Karl-Heinz Reintgen (1915 – 17 September 1990) was a German journalist, who served as editor-in-chief of radio and television and then as deputy director-general of

Saarländischer Rundfunk Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR; ''Saarland Broadcasting'') is a public radio and television broadcaster serving the German state of Saarland. With headquarters in the Halberg Broadcasting House in Saarbrücken, SR is a member of the ARD consor ...

(Saarland Broadcasting Corporation) between 1968 and 1980. He served as a journalist in the broadcast service operated by the German armed forced during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and held the rank of lieutenant in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. As head of

Radio Belgrade Radio Belgrade ( sr, Радио Београд, ) is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia. It has four different programs (Radio Belgrade 1, Radio Belgrade 2, Radio Belgrade 3, and Radio Belgrade 202), a precious archive ...

, then a German military radio station, he is credited with making the tune "

Lili Marleen "Lili Marleen" (also spelled "Lili Marlen'", "Lilli Marlene", "Lily Marlene", "Lili Marlène" among others; ) is a German love song that became popular during World War II throughout Europe and the Mediterranean among both Axis and Allied troo ...

" widely known.

Career

Reintgen started his radio career as early as 1935. Among other commands during WW-II he was in charge of the German Army's Soldatensender

, situated in Belgrade,

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He is credited with making the tune "

" by Lale Anderson a war-time theme for troops on both sides by playing it every evening at 9.55 PM. He was portrayed by

Herb Andress Herb Andress (January 10, 1935, in Bad Goisern – April 8, 2004, in Munich), born Herbert Andreas Greunz, was an Austrian film and television actor, known particularly for his roles in the Rainer Werner Fassbinder film ''Lili Marleen'' (1981) and ...

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

's film ''

''. In 1961 he entered the service of the Saarländischer Rundfunk. He built up the TV program "Aktuelles Fernsehen." In 1968 he was promoted to editor-in-chief for all radio and TV programs. From 1971 until 1980 he was the deputy director-general of the Saarländischer Rundfunk.

Honours

In 1976 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit.

References

German Army officers of World War II 1915 births 1990 deaths Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German radio people {{Germany-army-bio-stub