Editing Advent calendar (section)

== History ==

===Germany - Postwar Period to the present day===
{{subsections|date=May 2025}}
Soon after [[World War II]], the longing for an "ideal world" set in, including the Christmas season. By 1945, Advent calendars were once again being produced in all occupation zones. These calendars were primarily based on sweet designs from around 1930. Some publishers, like Erika in Heidenau, reprinted their older works. Today, these calendars can often only be distinguished from the older copies by the poorer quality of the paper and printing after the war. Returning to old originals was ultimately a matter of costs. In addition, some of the designers who had been active before the war continued to work in this field afterwards. Initially, especially tear-off calendars were popular.<ref> Tina Peschel: Adventskalender. Geschichte und Geschichten aus 100 Jahren. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2009, ISBN 978-3-86530-114-7, S. 41.</ref>

The Richard Sellmer publishing house received the license to print advent calendars in December 1945 in Stuttgart, from their American occupiers. The permission to print 50,000 calendars could be covered via paper from the French occupation zone. Richard Sellmer manufactured the stand-up calendar The little town ''Die kleine Stadt'' designed by Elisabeth Lörcher. He presented it at the [[Messe Frankfurt]] and was looking for US-customers. Even the first calendar was already designed in English and Swedish. The marketing focus on international sales was obvious from the start. Manuals in English and French were already added to the calendars "Alt-Stuttgart" since 1948. US soldiers coming home helped in spreading the calendars which led to Sellmer getting the Major order of 50,000 calendars by an aid organisation for epileptics.<ref> Spiegel online: einestages vom 30. November 2007: Eisenhowers Advent (Memento vom 11. Juli 2012 im Webarchiv archive.today)</ref> After the magazine [[Newsweek]] showed a picture of [[Eisenhower]]'s grandson on an Advent calendar in December 1953, demand rose massively. For 1954 the calendar White House was produced, showing the [[White House]] as the central design, surrounded by [[cowboy]]s, [[covered wagon|prairie schooners]] and [[land yacht (automobile)|land yachts]]. This calendar was also specifically commissioned for the US market, just like the Fairy Tales calendar from the same year. Other producers started following the successful trend as well, and so the calendar ''Bastelhaus'', or Children Workshop respectively, of Ulla Wittkuhn started showing two different designs for the 24th of December: a Christmas tree and Mary with child for the German children, a burning fireplace for the children of the US.<ref>Tina Peschel: Adventskalender. Geschichte und Geschichten aus 100 Jahren. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2009, ISBN 978-3-86530-114-7, S. 44.</ref>

Between 1946 and 1998 more than 230 various Advent calendars were produced by the Sellmer publishing company. The company is now run as a family business in its third generation. Around 2010, it offered approximately 100 different motifs each year. Many of the calendars reflect the varying traditions of the countries for which they are produced. For instance, calendars for Switzerland leave out St. Nicholas, angels in the U.S. have no wings and religious themes are preferred in the United Kingdom.

Other publishers also resumed production in 1946. For a few years, tear-off calendars were widespread, but by around 1950, they had largely been replaced by calendars with fold-out doors. The Ars Sacra publishing house in Munich produced carefully designed calendars full of small details, always focusing on religious themes. Between 1954 and 1976, Gudrun Keussen was primarily responsible for designing the approximately 30 calendars produced by the publishing house. After the company was renamed [[arsEdition]] in 1980, the content shifted from religious themes to family-oriented ones.<ref>Tina Peschel: ''Adventskalender. Geschichte und Geschichten aus 100 Jahren''. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2009, ISBN 978-3-86530-114-7, S. 47–48.</ref> Calendars designed by East Germans, such as Kurt Brandes and [[Fritz Baumgarten (illustrator)|Fritz Baumgarten]], were among those printed by the Korsch publishing house in Munich, which was founded in 1951. The Korsch publishing house bought many of its designs from other publishers and still offers many of the older designs today.  Korsch also put marketing strategies into practice just like the imprint of firm names. Korsch is one of the most important and most successful publishing houses of its kind.

Supposedly the most popular figure of the conventional Advent calendars was born of a Protestant priest. He adapted the idea of Lang and hid pictures of figures from biblical stories behind 24 little doors. The calendar starting from December 1st with 24 little doors was finally accepted after [[1945]]. Some calendars had more than one little door per date, with the 24 December often among them. The Advent Sundays could also have additional windows, in particular when they were out of the 24 days.<ref>Tina Peschel: Adventskalender. Geschichte und Geschichten aus 100 Jahren. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2009, ISBN 978-3-86530-114-7, S. 26.</ref> ''The Secret of Christimas'', a calendar designed by Paula Jordan, is a so-called ''Three Kings' calendar'' and even extended to the [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] (6th of January). These calendars were offered by religious publishers in particular and were sold up until the 1960s.<ref>Tina Peschel: Adventskalender. Geschichte und Geschichten aus 100 Jahren. Verlag der Kunst, Husum 2009, ISBN 978-3-86530-114-7, S. 26</ref> Since 1995, [[:de:Der Andere Advent|''Der Andere Advent'']] was published by the ecumenical organization [[:de:Andere Zeiten|''Andere Zeiten'']] and is again an Advent calendar which follows the ecclesiastical year and therefore extends to the 6th of January. Since 2017, [[:de:Andere Zeiten|''Der Andere Advent'']] has an edition for children between the age of 7 and 11 which includes stories, experiments, comics and games.<ref>[https://www.anderezeiten.de/initiativen-publikationen/advent/der-andere-advent Der Andere Advent – Verein Andere Zeiten e. V. ]</ref>

This Advent calendar gained nationwide popularity in the 1950s, when it was a mass-produced article that was offered at an affordable price. The designs were mainly scenes from romantic, snow-covered little towns. The big window of the 24th of December usually hid a crib scene. There were also hand-painted advent calendars by various artists, one example being the Advent calendars of Leipzig.