Music of World War II

Andy Bromberger

World War II was the first conflict to take place in the age of mass electronically distributed music.

Radios were bought en mass throughout America, England and Europe. Never before could a single song, sung by a single performer be listened to by so many; across countries and on different sides of the war. Music was seen as part of the propaganda machine to encourage those fighting and reassure those at home.

Music was also used in concentration camps by inmates as a way to try and normalise their lives and express their suffering but also as a form of humiliation by the Nazis.