‘Himmler’s mania for racial purity, coupled with his contempt for Christian sacraments–which he considered fit only for the meek–yielded an exotic program to foster proper SS families. Church weddings were replaced by pagan SS rites presided over by the bridegroom’s commander. Similar protocol governed the ‘christening’ of infants, some of whom were born in Lebensborn centers, free SS maternity homes set up to encourage conception.
“Celebrating Pagan Holidays”
“In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on Pagan and political precedents and meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities. The list included April 20, Hitler’s birthday; May Day and the Summer Solstice; a harvest feast; and November 9, the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
“Once the war began, Christian symbolism all but disappeared. Now rune-shaped SS grave markers clearly identified the fallen men of a special order.”
THe above quotes were taken from: SS Family Celebrations [Die Gestaltung der Feste im Jahres– und Lebenslauf in der SS-Familie][pdf]
“SS men were married, and their infants named, in ceremonies designed to supplant Christian sacraments–an approach Himmler also applied to church holidays, replacing them with pagan festivals.”
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Climaxing the year in Himmler’s scheme was the Winter Solstice or Yuletide, an event that brought SS folk together at candlelit banquet tables and around raging bonfires that harked back to German tribal rites.”
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The Third Reich/Time-Life Books: The SS
© 1989, 1988 Time-Life Books Inc.