It was a Christmas that carried little of the cheer that had traditionally been a part of the German celebration of the birth of Christ. Fritz Nadler reported that in the shops of Nuremberg nothing was left to buy – only the dummies once used to display clothing remained in the windows. For children, there were only the primitive toys made by the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. For Bavarians in general, the approach of the Christmas season carried no emotional lift – weariness and a sense of crisis brought a “somewhat sentimental” mood, said a Sicherheitsdienst report. Ursula von Kardorff spent Christmas eve in the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin, the great church crowded with women and many soldiers-“all the women were weeping.”
The family of Josef Fischer in Cologne wondered whether they would ever really be able to think of Christmas as a festival of peace – but they did have a Christmas tree brought in by sled from the woods and decorated with six candles, which still delighted the children. One aspect of life was a little better. The regime sought to cushion coming bad news by improving the food provisions. Sugar shortages were avoided by the importation of 110,000 tons from Hungary, and the shortage of wheat in the old Reich, due to the severe past winter, was offset by the importation of 750,000 tons from the new Gaus of Posen and West Prussia created after the conquest of Poland. Fat shortages were reduced by importing sunflower seeds from the Ukraine and the Don and Kuban areas of Russia. And, best of all, the potato harvest was regarded as good enough to allow a ration increase from two and one-half kilograms to four and one-half kilograms per person, per week.
Another source of food at home came with the provision of furlough packages of food for soldiers on leave. These so-called “Führer packages” included two and one half kilograms of wheat flour, one kilogram of sugar, one kilogram of meat, and one and one half kilograms of other food supplies. Along with special Christmas rations, slight increases of bread and meat rations, and issues of wine, there was some improvement of morale-the people for the first time in a long while were able to eat their fill again. Children in Nuremberg got a pound of apples as a special ration. The Nadlers fell into luck when Fritz provided books for a neighbor from a farming family and received a five-pound duck for Christmas. The Fischers might have bought a hen if they had got there in time-they came from Poland -but had to settle for a small rabbit, along with fifty grams of coffee per person, “booty from France.” The Messerschmitt works in Regensburg still had a Christmas festival for their employees and gave presents to the children.