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Hitler’s Christmas party: Rare photographs capture leading Nazis celebrating in 1941

December 25, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

These rare pictures have only just come to light, show Hitler and his generals at a party for SS officer cadets in Munich.

But the Nazi Christmas was far from traditional.

High command: Adolf Hitler and other Nazi officials celebrate Christmas at the Lowenbraukeller restaurant in Munich on December 18, 1941

Hitler believed religion had no place in his 1,000-year Reich, so he replaced the Christian figure of Saint Nicholas with the Norse god Odin and urged Germans to celebrate the season as a holiday of the ‘winter solstice’, rather than Christmas.

Out of sight at the top of the tree behind Hitler was a swastika instead of an angel, and many of the baubles carried runic symbols and iron cross motifs. The remarkable pictures were captured by Hugo Jaeger, one of the Fuhrer’s personal photographers.

The Lowenbraukeller restaurant today – where Hitler made many of his rabble rousing Munich speeches

(Left: Sons of the swastika: Cadets at the feast)

He buried the images in glass jars on the outskirts of Munich towards the end of the war, fearing that they would be taken away from him.

Later he sold them to Life Magazine in America which published many of them this week.

Other photographs show brownshirt thugs drinking beer.

In 1944-1945, the Nazis tried to reinvent Christmas once again as a day to commemorate the dead, in particular fallen soldiers – by that time Germany had lost almost four million men in the war.

Spoils of war: Officers and cadets begin their dinner

But while many Germans baked biscuits and cakes in the shape of swastikas and adorned their trees with the symbols of the Nazi regime, most still called the festival Christmas.

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: Cruise History, germany, hitler, Liner History, Lowenbraukeller, Nazis, nazis crhistmas, SOCIAL HISTORY

1936 Nazi Color Film-Berlin in the Year of the Olympic Games.

October 28, 2009 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruising the past: 1936 Nazi Color Film-Berlin in the Year of the Olympic Games.

CLICK ABOVE TO PLAY THE COLOR 1936 FILM:

Nazi propaganda complete color film from 1936. An outstanding portrait of daily life in Berlin in this rare, well preserved film, with the magical feeling of the pastel colors of Agfachrome. Strangely, it appears that parts of this documentary were filmed in 1939, after the Siegessäule was moved to it’s new location.

A New Way to Look at World War 2:

The second World War has usually been seen in black and white, but after endless research a new film outlet has unearthed an abundance of superb color film that shows what it really looked like to those who were there. “Unknown World War 2 in Color” is a stunning and vivid new account of the epic conflict. Visit their website by clicking here.

THE 1936 OLYMPICS

Portrait of a Women’s United States Olympic Team Arriving Home: The fairer of Uncle Sam’s Olympic stars who competed in Berlin, are pictured upon their return to America’s shore on the SS President Roosevelt. They arrived in New York City on August 28, 1936.

American teams heading for the Olympics aboard ships including the Bremen.

(Left: Hitler with American Olympic athlete. Right: German athletes who played in the 1936 Games. One of them was gay and sent to a concentration camp where he was killed in 1943.)

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona (two years before the Nazis came to power).

American Olympic cycling team aboard the Bremen.

It marked the second and final time that the International Olympic Committee would gather to vote in a city which was bidding to host those Games. The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris, France, on April 24, 1894. Then, Athens, Greece, and Paris were chosen to host the 1896 and 1900 Games, respectively.

American skating team aboard the Bremen.

Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Hitler’s, was commissioned by the IOC to film the Games. Her film, entitled Olympia, introduced many of the techniques now common to the filming of sports.

1914: Britain on the eve of the Great War and the world’s largest liner (at the time) VATERLAND.

October 26, 2009 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruising the past: 1914 – Britain on the eve of the Great War and the world’s largest liner (at the time) VATERLAND.

Britain on the eve of the Great War (World War I). A wonderful video.

1914 – The great liner VATERLAND. She barely lasted a year under the German flag before war broke-out.

This is a wonderful view of the broad boat deck of the VATERLAND – the largest liner in the world. An archivist has written a caption on the original negative: “Lady Sybil Grey & Lady Evelyn Grey-Jones on the Hamburg Amerika Line ‘Vaterland.’” After the US Government seized the liner during WWI, she was renamed Leviathan and sailed with the United States Lines.

