BERLIN AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE CONDUNDRUM

Daughter of Berlin photographer Willy Römer, Ursula, enjoying her Christmas presents under the family Christmas tree in winter of 1930 in Berlin. Image via Kunstbibliothek, City Museums of Berlin, Photothek Willy Römer.

Eight out of ten people in our (scientifically absolutely unreliable) survey with only one question "What is it that you could never imagine Christmas without?", named it.

You can live with fewer or different Christmas dishes, fewer present are not a issue if the company is a match. And even spending the festive time away from your family can have its hidden charm (and be a blessing in disguise for both sides).

But no Christmas tree? However symbolic (a twig, a paper cut-out or a medley of dry sticks would do), the Weihnachtsbaum is as much as part of our "collective Christmas psyche" as Weihnachtsmann and festive illumination.

But when did that tradition reach Berlin? And what happened when, once hooked on the new symbolic, the city (or at least half of it) faced a Christmas-tree shortage? Today we are travelling back in time to 1959/1960.

To West Berlin.

Via the DDR and Thuringia.

Here’s a teaser - you will find a link to the complete episode below.

Listen to the full story here.