Elvis Presley had and has many fans in Germany, but his connection to (West) Germany goes deeper: he actually spend a year and a half living there. His military service began in March of 1958 with basic training in the U.S. before being sent to Germany where he was stationed from October 1, 1958 until March 2, 1960.
At the time he was 23 years old and was already popular, so when he arrived in Bremerhaven there were many fans waiting for him. His popularity also made it harder to perform some of the duties he had as a GI.
Ray Barracks in Friedberg, Hesse
Elvis was part of the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32nd Army which had their headquarters in Friedberg in Hesse. However, he didn’t stay long in the Ray Barracks, but moved off base soon after his arrival. Most soldiers couldn’t afford this (they earned about $100/month), and also preferred to stay on base with other Americans, American food, and American radio (AFN).
Staying in Bad Nauheim
Though Elvis didn’t stay on the base but lived in two hotels before renting a house near Bad Nauheim, he also rarely left his “American” bubble. He had his father, grandmother, and some friends from Memphis come stay with him. His grandmother Minnie Mae cooked him Southern food, he also listened to AFN radio and never learned more than some basic German phrases.
Elvis had limited contact with Germans. The barber Karl-Heinz Stein and Elvis’ bilingual secretary Elisabeth Stefaniak were probably the Germans he saw the most, other than various German girl-friends and his fans. And of course the German landlady who lived in the house in Goethestraße 14.
Because Elvis didn’t live on the base, he had to get up rather early to eat Grandma Minnie Mae’s breakfast and arrive on time for work on the base in Friedberg. He hired a car and chauffeur before he bought himself two cars, a Mercedes and a BMW.
Elvis' BMW 507
The BMW 507 that Elvis bought in December of 1958 in Frankfurt. At the time it was white and had originally belonged to German race car driver Hans Struck. Elvis had the motor replaced with a V8 engine, and also changed its color to red. Since the house he rented didn’t have a garage, Elvis had to park his car outside, just to find it in the morning covered in kisses and phone numbers made with lipstick. (That’s the story anyway.)
When his military service ended in 1960, Elvis took the car home with him, but soon it was sold by a Chrysler dealership in New York. The car changed hands a couple more times until Jack Castor bought it in 1968. Because he didn’t drive it much, the BMW 507 ended up in storage for several decades when automotive journalist Jackie Jouret found it tucked away in Castor’s pumpkin barn.
Eventually, BMW was allowed to bring the roadster to Munich to restore. In 2016, after two years of work, the Elvis car was unveiled in its original glory. You now can admire this beautiful car in the BMW Museum in Munich.
Life in Germany
Military Life and the Press
Elvis didn’t get out of military duties due to his popularity but there were certain jobs he couldn’t do. Guard duty was out of the question because he was beleaguered by fans. After a short stint as a jeep driver, he was assigned to a scout platoon. He was also allowed to wear his hair around an inch longer than the ‘normal’ soldiers.
While Elvis wasn’t allowed to give concerts or talk to the American press, the German press closely followed his every move, and he did give a news conference when he arrived in Germany and when he left. The army used his fame for publicity and photo ops. Elvis himself had an unofficial autograph time for his fans from 7:30 until 8pm in front of his house in Bad Nauheim. Many of the photos you can see on my pinterest board are photos by the German press and by fans.
Drugs
Elvis never touched alcohol and didn’t try any German beer or wine, but he did take amphetamines. It seems that Elvis was already taken some uppers to help him cope with the fame (possibly taken from his mother’s supply), but the drug use seems to have increased in Germany. At the time he was still recovering from the loss of his mother Gladys who had died in August 1958, and he was worried that he wouldn’t have a career once his military service was over.
Different sources say different things: an army sergeant introduced him to amphetamines to help him get through maneuvers, or Elvis bribed army doctors to get his hands on more drugs. Either way, he continued the drugs and got worse when he returned to the U.S., eventually contributing to his death on August 16, 1977.
Priscilla
Also in Germany, Elvis met his future wife Priscilla, the stepdaughter of Colonel Beaulieu who had been transferred to Wiesbaden, about an hour’s drive from Bad Nauheim. In September of 1959, Elvis and Priscilla met for the first time, she was 14 and he was 24. They saw each other frequently until Elvis’ service ended and he returned to the U.S.
Priscilla and Elvis stayed in touch via phone and eventually she was allowed to visit Elvis in Los Angeles in 1962. They married in 1967, after Priscilla had already lived with Elvis in Graceland since 1963. Their daughter Lisa Marie was born in 1968. Elvis and Priscilla eventually divorced in 1973, though remained close and shared custody until his death on August 16, 1977.
Elvis' Legacy
Both cities, Friedberg and Bad Nauheim, use their connection to Elvis Presley to their advantage. Both sport a Elvis-Presley-Platz (Elvis Presley Square), offer tours around the city, and have landmarks to indicate that the King lived or worked here.
In 2018, Friedberg introduced a pedestrian traffic light that featured Elvis instead of the ‘normal’ Ampelmännchen. Since 2002, Bad Nauheim has hosted a European Elvis Festival with music, food, Elvis impersonators, and much more. Go to my YouTube playlist to watch some footage from the festival.
Muss i denn
And you probably know that Elvis also sang a song in German (or at least some of it). It’s the German folk song “Muss i denn”, called “Wooden Heart” in English, and was part of the 1960 movie/musical “G.I. Blues” (“Café Europa” in German). It was the first movie Elvis filmed after his tour in Germany. The song tells of a man, usually a soldier, who has to say good-bye to his girl-friend. The song was often played and performed when soldiers went to war or war ships leaving the harbor.
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