Young bellhops playing leapfrog on the sun deck of US liner Leviathan (former Hamburg America line vessel Vaterland), on arrival at Southampton.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: 1914, britain, germany, great war, Titanic, video, World War I

Social History: HOTEL ADLON Kempinski – the finest hotel in BERLIN. One of the great hotels of the world. Berlin was a port of call by train in 1929 — after sailing from New York to Germany aboard the SS BREMEN.

January 27, 2009 By Michael L. Grace

great youTUBE video of Berlin in 1929 with views for the Hotel Adlon…

Sailing in the 1920s to Germany from New York on the SS Bremen was very popular. Upon arrival, tourists enjoyed a quick train ride from Hamburg to Berlin and then accommodations at the world famous Adlon Hotel in Europe’s favorite destination in the 1920s.

Hotel Adlon in 1928…

Located in the very heart of Berlin, right by the Brandenburg Gate and in the immediate vicinity of the Reichstag, which houses the German Parliament, one of the world’s most illustrious luxury hotels in all its majestic splendor cordially welcomes its guests: not only is the Hotel Adlon a legend in its own time, it was – just like the famous Pariser Platz on which it is built – a witness of Germany’s eventful and turbulent history of the 20th century.

SS Bremen leaving New York in the 1930s…

When the Adlon was opened for the first time in 1907, the builder and visionary Lorenz Adlon gladly fulfilled the wish of Wilhelm II, who was the German emperor at that time and had urgently wanted a stately hotel in his town of residence. Due to the Hotel’s unparalleled luxuries and its unique equipment of the highest standards of technology, political leaders and celebrities soon made the Hotel Adlon their hotel of choice in Germany.

College students heading to Berlin and the Hotel Adlon having sailed from New York to Hamburg on the SS Bremen…

The Adlon was one of the most famous hotels in Europe between the two World Wars and hosted celebrities including Louise Brooks, Charlie Chaplin, Herbert Hoover, Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich.

It was also a favourite hangout of journalists, being located in the heart of the government quarter next to the British Embassy, on the same square as the French and American Embassies and only blocks from the Chancellery and other government ministries.

Luckily, the Hotel survived the Second World War without any major damage.

In 1945, however, a devastating fire raged and almost entirely destroyed the magnificent building. In accordance with a resolution made by the GDR’s National Council of Defense, the surviving wing of the building was demolished in 1984.

Hotel Adlon today…

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany, the people in the reunified city of Berlin soon refused to be without their legendary hotel, and a few years later, in 1997, Roman Herzog, who was then the president of the Federal Republic of Germany, reopened the new Hotel Adlon in a splendid ceremony. Since that day the truly “best hotel in town” has rejoiced in its past and present splendor and fame.

Contact the Hotel Adlon by clicking here.

Filed Under: GERMAN LINERS, HAMBURG AMERICA LINE, HOTELS, NORDDEUTSCHE LLOYD LINE, NORTH GERMAN LLOYD, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: Berlin, germany, Great Hotels, Hotel Adlon, nazi, SS Bremen, world war 2

Cruising The Past: 1936 German/Nazi Olympics were a destination aboard ships of the North German Lloyd Line. Midnight sailings were offered from New York on the Bremen and Europa.

September 23, 2008 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

This ad appearing in the Literary Digest (1936) exploits the Winter and Summer Olympics with service aboard North German Lloyd liners the EUROPA and BREMEN available from New York with a Midnight Sailing. These departure times, guaranteed morning arrivals in European ports. Round-trip first class fares started at $215.

For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Minimizing its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to impress many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.

Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that contemporary observers claimed might have restrained Hitler and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny.

Thousands of Americans sailed to Germany on German and American ships to attend the Olympics.

After the Olympics, Germany’s expansionism and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust.

Filed Under: NORDDEUTSCHE LLOYD LINE, NORTH GERMAN LLOYD, OLYMPICS, STEAMSHIP LINES Tagged With: america, BREMEN, CRUISE LINE HISTORY, europa, germany, hitler, holocaust, north german lloyd. nazis, olympic, steamship lines, trans-atlantic, world war 2

1936 Nazi Color Film-Berlin in the Year of the Olympic Games.

1914: Britain on the eve of the Great War and the world’s largest liner (at the time) VATERLAND.

Social History: HOTEL ADLON Kempinski – the finest hotel in BERLIN. One of the great hotels of the world. Berlin was a port of call by train in 1929 — after sailing from New York to Germany aboard the SS BREMEN.

Cruising The Past: 1936 German/Nazi Olympics were a destination aboard ships of the North German Lloyd Line. Midnight sailings were offered from New York on the Bremen and Europa.

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