“Deutscher Girls” was inspired by the controversial art film Portiere Di Notte (The Night Porter) by director Liliana Cavani, and starring Dirk Bogarde (after whom Adam and the Ants’ 1979 debut album Dirk Wears White Sox is named) and Charlotte Rampling. The 1974 Italian film featured elements of Nazisploitation; Bogarde plays a former Nazi, and Rampling a former concentration camp inmate. In the song, the roles are reversed.

Lyrics were changed from the original Jubilee version when it was released as a single three years later. The line “So, why did you have to be so Nazi” was changed to “So, why did you have to be so nasty”, and “Camp 49 way down on the Rhine” was changed to “A lover of mine from down on the Rhine”. Adam Ant told Sounds:

“ It’s not about concentration camps. It’s about a guy who falls in love with a girl – a member of the Nazi Youth Organisation. “