The strangest ways Christmas has been used for psychological warfare

[The Straight Story]

The strangest ways Christmas has been used for psychological warfare

3.) Fake Christmas Cards During World War II
Throughout the second World War, Axis propagandists distributed fake Christmas cards and pamphlets to demoralize Allied troops. Some cards contained images of scantily clad ladies with teasing messages to soldiers, whereas other less lurid cards targeted the troops' homesickness and pacifist inclinations. You can check out a massive gallery of these phony Seasons Greetings over at PsyWarrior; there's also a number of cards that North Vietnam designed to frazzle American troops in the 1960s.





4.) The Nazification of Christmas Under The Third Reich
The notion of a Jewish messiah didn't jibe with the Nazis' racial supremacy dogma, so German propagandists decided to put a Aryan spin on Christmas. This is more propaganda than PSYOPS, but the Nazi attempt to replace Jesus with patriotic fervor and Teutonic hokum was pretty bonkers. Under the Third Reich's Christmas reforms, Jesus was written out of Christmas carols, German citizens could purchase swastika-shaped cookie cutters, and St. Nicholas was phased out for the Norse god Odin. From Der Spiegel:

The strangest ways Christmas has been used for psychological warfare

One particular sinister example of the Nazi Christmas tradition is the Julleuchter ("Yule lantern"), a kind of candlestick which can also be seen in the exhibition. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, had the supposedly "Germanic" lantern produced by inmates in the Dachau and Neuengamme concentration camps to give as a present to members of the SS. The same version of the Julleuchter that Himmler had made is still sold today in certain shops with a New Age bent as a traditional Christmas decoration.

http://io9.com/5717113/the-strangest-ways-christmas-has-been-used-for-psychological-warfare

[Towlie]

1. Right-wingers have progressed since then. Now they have the imaginary annual "War on Christmas."