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House decorated for Christmas in Delmenhorst
Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa
The residents of the Delmenhorst Christmas house in Lower Saxony have received a threatening letter, apparently because of their 60,000 lights that were switched on during the Advent season.
Martina Borchart said it anonymously threatened to destroy the Christmas decorations on the house in a nocturnal action if the lights did not go out by a certain day.
"We won't let that get us down"
The reason given for the threat was the energy crisis and the need to save energy.
"We were shocked," Borchart said.
Her husband and she filed a complaint.
Police are investigating attempted coercion, a spokesman said.
In the future, the Christmas house will be included in the control drives of the patrol service.
It is not yet known who the sender of the letter was.
Martina Borchart announced that she would keep the lights on.
"We won't let that get us down," she said.
Finally, the campaign would also collect donations for a good cause.
On the first Sunday of Advent, numerous people came to marvel at the lights.
For more than 20 years, Martina and Sven Borchart have been lavishly decorating their house at Christmas time with garlands of lights, figures and pyramids.
"It's a matter close to our hearts," they told the dpa news agency.
Rising energy prices would not change that: "Hobbies cost money."
wit/dpa