Apart from when he was committing the world’s worst atrocities and leading a violent, genocidal, totalitarian dictatorship, it turns out Adolf Hitler celebrated Christmas.
Surely if anyone was to get coal on Christmas Day, it should have been Hitler, but his right-hand man and infamous spin doctor Josef Goebbels broke the rules of Christmas and treated him to gifts anyway.
The Nazi leader was in fact a huge fan of Disney, which might say something about the early years ‘unsophisticated’ approach to race.
Goebbels gave Hitler 12 Disney short films as a festive present in 1937, and noted Adolf’s great satisfaction at these gifts.
Writing in his diary, Goebbels said (translated by Google):
Der Führer freut sich sehr darüber. Ist ganz glücklich über diesen Schatz.
(The Fuhrer is very pleased and very happy about this treasure).
Unconfirmed rumours say that Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler actually had undocumented meetings.
The dictator was such a fan that he dreamed of creating a German version of Walt Disney’s studio, and he instructed Goebbels to establish the ‘Deutsche Zeichentrickfilm GmbH’.
The aim of the film company was to rival movies like Mickey Mouse while spreading the Nazi ideology and propaganda through a less aggressive entertainment source.
The first production from the ‘German animated films GmbH‘, Armer Hansi, was released in 1943 and depicts a canary bird who realises it is better to stay at home as he grows bored of the freedom he gained and returns to his cage.
Armer Hansi, like other Nazi propaganda, reinforces the idea that Germans should not try and strive for adventure and individual pursuits, but to sacrifice and put their efforts to furthering the Volksgemineschaft or ‘people’s community’.
It was the closest the Germans got to a Disney animation, but was still a great disappointment.
Referring to Armer Hansi in his diary, Goebbels wrote:
The first character of film, which is presented to me from his production, still shows a lot of weaknesses, but he is still a good start.
Here is Armer Hansi:
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi is an animated anti-German propaganda short film produced by Walt Disney Productions which was released in January 1943.
The 10-minute film begins with a German couple proving to a Nazi supreme judge that they are of pure Aryan blood and then agree to give their son Hans into the services of Adolf Hitler.
The film follows Hans through his journey of indoctrination through the Hitler Youth up to when he marches off to war, only to fade into rows of identical graves with nothing on them but a swastika and a helmet.
The point is to show how his education is complete. ‘His education…for death’.
Here’s the full version of Education For Death: The Making of the Nazi by Walt Disney…
Walt Disney produced 32 animated propaganda films for the US government between 1941 and 1945 as a last minute bid to save the studio from bankruptcy.
With Walt Disney regularly displaying incredibly questionable views, it’s no wonder Hitler was so on board.
Hitler thought Snow White was one of the best movies ever made, reports the Telegraph.
But it is weird to imagine Hitler sitting down in front of a fire at Christmas and whacking some Mickey Mouse on.
