O Tannenbaum O Tannenbaum "" (; "O fir tree", English: "O Christmas Tree") is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree by the early 20th century and sung as a Christmas carol. The modern lyrics were written in 1824, by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer Ernst Anschütz. A "Tannenbaum" is a fir tree. The lyrics do not actually refer to Christmas, or describe a decorated Christmas tree. Instead, they refer to the fir's evergreen quality as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness. Anschütz based his text on a 16th-century Silesian
Christmas in Nazi Germany the missionary work of Columbanus and St. Boniface in the 6th–8th centuries. The Nazis ruled Germany from 1933-1945. Nazism wanted to transform the subjective consciousness of the German people—their attitudes, values and mentalities—into a single-minded, cohesive "national community". According to the American journalist Shirer, "under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann and Himmler—backed by Hitler— the Nazi regime intended to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists.". However Hitler and the Nazi party promoted "Positive Christianity", Early Nazi celebrations of Christmas occurred