Army of volunteers ensure Santa replies to all his letters

By Marion van der Kraats Dec 15, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - Christmas is fast approaching and children all over the world are preparing for the festive season by writing a letter to Santa Claus letting him know what presents they want.

Postal services everywhere have to deal with sacks of letters addressed to Mister Claus at the North Pole and, naturally, the children would love to get a reply.

A network of volunteers from across the globe have stepped in to fulfill this role, penning replies to as many children as possible. In Germany, the country's postal service, Deutsche Post, has designated seven locations for addressing the task and also supports an eighth.

The largest of these is situated in the small eastern German town of Himmelpfort where each year over 280,000 letters from all over the world addressed to Santa Claus are processed.

This year, Himmelpfort opened its doors on November 10 and over 55,000 letters have already arrived, according to Deutsche Post. 'We have to get down to work early,' says spokesperson Rolf Schulz.

It all began in 1984 when two children from Berlin and Saxony wrote a letter to Santa and the post mistress in Himmelpfort sent them a handwritten reply.

By 1989 around 75 letters a year were arriving at the post office but this figure has since exploded with the office now having to deal with between 5,000 and 6,000 letters daily in the run-up to Christmas.

'The story began slowly. In the beginning the replies were handwritten, then templates were used and now replies are copied,' says Hamburg's postal spokesperson Maike Wintjen about the development of the service in his city.

Hamburg now deals with around 48,000 letters, which for six weeks annually are the responsibility of postal worker Wolfgang Dipper, who has been in charge of ensuring replies are sent for the last eight years.

'It's the nicest time of the year apart from the vacation period,' he says. Dipper is assisted in his work by 28 volunteers.

In the federal state of Lower Saxony, Joerg Weddehage has followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, who once also wrote replies to children. 'We are a group of around 20 people and we sit here each evening writing letters,' explains the 32-year-old.

The branch in Engelskirchen near the western German city of Cologne has been in operation for 19 years and now deals with around 150,000 letters a year, says spokesperson Britta Toellner.

It was begun by a postal worker who used to go in on a Saturday and answer the letters in the attic of the post office. 'The attic area became too small so it was moved to the fire station before the branch finally ended up in the industry museum,' explains Toellner.

The smallest branch in Germany can be found in the tiny village of Himmelsberg in the state of Thuringia.

Most branches are now equipped with computers and although many children now ask for Santa's mobile phone number, he has steadfastly refused. There is also no email address or Facebook profile.