Ernst Busch - Roter Oktober - Chronik in Liedern, Kantaten und Balladen 2

Following the unconditional surrender of Germany, on May 8th, 1945, the Second World War came to an end in Europe.
Warfare, expulsion, occupation, crimes against humanity, as well as death and destruction on a level previously unknown to humankind left an indelible mark on the world, visible to this day.

For Germany, Europe and the rest of the world, the year 1945 represents a turning point, on a socio-political and personal level.
Sadly to say that not all parts of the contemporary German society are conscious of the shadow cast by the years of National Socialist rule and the Second World War.

In recognition of the 70th anniversary of German capitulation and the end of the National Socialist regime, we will post some music with relation to the Second World War and the Holocaust.


A lifelong communist, Busch fled Nazi Germany in 1933 with the Gestapo on his heels, eventually settling in the Soviet Union. In 1937 he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Nationalists in Spain. His wartime songs were then recorded and broadcast by Radio Barcelona and Radio Madrid. After the Spanish Republic fell to General Franco, Busch migrated to Belgium where he was interned during the German occupation and later imprisoned in Camp Gurs, France and Berlin. Freed by the Red Army in 1945, he settled in East Berlin where he started his own record label and worked with Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator at the "Berliner Ensemble". A beloved figure in the German Democratic Republic, he is best remembered for his performance in the title role of Brecht's Life of Galileo and his recordings of workers songs, including many written by Hanns Eisler.

The compilation "Roter Oktober", the second edition in the "Chronik in Liedern, Kantaten und Balladen" series with reissues of his "Aurora"-production - 44 EPs in 28 issues under the title "Eine Chronik in Liedern, Balladen und Kantaten aus der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts - collects some of his famous recordings referring to the history of the Soviet Union and the war against Nazi Germany: "Der heimliche Aufmarsch" (Eisler, 1930), "Der Heilige Krieg" (Busch does an overdub in german language on the Alexandrow-Ensemble recording - an angry symbol of the fight against the German aggressor) and "Danke euch, ihr Sowjetsoldaten".

Yesterday we posted Eislers music for the "Winterschlacht" by Johannes R. Becher with the vocals of Ekkehard Schall. The album "Roter Oktober" contains Buschs version of the final scene ("Winterschlacht um Moskau). He played the commander of the Red Army in the premiere of "Winterschlacht" at the Berliner Ensemble in 1955.

Three years after the german capitulation, in August 1948, the Alexandrow Ensemble (Song and Dance Ensemble of the Red Army) performed on the steps of the destroyed "Deutscher Dom" at the Gendarmenmarkt (Berlin) in front of ten thousend listeners. As a tribute to this historic event, this album contains an original recording of "Kalinka", one of Ernst Busch favourits of the Alexandrow Ensemble songs.

Ernst Busch - Roter Oktober - Chronik in Liedern, Kantaten und Balladen 2
(256 kbps, cover art included)