THE PEAT BOG SOLDIERS (DIE MOORSOLDATEN) 1935 - Ernst Busch, Hanns Eisler, Wolfgang Langhoff: 3-verse musical setting from London
The #concentration_camp #Börgermoor in #Emsland primarily held political opponents of the Nazi regime since 1933.

The song became known beyond Börgermoor through prisoners who were either released or transferred to other camps. In 1935, composer Hanns Eisler learned of the song in London. He revised the melody for singer Ernst Busch. Busch later joined the International Brigades (Brigadas Internacionales) during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), fighting to defend the Spanish Republic against the Franco-led coup. This helped spread the song's international recognition.

However, the original melody's beginning by Rudi Goguel, with its three identical notes, captures the hopeless atmosphere in which the song was created more effectively than Eisler's version. Goguel's three identical notes better reflected the despair from which the song emerged, compared to Eisler's modified melody.

(↑ Source: Historical Songs from Eight Centuries. Jointly published by the State Centers for Political Education Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Editors: Wolfgang Hubrich, Helga Kutz-Brauer, Rüdiger Wenzel. Hamburg 1989, p. 108.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDitxFQHcA