Thoughts on war: Fryderyk Tegler, Christmas will not be canceled (Published on 24/12/2023, latest update on 17/05/2026)
I. Fryderyk Tegler
Fryderyk Tegler (born 21/08/1941, died 29/07/2024) was a German Evangelical Lutheran pastor who hailed from Warpuny (Warpuhnen) in Masuria, Poland. He devoted a large part of his life to international understanding, humanitarian aid, and the preservation of the cultural heritage of his home region, and in 2010 he co-founded the Association of Friends of Masuria (Verein der Freunde Masurens e.V.). He spent his early childhood in a sheltered environment in Masuria until World War II reached the region. After the family was unable to flee the advancing Russian troops, they were forced to remain in their homeland and live there as part of the German minority under Polish administration.
Years after the war, the family moved to Germany as part of a family reunification program, where Fryderyk Tegler pursued a career in theology. His experiences surrounding the loss of his old homeland, life as part of a minority, and the new beginning in the West had a decisive influence on the course of his later life. At the same time as his funeral service in Germany, the bells of the Protestant church in Warpuhnen also rang in his honor, where the local community bid him farewell during a memorial service.
II. Memories of Christmas in the Immediate Postwar Period
In a publication by Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, Fryderyk Tegler wrote an article titled “Christmas will not be canceled”, describing the Christmas season in the years following the end of World War II as follows (souce: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., Weihnachtsgeschichten aus schwerer Zeit [“Christmas stories from difficult times”], 8th ed. [2017], p. 157 ff. [translation from German language]):
“I was five years old when I first consciously experienced the pre-Christmas period with all its magic and mystery. In the period 1944-46, we children really couldn’t expect any grand presents or lavish festivities. Instead, it was the little things that filled us with anticipation. We thought of the tree and its decorations, of the lights and their sparkle, of the parlor and its Christmas scent. We waited with all our senses for the big celebration and the many little things to see and taste, feel and experience. For our mother, this wonderful time of lights and secrets was covered by dark shadows and deep anxiety. She still had no news of our father and eldest brother. The hope that they were still alive and would come home from captivity had to fight again and again against fear and concern for their well-being.
It was Christmas Eve. The excitement in the children’s hearts reached its peak. We ran around the house excitedly. Then the letter carrier came through the snow and brought us some letters. Mother sat down at the table and began to read. We jumped away, laughed and sang, romped and fought. When we came back into the kitchen, we stopped, startled, and fell silent. Mother was sitting bent over a letter that was trembling in her hands and crying. The tears ran down the letter and dripped onto the floor. There was no explanation …
My father never came home to us in Masuria and we only found my eldest brother 40 years later. But our mother never lived to see that. Although the full extent of the horrors of the war and the post-war period could not penetrate our children’s hearts, we felt that something was breaking, collapsing and tearing apart. We clung to our mother. Sadness filled the room. The tears mingled. We couldn’t find the words for a long time. It was dead silent.
In the midst of the silent despair, my childish question came through: »Mum, is Christmas canceled now?« My mother stumbled, gave herself a jerk, took us children in her arms and said: »No, now we’re celebrating Christmas all the more!« And then my mother began to cope with her sadness and grief by organizing Christmas for us children.
From today’s perspective, they were poor celebrations, but back then they were very nice.”
It should not be forgotten that the same scene has also occurred many times in all other countries involved in the war. For the population, especially for soldiers and their families, war only ever brings pain and suffering.
(Head picture: Winter tree in Düsseldorf’s city forest,
February 2022)
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