German Holidays

Nazi Christmas Celebration (1938)

Source: German History in Documents and Images, German Historical Institute, Washington, DC. 

Christmas is considered the “most German” of German holidays. Celebrations of Christmas became incorporated into National Socialist propaganda. The KdF sponsored celebrations of Christmas and promoted a “people’s Christmas,” intended for middle-class Germans. Celebrating a National Socialist Christmas also meant participating in Nazi political culture. In “Nazifying Christmas: Political Culture and Popular Celebration in the Third Reich” Joe Perry describes how activities such as singing National Socialist Christmas Carols and baking holiday cookies in the shape of a fertility symbol were some of the ways in which German holidays and activities became nazified.

Nathalie Giller, Psychology Sophomore, Loyola Marymount University