Some interesting stuff regarding Nazi Christmas: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachments/general/8333d1208295320-christmas-third-reich-adventcover-jpg This is the cover to the pamphlet. A mother holds the booklet while her four children look on. The father is presumably at the front. Page 2 introduces the pamphlet: “Dear German mother! Christmas has always been particularly a festival for children. War and destruction may rage in the world, and everyone, man or woman, in Germany may have to arm themselves with hardness and will in order to continue the battle until victory — yet our children should delight in this most German of all holidays as much as possible. We are fighting this war for our children, for them we are bearing the burdens and dangers, but their eyes should remain bright during the Christmas season, and they should laugh with joy in anticipation and Christmas pleasure…. In most families, the father is in the field, and often they have been forced to leave their homes because of the war. Death’s hard hand may even have torn holes in the family. Still, the German mother will hold her hand protectively over childhood joy and childhood thoughts in this Christmas season.” http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachments/general/8334d1208295351-christmas-third-reich-comrades-jpg One day before Christmas. Two German soldiers stand by a Christmas tree covering the grave of a comrade. The text: “In war or in peace, you may never forget the quiet thankfulness and obligation owed to those whose sacrifices enabled you to celebrate Christmas. Therefore, a candle should burn in every home for those most loyal who stand eternal watch on the wide fronts of this war.” Link: How We Celebrate Christmas by Wilhelm Beilstein Lonely watch Ice-cold night! The frost creaks The storm rages The peace I extol I see in them. The bright flame blazes! Murder, hatred, death They fill the earth With grim threatenings. Never will there be peace, they say, Swearing an oath with bloody hands. What care I about cold and pain! In me burns an oath Blazing as a flame With sword and heart and hand. Come what may Germany, I am ready!
This film is dated 14/01/1943 so has to be Christmas 1942, well after the fighting. Good old Tommy Atkins enjoys Xmas away from home. British Pathe - CHRISTMAS IN TOBRUK
I posted this one on Facebook so all my whinging mates at work can see how good we have it compared to 1940. This bit got me. 'Close up shots of postmen sorting letters into compartment labelled 'Roped Off and Bombed Areas'. British Pathe - POST MUCH EARLIER THIS CHRISTMAS
2 from 1944 British Pathe - ALLIED SERVICES CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS GREETINGS British Pathe - (CHRISTMAS RATIONS FOR TROOPS)
Kriegsweihnachten: Reflections on German Christmas during WWII Christmas, with deeply-rooted traditions, is the most significant holiday of the year in Western culture. Although Christmas is celebrated all over the world, nowhere is it such a significant holiday as in Central and Northern Europe. A great deal of the traditions of Christmas that we hold dear were in fact put forth by people in the Central and Northern parts of Europe in the years before and after the birth of Christ, intermeshing both pagan and Christian themes into a spirited, festive, and joyous holdiay. Many of the Christmas songs we sing, foods we eat, and traditions we follow - including the most central of all Christmas traditions, the Christmas tree - were first practiced in these regions, and more specifically, in the region we now know of as Germany. Christmas was and remains an important time for most Germans, and this was equally the case during the time of WWII. Attempting to account for the infinite number of German Christmas experiences during the time of WWII is impossible, but we can bring together those common themes that were experienced by a great deal of people, in this case, by many of the men who served in the German military during the period between 1939 and 1945. It was during this time that Christmas would be an equally joyous and horrific holiday...............
Remembered in Tunisia -The first battles for the twin massif of Djebels el Ahmera and Rhar, 1942 On the night of 22/23 December 1942, the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards mounted an attack, capturing what was thought to be all of the massif, before being relieved by the 18th US Regimental Combat Team while heavy rain fell. The Germans counter-attacked driving the Americans off Djebel el Ahmera. The next night the Guards successfully recaptured the hill only to find, when daylight came, that another summit, Djebel Rhar, remained to be assaulted. During the night the Guards once again attacked but, after capturing the second hill, were driven off by a furious counter-attack by the Germans on Christmas Day. Thereafter the massif was known by the Allies as "Longstop Hill" and by the Germans "Der Weihnachten Hügel". The name Longstop is "taken from the lay-back position near the boundary of the cricket field, containing as it does a hint of ne plus Ultra, thus far and no further."
Christmas on a Uboat - Original German Newsreel of German Submarine - YouTube Nazi Christmas - YouTube AS can be seen Hitler is seen as being Christ like and the party have supplanted religion.
Kriegsweihnachten: Reflections on German Christmas during WWII by Jason Pipes Kriegsweihnachten: Reflections on German Christmas during WWII http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general/23266-german-christmas-ww2.html
Pictures of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi officers around a Christmas tree during World War II have emerged after years hidden in a glass jar underground. Images of Adolf Hitler celebrating Christmas emerge - Telegraph
