New Year’s Eve Celebration underneath a Swastika (1938) The National Socialist claim to power was based not least on the everyday and family lives of ordinary members of the German population. Gestures and rituals such as the "Hitler salute," symbols and signs such as swastika flags, and mass events and organized leisure activities were supposed to eliminate the traditional separation between public and private life, and the individual was to be entirely absorbed into the National Socialist national community. This photograph shows a New Year's Eve celebration in a private living room where the swastika enjoys pride of place. A profile portrait of Hitler (which is difficult to make out in this reproduction) hangs directly underneath it.