Nazi Marriage Service

Devout Nazis can be married in a pagan marriage ceremony. Its details were described in London last week. Solemn with Wagnerian overtones, it is designed for "all who have freed themselves from Christianity and wish to celebrate their marriage as true Germans without the blessing of a priest. The man or woman whose passion is at its height regards the final union ... as a festival."

The service is held in a hall decorated with "a great many flowers and fir branches," and with a charcoal brazier at one end. Four girl attendants hold torches, four boys are trumpeters. Costume: uniform preferred, otherwise white shirt, dark trousers.

After trumpet fanfares and strewing of flowers, the couple seat themselves and the four attendants recite poetry dealing mainly with fire ("We swear to be flames for the holy German Empire," etc.).

While the bridal couple exchange wreaths, another girl recites a doleful lay: "Never has a nation struggled so bitterly. We die, we starve, we stand. . . . Straight ahead we look ... we do our bitter duty." Then rings are exchanged to the tune of Beethoven's I Love Thee. But there is no singing. Reason: "the words of the song are unsuitable. . . ."

As a benediction, the happy couple hear a girl recite: "You shall have faith in Germany of the future and the resurrection of your nation. Do not allow yourselves to be deprived of this faith in spite of everything, everything that happens."

Then everyone sings Deutschland Uber Alles and the Horst Wessel song.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.