Blues March – Soldat Jon Hendricks

In World War II the Allied forces liberated Germany from fascism, but many American soldiers fought on two fronts at the same time. Approximately one million African American GIs were exposed not only to an external enemy but also to the racism among their peers.

The documentary Blues March – Soldat Jon Hendricks (“Blues March – Soldier Jon Hendricks”) uncovers this largely unknown aspect of the war years on the basis of Jon Hendricks’ life story. Hendricks, the now 87 years old doyen of jazz singing, came to Normandy as a soldier at very young age and was compelled to desert from the hostility of his white comrades. Malte Rauch’s fast-paced film tells an adventurous story about war, conspiracy, escape, black marketing, forced labour, vindication and an exceptional career as an entertainer. This is the stirring story of a man whose pride always exceeded his fear.

Emil Mangelsdorff and his pianist Thilo Wagner have created the original score for this extraordinary documentary.