Swing as an Attitude Towards Life
Arising in the mid-1930s and originating in the United States, the newest style of jazz, swing, brought forth a renewed interest in jazz across the world, even in Nazi Germany. As the world began to recover from economic depression, swing, and swing-influenced music came to represent the latest trend in popular music. Despite discrimination against jazz music and jazz culture in the Third Reich, swing found an enthusiastic and dance-hungry audience. For a group of mostly young fans, however, swing music and dancing represented more than a passing fad. For them, it became an overall attitude towards life. These enthusiastic swing fans created their own discrete youth culture. They were to be found primarily in large cities across almost the entire European continent, e.g., in England, France (Les Zazous), Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria (Schlurfs), Switzerland and in the former Czechoslovakia. In comparison with developments in other countries, however, German swing fans were decisively affected not only by the stigmatization of jazz by the Nazi regime but also by …show more content…
Since the Swing Boys had been categorized as politically oppositional prisoners at Moringen youth detention camp, they were all held together in the same block. This meant that they could mutually support each other. Together, they secretly sang popular swing titles like 'Jeepers, Creepers,' 'Caravan,' 'Some Of These Days,' 'The Flat Foot Floogie,' 'Sweet Sue, Just You,' or 'Goody Goody.' Like their fellow prisoners, they had to work days as forced laborers at a munitions factory. But since the factory did not fall under the oversight of the SS, they could collectively indulge in their passion for jazz in the pauses. Gunter Discher remembers how they would imitate the performance of a big
Arising in the mid-1930s and originating in the United States, the newest style of jazz, swing, brought forth a renewed interest in jazz across the world, even in Nazi Germany. As the world began to recover from economic depression, swing, and swing-influenced music came to represent the latest trend in popular music. Despite discrimination against jazz music and jazz culture in the Third Reich, swing found an enthusiastic and dance-hungry audience. For a group of mostly young fans, however, swing music and dancing represented more than a passing fad. For them, it became an overall attitude towards life. These enthusiastic swing fans created their own discrete youth culture. They were to be found primarily in large cities across almost the entire European continent, e.g., in England, France (Les Zazous), Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria (Schlurfs), Switzerland and in the former Czechoslovakia. In comparison with developments in other countries, however, German swing fans were decisively affected not only by the stigmatization of jazz by the Nazi regime but also by …show more content…
Since the Swing Boys had been categorized as politically oppositional prisoners at Moringen youth detention camp, they were all held together in the same block. This meant that they could mutually support each other. Together, they secretly sang popular swing titles like 'Jeepers, Creepers,' 'Caravan,' 'Some Of These Days,' 'The Flat Foot Floogie,' 'Sweet Sue, Just You,' or 'Goody Goody.' Like their fellow prisoners, they had to work days as forced laborers at a munitions factory. But since the factory did not fall under the oversight of the SS, they could collectively indulge in their passion for jazz in the pauses. Gunter Discher remembers how they would imitate the performance of a big