Operation Tannenbaum Operation Tannenbaum Operation "Tannenbaum ("Fir Tree"), known earlier as Operation "Grün ("Green"), was a planned but cancelled invasion of Switzerland by Nazi Germany and Italy during World War II. For tactical reasons, Adolf Hitler made repeated assurances before the outbreak of the Second World War that Germany would respect Swiss neutrality in the event of a military conflict in Europe. In February 1937, he announced that "at all times, whatever happens, we will respect the inviolability and neutrality of Switzerland" to the Swiss federal councillor Edmund Schulthess, reiterating this promise shortly before the Nazi invasion of Poland. These were, however,
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