alsace-Lorraine.
Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek
Did any German soldiers hear her pleas and her sad German love song? According to the hundreds of German POWs who were interviewed after the war, a great many German soldiers listened to Soldatensender West during the war even though the penalty for doing so was death. And it is certain that the Nazi leaders heard both her entreaty and her song. They were furious! A famous German-American entertainer was denouncing Hitler and calling on German soldiers to give up the fight. What would they do to her if they caught her? Marlene knew that she must never find out.
But if she was trying to evade capture, Marlene was not very focused on that goal. Instead, her concentration was on the Allied troops: keeping then laughing and entertained, if only for a few moments. They couldn’t believe that they were seeing the famous film star in person, and they greatly appreciated her willingness to come so close to the battle just to tell jokes and sing to them.
Marlene Dietrich behind enemy lines in the Forest of Ardennes, December 1944.
Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek
For Marlene was frequently in serious personal danger. Gunfire and the sound of exploding bombs often provided the backdrop to her songs. More than once, her shows had to be stopped either because the soldiers received orders to “move out” (into battle) or enemy fire had come too close to the stage. But Marlene didn’t care; she was a tireless and determined entertainer. She would often urge her fellow USO entertainers to drive as close as possible to the front lines of battle, do a short show for the servicemen there—just a few songs and jokes—and then drive back as quickly as possible.
The most dangerous event that Marlene experienced during the war occurred when she was traveling with a division of U.S. soldiers into the Ardennes Forest and entered a crucial battle of World War II: the Battle of the Bulge. The German army was trying to split and then surround the Allied army, forcing it to surrender. They managed to surround the U.S. 101st Airborne Division of soldiers—the very group of soldiers that Marlene was accompanying.
Huddled in the snow, she now had time—too much time—to consider her possible fate. What if the Germans captured her? Would they torture her? Kill her? Her biggest fear was that they would force her to make radio broadcasts to support Nazi propaganda, much like she had done for the Allies. Marlene especially dreaded the thought of being forced to say things over German radio that would hurt and confuse the Allied troops she wanted so much to help. Grateful for the risks Marlene was taking, General Patton handed her a pistol, telling her to at least shoot some Germans before she surrendered.
While she nervously pondered her fate, Marlene suddenly heard the sound of an approaching airplane. She looked up. Servicemen from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division were parachuting toward her to rescue her. One of their commanding generals had requested that Marlene be immediately evacuated. The movie star was getting a cinematic rescue.
The 82nd Airborne Division did its job well. The 101st Airborne Division Marlene had been traveling with didn’t fall into enemy hands either, and the Germans eventually lost the battle.
Marlene Dietrich was exposed to many hardships while serving the Allied troops—rats, lice, frostbite, army food, gunfire, and bombs—all because she wanted to help the Allied troops. But she would never come this close to life-threatening danger again.
When the war was over, the United States awarded her the Medal of Freedom (the highest award that can be given to a civilian), France named her a Knight of the Legion of Honor, and Belgium made her a Knight of the Order of Leopold. But her most satisfying reward was knowing that she had done her part to fight the battle against the Nazis. She would later refer to her USO and OSS work as “the only important thing I’ve ever done.”
LEARN MORE Marlene Dietrich: Photographs and Memories by the Marlene Dietrich Collection (of the Film Museum of Berlin), compiled by Jean-Jacques Naud and captioned by Maria Riva, Marlene Dietrich’s daughter (Random House, 2001), contains many war-related photos and letters.
Marlene Dietrich
www.marlene.com
The official Marlene Dietrich Web site.
