Christmas onthe Front

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„Mire a levelek lehullanak, katonáink hazatérnek!”

II. Vilmos német császár By the time the leavesfall, our soldiers willbe home.

German Emperor William II

Millions of families were waiting for the return of these heroicsoldiers after the leaves had fallen in 1914. Children spent hoursbehind the windows hoping to see their fathers appear, women werewaiting for the moment to say good-bye to the factoriers whilemothers were praying for the return of their sons in tears … But invain … Because nobody came home either that year or the followingfour long years …

Lövészárkok

Trenches

After the leaves had fallen in 1914, there were trenches on the western front withsoldiers doomed to immobility in them. Thousands of soldiers got killed for afew meters to advance and their comrades had to bear thei smell of the corpsesbecause they had no chance to bury the dead.

Many people were looking for refuge among walls of protection which could notbe broken down by weapons or any other means. The screaming voices of thewar tried to break down these walls in vain because they were built and held bypeace, happiness and love offered by Christmas songs. These songs made itpossible for human beings to emerge from the trenches forgetting about theiruniforms.

Nyílt Karácsonyi Levélszüfrazsett asszonyok

„Legalább azon az éjjelen

hallgassanak el a fegyverek, amikor

az angyalok énekelnek.”

XV. Benedek pápa

In reality, Christmas peace required not only the songs but alsothe Open Christmas Letter signed by 101 British suffragettes aswell as Pope Benedict XV’s summons in which he warned thefighting parties that ”weapons should be silent at least at thenight when the angels sing.” And this is what happened: aBritish soldier recalled later that ”not a single shot weas heardon either side since 5 pm yesterday.”

Ypres

„ Átjöttek mihozzánk, boldog karácsonyt kívánni. Még daloltak is nekünk, szóval szépen összebarátkoztunk.”

Ypres„Semmilyen szempontból sem volt szokványos játék inkább afféle labdakergetés, mindenki mindenkielleni összecsapás. Talán ötvenen is voltak egy csapatban, a meccs alig fél óráig tartott, a gólokat pedig senki sem számolta."

On 25 December those people who had wallowed in each others’blood a few days before and after celebrated together. On that daysnippets of German Christmas songs were driven by the wind to theBritish trenches in Ypres. The rattling of firearms was replaced bymerry Christmas songs. The British soldiers were even moresurprised when the German soldiers ”came over to us to wish MerryChristmas. They even sang for us so we became good friends.” Onthe day of peace and love every frozen heart melted and the enemysoldiers gave gifts to each other: tobacco, buttons and helmets.

It was on Boxing Day that a Belgian field gave home for the greatest match offootball history: the goals were indicated by caps and each team had at least fiftyplayers to run after a leather ball. This match organized in the middle of aworldwide catastrophe was a perfect example for the original message of this gameand its noble aim. One of the players recalled the event in the following way: „Itwas in no way a regular match but rather running and chasing a ball witheverybody against everybody. There may have been some fifty people in a team, thegame lasted half an hour and goals were not counted." The exhausted soldiers withall their burdens on their shoulders were happy to take part in the game. Thisunlimited and honest happiness made this match become one of the most nobleevents of all times. Many survivors cofessed that it was among the ice-cold trenchesin 1914 that they had felt the real power of Christmas for the first time in their lives.

Törékeny béke//Fragile Peace

Even though pacifists hoped that the Christmas ceasefire wouldindicate the beginning of a new era in which soldiers lay downtheir weapons and fight together for a better cause, killingswere to overcome again. The following lines were written on26 December: ”At midnight we were alerted, waited until dawn,and then we saw that those who had become our friends the daybefore tried to overrun us but we destroyed their lines just asearlier. The battlefield where we had shaken hands and wishedMerry Christmas to each other became covered by Germancorpses.”

New York Times

The Christmas event on the front had a special value in the everydaylife of the soldiers. The army leaders, however, did their best to stopsimilar events after 25 December since they meant a serious danger:soldiers becoming friends might not want to return to the trenches.Therefore, news about the Christmas ceasefire appeared only on 31December in the New York Times which informed Europeans as well.Although generals strictly forbade any conncetions with the enemy,they could not kill humanity in the hearts of the soldiers.

1915

In 1915, when the angels’ songs reached the front for the second time, thesoldiers from Székesfehérvár stationed near Isonzo halted for a momentto listen to the heavenly tunes. The distressed soldiers then decided to setup a Christmas tree but when the lights went up, the Italians got confusedand started to shoot at the tree symbolizing love, peace and humanity.When they realized that they had been shooting at a Christmas tree, theystopped shooting and joined the Hungarians for the moments ofcelebration, and mutually presented each other with simple gifts. Thisstory is a good example for the power of Christmas which is strongerthan any war since love will always find its way to the hearts of thesoldiers killing each other on the front …

The year 1916 was hoped to be different again but it wass not. It brought evenmore blood, death and suffering. These horrors put a great burden on theshoulders of the Hungarian battalion having been stationed in the environmentof Isonzo for three years. There is one day, however, when this burden cannotbe held. Only one day. And this is Christmas Eve. On that day in 1916 thecommander of the batallion was very hopeful about the future saying that ”thisyear your prayers will be listened to, and we will soon be happy to greetpeace.” But it did not happen. The soldiers were still in the deep of thetrenches at the time of the fourth Christmas.

Papp Jenő – Harmadik Karácsony

The weary soldiers sang the religious songs piously and prayed fortheir families which were waiting for them at home. Then theChristmas songs were replaced by a mix of Hungarian folk songs anda poem written by machine-gun squad lieutenant Jenő Papp who hadbrought Nativity play to the soldiers stuck on the front. The poemopenly spoke about the author’s third Christmas on the front, abouthis suffering and the expected future.

„Ez a legemlékezetesebb karácsony,

amit valaha láttam, vagy látni fogok””This is the most

memorable ChristmasI have ever seen or will

see.”

Th

In 1914 Hell really came to the Earth andstayed here as long as 1918. However, therewas a day every year when the Angels’ songscould be heard from Heavens even on the Earthand then even the flames of Hell screaminglyretreated to the deep, and Man could be Managain …