CHRISTMAS FAIR

Southland Times, Issue 22465, 28 December 1934, Page 6

CHRISTMAS FAIR

BERLIN LUSTGARTEN.

NAZI SANTA CLAUS.

London, December 8,

A Christmas fair is being held this year in Berlin Lustgarten, the great open space between the former Kaiser s palace and the end of the Unter Den Linden. . Yesterday Father Christmas arrived in state in open the fair, escorted by some hundreds of Berlin’s poorer children. The Unter Den Linden was lined with many thousands more, all chattering and excited. The St. Nicholas who came through Brandenburger in a waggon drawn by horses with gaily clad postillions instead of reindeer was received by the local St. Nicholas from Thuringia, suitably clad in brown robes, beneath which was a glimpse of brown breeches and knee boots. The two greeted each other with the Hitler salute, and then rode down the Unter Den Linden together preceded by a Storm Troop band and dainty horsewomen in white. Lustgarten was packed with thousands more children, and their mothers and when a Nazi band had played Christmas hymns and the two Saints Nicholas had given a benediction to the fair they gave themselves up to the delights of the first Christmas Fair in Lustgarten since 1893. Its revival is not only due to the Nazi affection for old customs and tradition. Inner Berlin has been growing dull, partly because of the westward movement, which benefited the Kvrfurstendamn at the expense of the Unter Den Linden, and partly because of the rigorous clean up of the city. There is now a committee for the animation of the inner city which has been causing Storm Troop bands to give afternoon concerts at the famous crossing of the Friedrichstrasse and the Unter Den Linden. The Christmas Fair is another enter-

prise in this direction and it is notable that such popular figures as General Goering, Dr. Goebbels and Dr. Schacht when they go out with collecting boxes on Saturday, are all to be stationed in the inner city.