On December 24, 1948, the Southgerman newspaper in the local section about the “Christmas Child Trip to the Forgotten”. The campaign marked the start of the aid organization and was accompanied by this comment:
“When a world falls into ruins, the theorists believe that you have the chance to build a better world. However, practice shows that unfortunately the old design errors are always incorporated into the new building. “Better” world means first and foremost “fairer” world. But our world has not become fairer, even if you look at it with mild Christmas eyes. It seems more than ever impossible to elevate justice to a system as long as we do not submit to a “state burden-distributor” who does not only (as before) the scarce electricity is distributed, but also all other goods and burdens of existence, in such a way that these are evenly placed on the shoulders that carry them.
Of course, such a “state burden sharer” remains a fairytale figure. He is more unreal at Christmas 1948 than ever before. In the time of general lack of post-war Christmas celebrations, there was still a community of fate for all the hungry and needy. The ministerial councilor counted his logs just like the washerwoman, and the general manager guarded his bread tokens as anxiously as the tram conductor. But at the Christmas table in 1948 things looked different for the first time.
The community of fate has fallen apart due to the merciless fate that once again makes human happiness ultimately dependent on the size of one’s wallet. You no longer have to be a pushover to have a warm room or a Christmas goose, the champagne and schnapps bottles on the Christmas table were honestly purchased, the woolen jackets and silk stockings, the leather bags and ski boots didn’t have to be bought at the back or by barter. They officially decorated the windows of shops. You just had to have the money to purchase these glories. And here lies the new old injustice, which is more blatant in these pious days than ever before.
While some (and this time not only certain fraudsters) are able to celebrate a truly peaceful Christmas for the first time with (as they smugly assume) a clear conscience, there are thousands upon thousands who cannot even afford a modest tree or a… can afford a few poor Christmas lights. “It’s always been that way,” the property owners will object. Yes, but never before have those who can buy Persian coats, Persian carpets and crocodile bags had such averted faces in the face of limitless hardship as in this time, when a few months ago an attempt was made to give every citizen a start with a counted 60 marks to enable a new, better life.
The plight of the homeless and dispossessed, the disabled, the sick and the decrepit, lonely widows and unprotected children has never been as dire as it is today. The ignorance of those favored by fate about the misery of the disinherited has never been greater than in these days, because simply for reasons of convenience people do not want to know what is going on in the neighborhoods of poverty.
If one day we are asked about our good deeds, we will have to try to put together a mosaic from as many small stones as possible. And then perhaps we will regret that we missed many an opportunity to collect these little stones. But we believe that this omission will be all the more serious because it was committed at a time that was supposed to be “better” than the previous one.
Werner Friedmann in a portrait that hung for a long time in the conference room of the Süddeutscher Verlag.
(Photo: Karl-Heinz Egginger/SZ Photo)
Hand on heart: Who of those well-dressed customers who ordered their Christmas table in Munich’s 130 luxurious leather shops or in the model workshops that popped up like mushrooms, equipped with tempting 500-mark dresses, paid the sums that would dismay an attentive tax office for furs and could spend jewelry, but at the same time felt the need to consider the gift table of a truly poor person?
Who among those whose coffers were filled because they knew how to hold back scarce goods in times of common need, tried to get the address of someone in misery from our city’s welfare officer or from the Caritas associations in order to give them one this evening to surprise with a people-friendly package?
Who of those who use the tempting food and drink menus of friendly Munich innkeepers every day and who, without batting an eyelid, make a 200-mark bill, has had an honest desire for a collection box in which to secretly store a 20-mark To squander appearances in favor of Christmas joy for onlookers?
Oh – there were so few, so shockingly few! And it would be easier to find the poor people who are starving than ever before. There has never been an opportunity to collect stones for the mosaic of good deeds so effortlessly. Our Christmas report on this page is just a modest attempt to show the way for those who find it worth imitating. It is never too late as long as the beating of our hearts does not become inaudible under the armor of selfishness.”
Werner Friedmann (1909 – 1969) worked for the SZ from 1945, initially as head of the Bavaria section. In 1946 he also became one of the licensees and partner of the newspaper. From 1951 to 1960 he worked as editor-in-chief. The Friedmann family still holds an 18.75 percent stake in Süddeutscher Verlag.