Excerpts from the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’  Christmas Eve radio speech in 1941:

• There are few presents under the Christmas tree this year. .. We have sent our Christmas candles to the Eastern Front, where our soldiers need them more than we do
• Instead of giving outward gifts to our family, friends, and community, today we will express our love to one another and our faith in all that holds us together
• The war has become a school that has increased the love all of us have for the homeland
• We must thank those who defend us, our sons, fathers, and brothers…The great task demands the same sacrifice from us!
• Germans abroad often live in an entirely foreign, sometimes hostile, world… For us, speaking German is a matter of course, but they are spat on for it
• They will not experience the shame of 1918, when the German people’s collapse struck them like a numbing blow
• The whole nation is worthy of the great era in which we live
• Victory will not be given to us; we have to earn it. Everyone must do his part. Even on this Christmas Eve that must be the focus of our thoughts
• We thank the Almighty for the proud victories that he again has given us. We will continue fighting until total victory is ours
• In thinking of the Führer, who on this evening, too, is everywhere where Germans gather, we are reminded of the Fatherland. It will be larger, more beautiful, more prosperous after the war is over. It will be a proud and free homeland for us all. We want to thank the Führer for that
• Earlier we sang of peace on earth in our songs. Now the time has come to fight for it. Peace through victory! That is our slogan