A German Christmas
Isabel Evens describes the Christmas she spent in Germany in 1935
Plans made while I darned socks at Bedales now came into being. I had an au-pair situation in Bremen, North German and, having taken in all that ‘Gesundheit’ had told me to do, I booked a passage on Germany’s largest passenger ship, as I thought it would be a nicer way to travel across a rough or choppy Channel, hopefully avoiding seasickness. My decision was made and now was the time to begin my travel from our island.
My parents were surprised at my decision but could see that my mind was made up. My father took a day off to see me on the SS Bremen, which stopped at Southampton. Passengers had to board it just off the Isle of Wight. It was only time my father stepped foot on foreign soil, as he saw me into my cabin on the ship! When the siren blew, he went off, back down the gangway. My journey had started. In the early hours of the next morning, the ship anchored off Bremerhaven and by following the stream of people going through Customs, I soon found myself sitting in a second class compartment in the boat train heading for Bremen.
Doctor Dehn found me a place with the Hasse family in the village of Oberneuland, about eight kilometres outside Bremen. I found myself in a happy family of three school-age girls.
The Hasses had a town house in Bremen and this family house in the country. Hitler visited Bremen while I was there. Everyone was wildly excited and into their brown uniforms, and all the children gathered leaves and flowers to throw at him. They couldn’t understand that I had no enthusiasm to see him as I thought he was a silly little man and I was unable to admire anything he did. In England, I had met two refugees and had heard that no one dared give utterance inside the Reich. The general feeling that Hitler was clever to want to rid Germany of the Jews, especially the Jews from East Germany. Even the Germans who didn’t admire Hitler’s regime had to submit to it in the end or leave the country if they could, as the children suffered if they were not members of all the juvenile organisations. It was only in the warmth of the family circle that one dared to pass a comment or express an opinion of the Nazis.
Christmas was approaching and this meant more occasions for festivity. A German Christmas was one anyone could enjoy as they go in for it wholeheartedly, in such a big way and over a long period. It began on December 6th, Saint Nicholaus’ Night. The children wrote their messages asking for what they wanted for Christmas. These were put into their shoes and placed on the hearth. During the night, Saint Nicholaus collected their messages. December 24th, the night before Christmas, was the next ceremony. A dinner of fish was served, followed by the gifts being spread round the drawing room on individual tables. They were sensible presents – clothes, bottom drawer requirements, toys, books, sweets. The Christmas tree was alight with candles. Carols were sung in the candlelight and everyone was jolly. Christmas Day was given over to eating and drinking, and a huge midday meal of roast goose was prepared. For my enjoyment, an English Christmas pudding was brought in, lit with burning rum. It was the heaviest and greasiest Christmas pudding I had ever eaten and, as the two helpings of goose had more than filled the family, the children and I all got up and ran round the pond between the courses. The cold air freshened us up to meet the next course. Everyone took a siesta afterwards and met again at tea time to drink coffee and eat some of the Tannenbaum tree cake. This was unlike any Christmas cake and was made of a lovely light sponge mixture and shaped like a fir tree. The day ended with singing and dancing.
Then came my last evening of the year called Sylvesterslied, which was celebrated by dancing and drinking by all members of the family as they waited to welcome in the New Year. It was the last night of my stay in Germany as the following night found me leaving Bremen station at midnight to begin the long journey through Germany and Holland, where I was to spend the first few days of the new year with my friend Gisella, near Rotterdam.
Taken from Isabel Evens’ book A Journey in Living. Used with permission of Juliet Batten.
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