Karl Schwedler

Karl Schwedler , artist name Charlie (born August 13, 1902 in Duisburg ; † June 20, 1970 in Feldafing ) was a German jazz musician, entertainer and, during the National Socialist era, namesake of the swing orchestra Charlie and His Orchestra .

Life

Schwedler was the son of master plumber Emil Schwedler and Anna Müller. He married Katherina Kirchner in 1944 and had a son.

Schwedler did a commercial apprenticeship and emigrated to the United States in 1923, where he ran a concert agency. After the outbreak of the Second World War he returned to the German Reich in September 1939 and was hired in November 1939 with the title of scientific assistant at the Foreign Office in the "Broadcasting Affairs Department". He put together radio broadcasts for English-language enemy propaganda and was the singer and lyricist of the swing orchestra Charlie and His Orchestra , which was directed by Lutz Templin . The original texts of the American jazz standards arranged by Templin were rewritten by Schwedler in the sense of Nazi propaganda into political and racist texts and presented by himself.

Shortly before the end of the war, Schwedler was called up for military service.

Schwedler later worked, among other things, as an entertainment manager at the luxury hotel Breidenbacher Hof in Düsseldorf .

Recordings (selection)

• Swing: the German dance orchestra Lutz Templin as the mysterious swing orchestra "Charlie and his Orchestra" in 20 never published recordings 1940 - 1943 by Karl Schwedler . Cologne: TMK Musikprod. and publ., 2003
• Propaganda swing Dr. Goebbels' jazz orchestra by Charlie & His Orchestra. Lale Anderson; Karl Schwedler; Lutz Templin; Charlie & His Orchestra . Chicago, IL: International Historic Films, 2001.
• Charlie and his orchestra by Charlie & His Orchestra . Nth Caulfield, Vic. : Lyric Records, undated
• Never again! Words and music of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler; Joseph Goebbels; William Joyce; Karl Schwedler . Roswell, Ga, USA: Intersound, 1991

literature

• Biographical manual of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Volume 4: p . Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service, edited by: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-71843-3 , p. 220.
• Rainer E. Lotz ; Horst Bergmeier: Hitler's Airwaves - the Inside Story of Nazi Radio Broadcasting and Propaganda Swing. With CD. Yale University Press 1997, ISBN 0-300-06709-7 .
• Rainer E. Lotz; Horst Bergmeier: Charlie and his Orchestra - an obscure chapter in German jazz history. In: Wolfram Knauer (Ed.): Jazz in Germany. Darmstadt contributions to jazz research. Volume 4. Wolke, Hofheim 1996, ISBN 3-923997-70-1 .
• Michael H. Kater : A daring game. Jazz under National Socialism. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1995, Munich 1998, ISBN 3462024094 .

Web links

• Internet Audio Archive