The Malta Independent has gained exclusive access to the hidden gems at the Maritime museum in Vittoriosa to take a snapshot of how our forefathers remembered Christmas in a time when Europe was battling against the Nazis and the extermination of Jews.

In the years of the Second World War, Malta was a British colony, and although the Maltese were not necessarily the prime target of the Germans, we were the inhabitants of a strategically located island in the hands of an enemy.

Among the items shown to this newspaper by museum curator Liam Gauci, were Christmas cards and old newspaper supplements.

London Gazette 1803: Among the papers piled up at stores at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, is a December edition of the London Gazette which dates back to 1803. The Gazette was one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices were required to be published. The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK, having been first published on 7 November 1665.

Hospital Discharge Certificate 1921: Perhaps one of the most interesting relics of the Christmas in Malta under the British is a hospital discharge letter issued on the 31 December 1921.

It appears that a navy officer had too much to drink on Christmas Eve and while walking back home, he fell and hit his head "causing an incision wound of more than one inch long." The officer had to spend a couple of nights at the navy's hospital in Bighi before being discharged at the end of year.

A Christmas Menu 1900s: The menu of a five course meal with meat and black pudding are among the very interesting records the museum has in store. The pudding, which was later transformed into the Maltese Pudina, was the most popular British-influence sweet at Christmas time.

Young Malta 1943: Young Malta was a newspaper supplement which was distributed by the British in the early 1940s. Featuring interesting articles from all over the globe, cartoons for children and articles in Maltese, the supplement was targeted to reach audiences of any gender, age and nationality. Among the short stories, one particular paper includes a short story by Guze Chetcuti, a very well-known author, poet and playwright who passed away in 2006 aged 91. 

Parade Magazine issued in December 1944: The Parade was a popular Christmas magazine distributed by the British to its compatriots living in different colonies, Malta included.

The museum is in possession of a full-coloured copy of a magazine issued on 16 December 1944. The front of the magazine was dedicated to a caricature of a Christmas father aboard a sleigh called the HMS Reindeer carrying presents and the hope of a brighter future for Europe.

In one of the pages, among messages from members of the clergy and religious reflections for Christmas, readers were entertained with a cartoon featuring a Father Christmas dressed up as a soldier flying over London. Instead of presents, the sleigh is carrying what we can identify as Adolf Hitler, tied up in a bag.

The soldier and his sleigh are flying over the Big Ben with a clock inspired by Georges Méliès' 'A trip to the moon' but instead of a space shuttle, the moon-shaped clock is hit by Churchill's cigar. Rightly so, the cartoon is titled 'In the Bag'.

It also features a very interesting story about a very rare event which occurred in 1875, when for the first time in many years, snow fell on Jerusalem city.