I was just skimming a German doctorate dissertation by one Axel Jockwer of the Universität Konstanz entitled "Unterhaltungsmusik im Dritten Reich." In the text it says the following....
This text appears to me to indicate that the song „Adolf Hitlers Lieblingsblume ist das schlichte Edelweiß” was considered "kitchy" and dangerous to play along with „Deutschland erwache, ’s ist Frühling am Rhein." Obviously the NS leadership didn't want the people to envision Hitler running through a field of flowers etc.Ebenfalls tauchten hier Paradestücke nationalen Kitsches wie „Adolf Hitlers Lieblingsblume ist das schlichte Edelweiß” oder „Deutschland erwache, ’s ist Frühling am Rhein“ auf. Derartiges aus dem Musikleben zu entfernen machte Sinn, denn nationaler Kitsch war in seiner offenkundigen Lächerlichkeit weitaus gefährlicher als jeder amerikanische Swingstandard.
This brings up two questions:
1. I have heard bits and pieces of the "Lieblingsblume" song referenced above from a documentary I have. Does anyone have the actual song?
2. The "Deutschland erwache.....am Rhein" song is entirely unknown to me. Does anyone have any info on it? Obviously it's not the same as the versions we all know.
I searched the net and found nothing further on either of these songs.
Dave