{{Short description|none}} '''Holidays in Nazi Germany''' were primarily centred on important political events, serving as a form of political education and reinforcing propaganda themes.<ref name=Bytwerk>{{cite journal|last=Bytwerk|first=Randall L.|title=Rhetorical aspects of Nazi holidays|journal=The Journal of Popular Culture|year=1979|volume=13|issue=2|pages=239–247|doi=10.1111/j.0022-3840.1979.1302_239.x}}</ref> Major national holidays were therefore controlled by Joseph Goebbels at the Reich Propaganda Ministry, and were often accompanied by mass meetings, parades, speeches and radio broadcasts.<ref name=Bytwerk/>
Many of the official national holidays in the Third Reich were anniversaries of political events, namely the seizure of power (January 30), the announcement of the Nazi Party program in 1920 (24 February), Hitler's birthday (20 April) and the Beer Hall Putsch (9 November). Others were traditional German holidays. Heroes' Memorial Day was celebrated on 16 March, National Labour Day on 1 May, Mother's Day in May, Summer Solstice in June, Harvest Thanksgiving in Autumn and Winter Solstice in December.<ref name=Snyder>{{cite book|last=Snyder|first=Louis L.|title=Encyclopedia of the Third Reich|year=1998|publisher=Robert Hale}}</ref>
From 1937, Jews were banned from the streets during German public holidays.<ref>{{cite book|last=Paldiel|first=Mordecai|title=Saving the Jews: Amazing Stories of Men and Women who Defied the "Final Solution"|year=2000|publisher=Schreiber}}</ref>
{| border="0" style="background:#DDF; vertical-align:top" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" |- ! Holiday ! Local name ! Date ! |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | New Year's Day | Neujahr | 1 January | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Heroes' Memorial Day | Heldengedenktag | 16 March if it was a Sunday, otherwise the Sunday before 16 March (marking the renouncing of the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles and re-introduction of conscription on 16 March 1935).<ref>{{cite news |last=Schultz |first=Sigrid |author-link=Sigrid Schultz |date=March 17, 1935 |title=Germans Arm; Scrap Treaty | work=Chicago Daily Tribune|page=1 }}</ref>
| from 1939, the 5th Sunday before Easter (Reminiscere) |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Good Friday | Karfreitag | Easter Sunday - 2 days | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Easter Monday | Ostermontag | Easter Sunday + 1 day | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Birthday of the Führer | Führergeburtstag | 20 April | celebrated from 1933 to 1944, declared national holiday for Hitler's 50th birthday in 1939<ref>Kershaw, Ian. ''The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. pp.57-59, 64, 72, 79, 141, 151, 159, 197-98, 213-14. {{ISBN|0-19-282234-9}}</ref> |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Labour Day | Nationaler Feiertag des deutschen Volkes | 1 May | from 1934. Introduced in 1933 as "Feiertag der nationalen Arbeit"<ref>[http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/feiertag1933_ges.html Gesetz über die Einführung eines Feiertags der nationalen Arbeit (10. April 1933), in: documentArchiv.de (Hrsg.)]</ref> |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Ascension Day | Christi Himmelfahrt | Easter Sunday + 39 days | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Whit Monday | Pfingstmontag | Easter Sunday + 50 days | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Corpus Christi | Fronleichnam | Easter Sunday + 60 days | only in municipalities with predominantly Catholic population |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Harvest Festival | Erntedanktag | 1st Sunday after Michaelistag (29 September) | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Reformation Day | Reformationstag | 31 October | only in municipalities with predominantly Protestant population |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Memorial Day for the Martyrs of the movement | Gedenktag für die Gefallenen der Bewegung | 9 November. Commemorated Nazis who had died in political violence, especially the Beer Hall Putsch (8–9 November 1923). | from 1939 |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Day of Repentance and Prayer | Buß- und Bettag | Wednesday before 23 November | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Christmas Eve | Weihnachtsabend | 24 December | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Christmas Day | 1. Weihnachtsfeiertag | 25 December | |- style="background:#F8F8FF" | Saint Stephen's Day / Boxing Day | 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag | 26 December | |}
== See also ==
==References== <references/>
Category:Society of Nazi Germany Category:National holidays Category:Public holidays in Germany Category:Nazi propaganda
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