Here’s A Look At Easter In 1941 – They Had Hitler Easter Eggs

Here’s A Look At Easter In 1941 – They Had Hitler Easter Eggs | World War Wings Videos

Egg Painting

In April 1941, the United States was still blissfully uninvolved in WWII.  The Easter festivities were light-hearted and fun that year, the last time they would be like that for a while.

The Roosevelts on Easter in 1941. | HISTORY / YouTube

But the U.S. wasn’t completely disconnected from the rest of the world. Egg decorators took a fancy to the idea of painting a certain foreign leader’s face on the eggs.  In a time when the U.S. was neutral, Americans still couldn’t resist the opportunity to crush a Hitler – yolk and all!

Eggs have a rich history of being painted for Easter. Hitler eggs, perfect for crushing, also go down in history as part of the tradition. | HISTORY / YouTube

This lovely clip from Paramount News shows just what it was like back then before the war was fully fledged. Their newsreels would show biweekly news coverage in the theater before featured films, and Paramount News would later become a propaganda machine with the Office of War Information.

Holiday Gifts

Easter eggs weren’t the only way people cheekily showed their distaste of the leader. The military loved to paint their bombs, artillery, and basically whatever they could find, with holiday messages for the enemy.

Two Soldiers proudly show off their personalized “Easter eggs” before firing them. | National Archives / Public Domain

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