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The radio transmitter from Belgrade was powerful enough that Allied troops in the Mediterranean and western Europe also heard Lili Marleen, learned to sing along, and it became one of World War II's biggest international hits.

This is a 10 inch German 78 rpm Schellackplatte or phonograph record in its original printed paper sleeve produced by Polydor and featuring famous and beautiful German singer-songwriter Lale Andersen singing Lili Marleen on the A side.

Norbert Schultze wrote Lili Marleen for Lale Andersen in 1939. It became a hit when the Soldatensender Belgrad (Belgrade Soldier Radio, the Wehrmacht radio station in Eastern Europe) began broadcasting the song in 1941 and it became a favorite of German soldiers at the front.

There is also a Waffen-SS (we have no idea why) stamp on the Lili Marleen side that was there when we acquired it. There was a previous circular stamp on one side of the sleeve that has been blacked out with ink.

On the black part of the record surrounding the red label after the song track on the Lili Marleen A side at the 7 o’clock position are the words Made in Germany. There are also other numbers pressed into the surface on both sides that were very difficult to try to photograph.

We know very little about phonograph records in general but we acquired this one years ago in Germany simply because we liked the tunes. We have no idea when the record was made, only that it was made in Germany.

The B side features the song Am Kai bei der alten Laterne also sung by Andersen. The record is still in its original Polydor sleeve which is marked PRINTED IN GERMANY. The original owner and probably the seller of the record was Fritz Richter, an engineer who had an electronics shop in Neustadt (Holstein). He signed his last name on the sleeve and stamped his name on both sides of the record label and on the sleeve.