A Christmas greeting from Dusseldorf:
Dear fellow-citizens, dear friends of our city:
As the year comes to an end, Düsseldorf has once again shown itself to be a pulsating and dynamic metropolis. Its power to attract remains strong, which can also be deduced from the fact that our city continues to grow.
It is welcome that Düsseldorf still leaves space for cultural diversity, and that the city community is marked by great interaction and strong cohesion. Most people feel this especially at Christmas time, when hopefully they find time during the holiday season to spend harmonious moments with the people who are particularly important to them.
To get in the mood for Christmas, it has recently become a pleasant habit for me to send out a musical greeting together with many more participants. This year we have filmed a Christmas video with the joint junior and senior choirs of the Werner-von-Siemens-Realschule in the Kunstpalast (art museum) at the Ehrenhof.
New this year are the personal Christmas messages for the “most beautiful city on the Rhine”, which school children have put together in the “Poetry Pause Project” of the culture centre “Zakk” in poetry-slam verse.
My thanks go to all who have taken part, in front of and behind the camera, for their generous involvement. I wish you great joy as you watch and listen to the video. You can reach this digital Christmas greeting by clicking on https://youtu.be/jYwyBtkJSVo .
To you, your families and all who are dear to you, I wish a merry and blessed Christmas festival. I look forward to encounters in the New Year.
With cordial greetings
Yours
Thomas Geisel
Oberbürgermeister of the City of Düsseldorf”
(Just for those who don’t know – Dr Geisel is the one playing the flute. Please feel free to pass this greeting on to other Reading friends of Düsseldorf.)