1938 Auto Union Type D | Donington GP | Bei Mir Bist du Schön | Andrews Sisters

Music: 1932 Bei Mir Bist du Schön | Andrews Sisters 1937
Video: 1938 Donington Grand Prix | Auto Union Type D | Tazio Nuvolari
2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed | 1939 Auto Union Type D doppel compressor
1930s playlist: t.ly/TxIW
The Donington Grand Prix had been scheduled for October 1st but was cancelled when Hitler threatened Czechoslovakia in mid-September. The diplomatic crisis was resolved when the British, French, Italians and Germans met in Munich and agreed September 30th to Hitler’s annexation of the German-speak region of Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland. The Donington G.P. was promptly rescheduled. British Motorsport’s race report:
“Well, the Crisis blew nicely away and the German teams returned to Donington for the postponed Formula Grand Prix, run on October 22nd instead of on October 1st. It was easily the greatest British race ever held. It was started by H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, and attended by Reichsleiter Adolf Huhnlein, leader of motor sport in Germany, Bayer-Ehrenberg, the President of the German O.N.S. (equivalent to our R.A.C.) and a crowd of enthusiastic spectators estimated at 60,000 - last year’s estimate of attendance varied between 38,000 to 50,000.
October 22nd dawned misty and remained warm and gloriously sunny. . . .Reichsleiter Huhnlein was taken round the circuit by Lionel Martin in a Bentley and afterwards watched the race from the blue-and-gold decked Grandstand. After the finish Frau Huhnlein and the Reichsleiter presented the prizes. . . . Members of the German Embassy drove up from London . . .Mercedes-Benz sent their Grosvenor Road engineering staff up . . . and a coachload of the R.A.F. also attended. . . .
[At lap 60, Hermann Lang in a Mercedes W154 was in the lead with Tazio Tuvolari in an Auto Union Type D 21 seconds behind and gaining:]
The little Italian was astounding. He went out of the wood and down to the hairpin in his inimitable style, arms bowed out and flashing like pistons to head-level, the car in full control, yet never straight for a moment. . . . On his 36th lap Tazio did 82.06 m.p.h. and on his 63rd lap 83.71. m.p.h. - best lap of the race, winning the Craner Trophy and £100. Lang’s Mercedes seemed to be slowing . . . At 70 laps, Nuvolari led Lang by 17.4. secs. at 80.29 m.p.h. . .
The race was now never in doubt. . . . Nuvolari crossed the line, winner for Auto-Union at 80.49 m.p.h., by 1 min. 38 secs., after 3 hours 6 mins. 22 secs. hard work. He stopped, received a wreath of honour, and drove another lap. Lang finished second in the Mercedes-Benz . . .
[When British driver Dick Seamon finished third in his Mercedes W154,] the ‘Deutschland Uber Alles’ rang out and our biggest motor-racing crowd, now rapidly invading the course, stood most impressively to attention. The ‘Giovinezza’ [Italian fascist anthem] followed, in honour of the greatest driver of all time - Tazio Nuvolari. . . .
We look hopefully forward to as great a race again next year. The race had a happy sequel on the Monday evening, when the B.R.D.C. gave a cocktail party at the ‘Rembrandt,’ which was attended by Seaman, wearing his Gold Star, Brauchitsch, Lang, Muller, Dobson, Maclure, Eberhorst, Neubauer, Dr. Feureissen, Lord Howe, Dr. Glesser, Geier, Ebblewhite, Pane, Aldington, John Cobb, Eason Gibson, and Secretary Scannell. . . .
It was a truly magnificent race and all peace-loving peoples will join with us in hoping that we may still be at peace in October 1939, and that Germany, France and Italy will again compete in our only Formula Grand Prix.”
(www.motorsportmagazine.com/ar...)
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Bei Mir Bist du Schön is a 1932 Yiddish song that became a breakout hit for the Andrews Sisters who recorded it in English in November 1937. Other performing artists quickly covered it. It was a hit in Germany too, assumed to be an uncontroversial song in a southern German dialect but "an uproar occurred when its Jewish provenance was abruptly discovered and widely publicized by the press. Following this embarrassing discovery, as ‘any music by composers of Jewish ancestry was forbidden under the Nazi regime,’ the song was promptly banned by state authorities in Germany.” (Wikipedia)
"The shortwave programs for English-speaking countries were an exception. Charlie's Orchestra, a big band sponsored by Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda, played the hit over and over to attract listeners. The song was also permitted in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Because the National Socialists wanted to make the world believe humane conditions in concentration camps, they had the imprisoned Jews form a band: The Ghetto Swingers, which included the Berlin guitarist and drummer Coco Schumann . . . had 'Bei Mir Bistu Schein' in their repertoire."
(www.spiegel.de/geschichte/ges...)

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