(Cologne, Germany) While scouring flea markets for Christmas items, Rita Breuer found many objects from the Nazi era which prompted her to create an exhibition of "a story not often told."
The Nazis tried to skew the Christmas story to do away with the Jewish baby Jesus and impose their racist ideology and propaganda on the popular festival.Some traces of Nazi corruption of Christmas continue, having been adopted by present-day neo-Nazis. And, it's hardly surprising since even contemporary anti-Christian groups consistently attempt to take Christianity out of Christmas.
"Celebrating the birth of a Jewish baby was unthinkable for the Nazis," Jürgen Müller, the chief researcher behind the exhibition, told AFP. "But Christmas was too popular to be banned. They therefore decided to corrupt it."
Nazi officials "invented a Germanic origin" for Christmas, renaming it Julfest and claiming that yuletide traditions stemmed from ancient rituals surrounding the winter solstice four days earlier, Müller added.
Baby Jesus was turfed out of the crib and Santa Claus was reincarnated as a
Viking knight. In addition, the regime also created bizarre Nazi Christmas symbols, including swastika-shaped tins for Christmas cakes and Christmas cards emblazoned with a bullet wrapped in fir.
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