This article originally appeared on VICE Germany.
Christmas is an incredibly hard time to be alone. According to Age UK, around 1.2 million elderly people will spend Christmas on their own. In Germany, a 2012 study found that 2.5 million people in the country will be without any family or friends.
When the 32-year-old Christian* split from his girlfriend last year, he also found himself home alone just before Christmas. So he started the hashtag #KeineTwitterAllein (#NobodyTweetsAlone) to encourage people who were in the same situation, to talk about it on Twitter. "I was overwhelmed by the response," he says today. This year, he wanted to take things further by connecting kind families willing to open their homes to lonely people, on and around the big day.
I spoke to him near his house in Worms, a small city in western Germany, on the condition of anonymity, about how the idea has developed over the past year, the hundreds of people who have signed up for his service, and whether he has found anyone to spend Christmas with.
VICE: How did you become the savior of Christmas for so many people?
Christian: I always joke that it's because I don't have any hobbies. Because of my breakup, I found myself alone last Christmas Eve, and just wanted to connect with people in the same boat. I was only hoping to find a little humanity out there, but it quickly grew into the top trending topic on German Twitter for a few days. Even one of Germany's biggest pop stars, Helene Fischer, talked about it at her Christmas gigs.
This year, you want to bring people together offline.
Yes—I've asked people who are on their own to contact me on Twitter, and I’ll set up several small and large Christmas gatherings. When possible, I'm trying to put groups together from the same cities.
How many people have signed up so far?
Around 220, while just as many people have offered up their homes.
What are these people like?
Of those searching for company there are a lot of elderly people, but also a few young from Berlin, and men going through divorces. Of those offering their homes, some are alone, too, and have the extra space, but many are just kind-hearted families.
But lots of people who have nobody at Christmas—the elderly and the homeless—don’t use Twitter.
I don’t want to exclude anyone, but, at least for this year, this is the only way to reach out. But there are plenty of other services and charities offering the elderly a place to spend Christmas.
Do some people treat you like you're Christmas day Tinder?
Unfortunately, yes. I've actually had men get in touch thinking I could set them up with women. I had to make it very clear to them that this is not about sex.
Why aren’t there more people doing this?
Obviously, most people see Christmas as a private, intimate thing, and so they are reluctant to invite strangers into their lives. One alternative is to meet up with the person beforehand and get to know them a bit before inviting them around for Christmas. But whether it works out or not, it can’t be worse than spending Christmas with family members that you hate.
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Are you hoping to create something more than a simple get together?
I’m also interested in the social implications. This year's German election showed just how far people will go to separate themselves in political camps. I hope that these meetings will encourage people with opposing views to spend time with, and listen to each other.
Where do you still need people?
I’m looking for people in the cities of Bonn, Marburg, and the whole of Lower Saxony.
Will you be spending Christmas alone this year?
No, I’ll be celebrating it with my girlfriend. But any lonely people in our region are more than welcome to join us.
*Christian is not his real name.
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