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German History in Documents and Images
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The Christmas Carol [Das Weihnachtslied] (1886)
The bourgeois cults of childhood, Christmas, harmonious family life, and military superiority mesh perfectly in this montage. Note the Prussian spiked helmet [Pickelhaube] on the child playing with the toy soldier (center). By contrast, the children at bottom seem slightly astonished that the adult male figure has – literally – bought so heavily into the season’s commercial spirit. Entitled The Christmas Carol [Das Weihnachtslied], this woodcut is based on a drawing by D. Gräf.