Silent Night in trenches of the Western Front
The Christmas Truce was an unofficial cease-fire on parts of the Western Front. Guns fell silent for one to several days. Soldiers emerged from the trenches and talked, exchanged gifts and kicked around a soccer ball. Trenches were close in some places, separated by 50 yards or less.
The Story of the Christmas Truce WWI is a documentary film about this spontaneous cease-fire. Thanks to historians Peter Hart, Taff Gillingham and Robin Schaefer, and their choice of rare documentary photos, footage and archived letters from soldiers of both sides.
This archival TUC Radio program first went into distribution on December 13, 2022. By coincidence on the same day that nearly 1,000 faith leaders called for a temporary ceasefire in the War in Ukraine. They wrote that a Christmas Truce can offer an opportunity for moral clarity and could be the first step toward a negotiated peace.
I’m sending this program out again – one year later – when even the word “Cease Fire” in relation to the ongoing war on Gaza is banned from media and United Nations negotiations.
Thanks for excerpts from the 50 minute documentary entitled “Silent Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce WWI”. The film is posted on the Timeline history channel for World History Documentaries.
Date: 2020
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)
