The traditional German fruit bread eaten during Advent is Stollen.
Stollen is a yeast-raised fruit bread made with dried or candied fruit, nuts, spices, and sugar. It is often covered with powdered sugar and may contain a strip or center of marzipan, also called almond paste. During the Christmas season, German versions are commonly called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen.
The bread is strongly associated with Advent and Christmas, though German bakeries produce variations throughout the year. Dresden is particularly famous for Dresdner Christstollen, a regional style celebrated through the Dresden Stollen Festival. Its dense, rich texture makes it different from lighter holiday breads such as Italian panettone.
Stollen is also related to Dutch festive breads. In the Netherlands, the Christmas version is called kerststol, while paasstol is associated with Easter. Pulla, by contrast, is a Finnish sweet bread usually flavored with cardamom, and Kugelhopf is a distinct ring-shaped yeast cake. Thus, those alternatives may be festive breads, but they are not the traditional German Advent loaf described here.