Großdeutschland [march by P. Luckert]

[Ivan Ž.]

A few words on the background of this piece, to prevent it from being mislabelled as a "Großdeutschland" unit march. Its title does not refer to a military unit, as someone may think, but to the country. It was composed either after the Anschluss (March 1938, when Germany started being referred to as Greater Germany), or after the annexation of Sudetenland (October 1938). It was broadcasted on RS Leipzig on 15 November 1938 (see Prieberg's Handbuch, p. 4347), i.e. months before the first Berlin guard unit was named "Großdeutschland". (A commercial recording of the march was made two years later, on 2 December 1940, by the Berlin Guard Battalion Band - which recorded various compositions from Germany and Europe, almost all of which had no ties to "Großdeutschland" units.)

Cheers,
Ivan