German Santa Replying to Children's Letters for 40 Years: "Every Child Must Receive a Reply"

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"Every child deserves a reply from (Santa)."

This is what the 'Chief Angel' working at a post office in a German village, who has been writing replies to children who send letters to Santa Claus every Christmas for 40 years, said.

Himmelpfort Post Office, Brandenburg, Germany.
[Photo source= Screenshot from Himmelpfort Post Office website]

According to the American daily The Washington Post (WP) on the 23rd (local time), a post office located in the small town of Himmelpfort in Brandenburg, eastern Germany, has been faithfully replying every year to children who send letters addressed to Santa for 40 years until this year.

The 'Santa reply' started 39 years ago by a post office employee. In December 1984, Cornelia Matske (64), who worked at the Himmelpfort post office, found two letters sent to Santa Claus by children from East Berlin and Saxony in the mail sorting room.

Every Christmas without fail, letters wishing to Santa arrived, but her colleagues usually discarded them without even opening the envelopes. However, Matske, who said "I simply could not throw those letters away," replied on behalf of Santa under the name of 'Angel.' She wanted to gift the mystery of Christmas.

Her replies quickly spread by word of mouth. The next year, the number of letters to reply to increased to 75. In 1990, with the reunification of East and West Germany, letters poured in from all over Germany. Up to 2,000 letters arrived daily until just before Christmas.

With the flood of letters... German post office hires Santa helpers

As the number of children waiting for Santa's reply increased, Germany's largest postal company Deutsche Post stepped in. Starting in 1995 with two assistants, now they hire 20 'Santa helpers' annually.

From mid-November, in a room decorated with Christmas atmosphere at the post office, four 'angels' dressed in golden gowns sit at tables to send replies so that children can receive them by Christmas Eve afternoon.

The number of children's letters has surged to about 300,000 annually. Not only from Germany but also from 59 foreign countries including China, Poland, and the Czech Republic, 17,000 letters are sent. WP reported that "American children have also given up sending letters to Santa at the North Pole and joined in."

Due to the surge in letters, they can no longer write replies by hand as before, but the addresses on the envelopes are still handwritten.

Looking at the wishes contained in the children's letters, they reflect the dark and bright sides of that year. During the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, wishes like "I want COVID to end quickly and play with my friends" and "I want to see my grandparents" were common.

Germany's Spiegel reported that the most frequent wish among the 300,000 letters received this year was 'world peace.' Anke Blen, spokesperson for Deutsche Post, said, "Significantly more children than usual wished for world peace."

Of course, classic wishes such as wanting toys or the latest electronic devices, hoping for the health of family members, or dreaming of a snowy 'White Christmas' are still many.

Matske, who has now become the 'Chief Angel,' told WP that she has no plans to give up this work anytime soon. She emphasized, "I am amazed at how this turned out," and "Every child must receive a reply from Santa. Otherwise, they quickly stop believing."