Record box made in the DDR, 1967, for the 30th. anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia, 1917. The box contains 9 books each with 2 records with songs by Ernst Busch. The box is in excellent almost new condition. Busch is famous for singing workers and socialists songs. Some years ago this box was offered by the Rotes Antiquariat in Germany. According to their information this box was once owned by Hans Modrow, the last leader of the DDR.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Busch (1900-1980) was a German singer and actor. He started in life as a shipyard worker before he decided to make use of his acting and singing talent.
Busch first rose to prominence as an interpreter of political songs. A lifelong communist, Busch fled Nazi Germany in 1933, accompanied by his wife, Eva Busch, and with the Gestapo on his heels, initially settling in the Netherlands. By 1938 they had divorced as their lives diverged. Eva settled in Paris while Ernst initially made his home in the Soviet Union where he worked with Gustav von Wangenheim on the 1935 film “Kämpfer” (“Fighters”).
In 1937 he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Nationalists in Spain. His wartime songs were then recorded and broadcast by Radio Barcelona and Radio Madrid. After the Spanish Republic fell to General Franco, Busch migrated to Belgium where he was interned during the German occupation and later imprisoned in Camp Gurs, France and Berlin. Freed by the Red Army in 1945, he settled in East Berlin. He was a beloved figure in the DDR.