Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
Santa’s world-famous post office in the tiny German town of Himmelpfort is back, ready and waiting to receive wish lists from children all over the world, both naughty and nice. He’ll certainly be kept busy in the run-up to the national holiday because every letter that arrives on time is guaranteed to receive a reply.
November and December are busy months in Himmelpfort, the small town in Brandenburg where Deutsche Post sets up an official Christmas post office every year.
Along with around 30 helpers, Santa Claus works right up until Christmas Eve to personally answer the thousands of letters he receives every year, in more than 17 different languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Polish, Chinese and braille - he is a magical man, after all.
The tradition of sending Christmas wish lists to Himmelpfort dates back some 35 years. In 1984 two children from Berlin and Saxony thought that they might have some luck addressing their letters to Santa in Himmelpfort. It means “Heaven’s Gate” in German, so you can see what they were thinking.
The local post worker, Kornelia Matzke, didn’t have the heart to send the letters back with the words “recipient unknown”, so she decided to answer the letters herself. The two children obviously told their friends about the responses they received, for the next festive season, a grand total of 75 letters arrived!
Things snowballed from there, and by 1990 the tiny post office was receiving up to 2.000 letters per day. For this reason, from 1995 onwards Deutsche Post began engaging additional helpers to assist Santa in answering the letters.
Last year, Santa’s post office in Himmelpfort received a total of 277.200 letters. More than 10.000 of these were from abroad, from as far away as Taiwan, Indonesia, Peru and South Africa.
Himmelpfort is actually just one of the seven special “Christmas post offices” that are set up all over Germany during the festive period. While Santa - known as the “Weihnachtsmann” in German - and his helpers work hard to answer letters in Himmelpfort and Himmelsthür, they are supported by Nikolaus, the Christkind in other magically-named towns and cities, including Engelskirchen, Himmelstadt and Nikolausdorf.
To make sure you receive a reply, be sure to send your letter well in advance of the third Sunday of Advent, which is the deadline for wish lists reaching Santa’s post office. You also need to include your home address so that he knows where to send his reply!
Send your letters to:
An den Weihnachtsmann
Weihnachtspostfiliale
16798 Himmelpfort
Thumb: Deutsche Post