Ukrainian children can now receive answers in their native language when they send letters to Santa Claus at the St Nikolaus post office in south-western Germany. – Photo: 123rf
Ukrainian children can now receive answers in their native language when they send letters to Santa Claus at the St Nikolaus post office in south-western Germany.
St Nikolaus is a small village located in the German province of Saarland near the French border, and the only place in Germany to share a name with Saint Nicholas, the German name for Santa Claus.
There is a post office in St Nikolaus to which children from around the world have addressed letters to Santa Claus for over 50 years.
The German Santa only recently began answering letters in Ukrainian, Sabine Gerecke, head of the children's letter campaign in the St Nikolas festive committee, told dpa on Friday.
Among the 3,000 letters sent to Santa Claus so far, about 30 are in Ukrainian.
The senders are mainly Ukrainian children currently living in Germany.
Gerecke said that she expects more Ukrainian children to contact St Nicholas in the coming weeks.
In previous years, letters from Ukrainian children had been answered in Russian, "but no more," said Gerecke.
The children's letters are also answered in Spanish, French, Italian, English and Chinese.
Santa's replies will be sent out from December 2.
Last Christmas, Santa's elves at the post office responded to a record amount of 30,711 letters from a total of 43 different countries. – dpa
