Photo Gallery German Nutcracker Under Threat
The German nutcracker -- the bearded, wood-carved soldier who stands to attention in households around the world at Christmas ready to bite the shells off walnuts -- faces growing competition from cheap Chinese copies that are threatening eastern Germany's centuries-old woodcraft tradition, the industry's leader has warned.
The nutcracker was invented in the Erzgebirge or Ore Mountains, a range of hills along Germany's border with the Czech Republic, in the 19th century. They also invented the Räuchermann or Smoking Man pictured here. Craftsmen and women produce ornaments under the Erzgebirge brand name that has become synonymous with German Christmas and quality workmanship.
An "Uncle Sam" nutcracker made by Steinbach, one of around 300 wood-carving businesses in the Erzgebirge region. The US is the biggest foreign market for Erzgebirge products, but sales there have been hit by the economic crisis and the strength of the euro.
A pharoah, a king and a phantom of the opera -- Steinbach has come up with a wide range of Christmas ornaments to suit all tastes. Chinese-made nutcrackers have been appearing on Christmas market stalls in recent years at a fraction of the price of Erzgebirge ones, and they're getting so good that the untrained eye can't tell the difference. However, many of them can't actually crack nuts, says Dieter Uhlmann, chairman of the Association of Erzgebirge Craftspeople and Toy Manufacturers.
The Smoking Man, an Erzgebirge favorite alongside the nutcracker, smokes through his mouth or through a pipe from incense candles placed on a metal plate in his stomach.
Another Erzgebirge invention is the Christmas pyramid, a carousel containing angels, choirboys or nativity figures sent into slow, hypnotic rotation by the heat from candles that drive wooden rotor blades. Here, German Pope Benedict XVI (right) admires one presented to him by German President Horst Köhler this month.
Uwe Kaden uses a lathe to prepare miniature, decorative Christmas trees from blocks of wood at the Richard Glaesser GmbH wooden toy company in Seiffen, eastern Germany.
Artisans Annette Reichl (right) and Isabel Goehler prepare wooden Christmas ornaments at Richard Glaesser GmbH.
Erzgebirge artisans pride themselves on their attention to detail. The Erzgebirge industry association has been trying to shield itself from foreign imports by printing stickers that say "Original Instead of Plagiarized" for outlets such as retail stores and Christmas market stalls. It has also launched a marketing campaign called "The Art of Living," supported with public funds from the eastern state of Saxony, to enhance the profile of the region's woodcrafts.
The wood-carving tradition is so deeply entrenched that the job of wooden toymaker is a registered profession in Germany, and the Erzgebirge is full of officially qualified Master Wooden Toymakers.
The industry had no trouble surviving East Germany's communist rule even though the authorities frowned on religion and religious symbols to such an extent that they referred to the Erzgebirge Christmas angels as "winged year-end figures." But the products were a valuable source of hard currency, and virtually the entire Erzgebirge output was exported to West Germany.
