In Saxony, in Germany's Russian zone, the Communist government banned all Christmas carols that mentioned angels or the Christ Child. At a fair in Berlin's Soviet sector, swings, merry-go-rounds and roller coasters whirled in a raucous counterfeit of yuletide gaiety, but there was little or nothing for shoppers to buy. At grey-market shops, a pound of chocolates cost a laborer's full week's wage. Berliners stared at the meager, overpriced goods in frustrated despair; women wept. "Dear God," muttered one Hausfrau who had been searching in vain for some coffee cups and plates to brighten her yuletide table, "another Communist Christmas."
One...
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