The Schlager Festival is a music festival, the first edition of which was held in Geulle (Limburg) in 1973. This first Schlager festival was organized by Harry Thomas in a tent. Later, the Schlager Festival was held in the Rodahal in Kerkrade.
The festival grew into a popular and annual event, for which Thomas drew many famous schlager artists to The Netherlands. It was broadcast on television by initially the AVRO and later the TROS and attracted millions of viewers constantly. Thomas titled "Harry Thomas presents Schlagerfestival" since 1973 annually publishing a collection album featuring artists who had performed during the event. Different albums reached a gold status.
In 1974 Thomas contracted the young German singer Dennie Christian for his festival. Partly because of the performance, "Rosamunde" of Christian became a big hit in the Benelux in 1975, before he succeeded in Germany. From 1982, Christian became the permanent presenter of the Schlager Festival after Freddy Quinn wanted to stop, who was the permanent presenter for that.
In 1991, Thomas died at the age of 46 of the effects of cardiac arrest. After his death, Christian took over the organization of the Schlager Festival but after 1998, Dennie Christian no longer wanted to go to the Rodahal by the debacle with a scammer who organized "Schlag auf Schlager". Then it took place two more times in Zuidbroek before a silent death died. For the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, the festival was re-programmed in the Rodahal. The television broadcasts are then provided by Omroep MAX. Edition 2010 was presented by Marijke Amado and the editions 2011 and 2012 again by Dennie Christian.
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