Merry Christmas in Arte: The True Story of This Christmas Truce During the First World War

When the war broke out in the depths of the summer of 1914, it caught millions by surprise and swept it away. Nikolaus Sprink, the amazing tenor of the Berlin Opera, will have to give up his great career and especially his beloved: Anna Sørensen, soprano and singing partner. Palmer, an Anglican priest, volunteers to follow Jonathan, his young assistant, to church. They leave their Scotland, one as a soldier, the other as a stretcher. Lieutenant Odeber was forced to leave his pregnant and bedridden wife to fight the enemy.

But since then, the Germans occupied a small town in the north, where the young wife probably gave birth by this time. And then comes Christmas, with its snow and gifts from families and co-workers. But there will be no surprises from the generous packages that fill the French, Scottish and German trenches…

As surprising as it may seem, Christmas is inspired by a true story that took place during the First World War in several locations on the front during Christmas 1914. By reading Yves Buffett’s book.Battles of Flanders and Artois 1914-1918Director Christian Carrion finds a passage called “The Incredible Christmas of 1914” in which the author evokes fraternization between enemies.

Disturbed by such a discovery, the apprentice filmmaker spoke to producer Christophe Rossignon about it. The latter found the subject brilliant, but knowing its scope, he had already offered Christian Carrion to learn his skills by making several short films. After the success of his first feature film, A Swallow Made Spring, a producer encouraged him to tackle what would become Christmas.

In 2002, Christian Carrion started writing the screenplay. His first job was to document the brothers, to recover all the information he could to find out exactly what had happened.

“I discovered a series of extraordinary news in the British archives, many of them, and then French and German. Suffice it to say, you won’t get into them easily. These are the places where mostly professional historians visit. Yves Buffett, I was able to access these documents.

In France, they are protected by the army, which, although it cannot prevent consultations, does not publish them. As for the German archives, I did not have any difficulty in consulting them, because many are kept in France, this is the result of the Second World War. The director explains.

Christmas truce

The Great War began in the summer of 1914, and everyone thought that the fighting would only last a few months. Unprepared – or poorly prepared – men are sent to the front, and after a few weeks of marching, the soldiers find themselves immobile in the trenches, facing the enemy.

The latter then applied the face, voice, and name to the soldiers of the opposing camp… and sometimes fraternization happens during the break. Although prohibited and punishable by death, these “breaks” took place in several places and were severely repressed by the military authorities.

The brotherhood described by Christian Carrion in his film was inspired by what happened in the trenches around Ypres, Belgium. Events immortalized today by the cross at the Plogsteert Memorial.

On the morning of December 25, 1914, French and British soldiers heard Christmas carols coming from enemy trenches and discovered Christmas trees along the German lines (sent by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who believed that “ Even in times of war, we must not lose our values “).

Then the two campers come out and find themselves there No man’s land. German tenor Walter Kirchhoff (played by Beno Furman in the film) performs Christmas carols for “enemy” soldiers. Men exchange gifts, eat together, chat, take photos and even play football. At the end of the match, they will bury the dead on the battlefield.

Although most of the photographs taken during this famous Christmas truce were destroyed or confiscated, a few were saved and published Daily Mirror in January 1915.

This fraternization, regarded as a mutiny of the General Staff, primarily shows the refusal of these young men – to go to a short war – to a bloody and endless conflict. In order to prevent these events from being repeated in the following years, the General Staff ordered artillery fire every Christmas Eve.