Is the criticism of Gelsenkirchen as a “shithole” by British Euro fans justified? After the coal mining industry ended, the city experienced a wave of migration. The consequences: empty apartments, neglect, immigration from poverty. FOCUS online took a look around some time ago. Little has changed.

They like coming to this city. They feel at home here.

Around 65,000 foreigners live in Gelsenkirchen. Most of them come from Turkey and Syria. But Romania is in third place among the countries of origin – with 5,800 people – and Bulgaria is in fifth place (3,700).

The fact that many poor immigrants from Southeastern Europe are streaming into Gelsenkirchen is primarily due to the structural change that the once proud mining town has to go through and which continues to cause it great difficulties to this day.

Gelsenkirchen was synonymous with coal and steel like no other place. Black gold was mined here for over 150 years – at one point in time in 14 mines with such illustrious names as “Hibernia”, “Wilhelmine Victoria” or “Graf Bismarck”. At the end of 2008, the mine closed and the last Gelsenkirchen mine ceased production.

With coal, Gelsenkirchen rose from nothing. Without coal, it fell back to that point. “Glück auf” became “Glück aufverbrauchen”. A deep, painful blow for the city.

Over the years, around 100,000 jobs were lost. Many families left the city. While the population was still almost 400,000 at the end of the 1950s, today just under 260,000 people live here, and the number is declining.

The huge wave of migration triggered an unpleasant chain reaction. Many houses suddenly stood empty and decaying, entire streets fell into disrepair, and real no-go areas emerged.

“The apartments that have been vacant for many years are now often dilapidated and almost uninhabitable,” says city spokesman Martin Schulmann.

Shady speculators and, in some cases, highly criminal businessmen are taking full advantage of this. They are buying and renovating shabby houses, so-called junk properties, and renting them out to people, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria. “This is leading to a large influx of people living in poverty, which is further exacerbating the situation in Gelsenkirchen,” said city spokesman Schulmann.

Entire blocks are then populated by extended families who neither have regular jobs nor the willingness to respect German laws and rules.

People can only pay the sometimes excessive rents because the German state supports them with social benefits. The money often comes from criminal activities. Several residents of Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen have reported garages being broken into and shoplifting. There is also talk of drug trafficking.

If you talk to residents, you will easily see that the situation is stressful and often overwhelming for them, not least because they know that they will have to come to terms with their new neighbors.

People from Romania and Bulgaria are neither refugees nor asylum seekers. They are citizens of the European Union (EU) and can live and work legally in Germany. Gelsenkirchen has no means of “controlling or limiting” the influx of EU citizens, according to an information brochure for the city’s residents.

However, it can influence development through strategic measures. For example, the city has been trying for some time to halt the systematic devaluation of residential areas and stop the downward trend – known in technical jargon as the “trading down effect”.

The recipe: With financial help from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal government, Gelsenkirchen buys up problem properties, renovates them or demolishes them. In this way, the cheap houses that are so popular with Southeast Europeans disappear from the market.

“So far, 57 problem properties have been acquired,” said city spokesman Schulmann. Over the next ten years, “around 3,000 vacant, non-marketable residential units, including around 500 problem properties in the narrower sense” are to be bought up. The state has made 10 million euros in start-up capital available for this purpose.

It remains to be seen whether this good-sounding plan will work. There are still plenty of places where the excesses of immigration from poverty and failed integration are visible. Many neighbors, whether they are native Gelsenkircheners or immigrants who have now taken root here, are unsettled and dissatisfied.

It is precisely this frustration and latent fear that some parties, especially the AfD, are seizing on. Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen is a welcome place in this regard.

One afternoon, an elderly, smartly dressed lady walks along Karl-Meyer-Straße and, in conversations with locals, complains about the “piles of dirt” in front of some of the houses. Her dialect reveals that she is from Berlin. Her name is Karin. She does not want to give her last name. Karin is visiting the Ruhr area.

The blonde woman – fashionable hat, white scarf, red-painted fingernails – may look out of place in Gelsenkirchen. But in terms of content, she strikes a chord with many people.

With an approving nod, they accept flyers that the 73-year-old holds under their noses. She is allegedly distributing the leaflets on behalf of an acquaintance who sits on the Gelsenkirchen city council for the AfD.

“Our country first!” and “We stand by your side” are the simple but memorable messages on the information sheet. Next to them are the well-known faces of the AfD, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. The two politicians rail against the “wave of price increases” for food, fuel and energy. And they present an “immediate program to combat the price explosion”.

This is well received by people, especially those who have to watch every penny.

Karin stresses that she herself is not a member of the AfD. Nevertheless, she distributes the flyers out of conviction. “I do this because I am afraid for our country,” says the pensioner. The federal government should not just “push everything” onto those who come to us, the woman complains. It should “think of us German citizens too.”

The lady fails to mention that politicians have put together relief packages worth billions for all citizens with which they hope to cushion the effects of the price explosion. This obviously does not fit into her worldview.

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Instead, she complains that in Rotthausen she sometimes feels “like she’s abroad”. That makes her “scared”. Many people she has spoken to see it the same way.

In the Gelsenkirchen city council election in September 2020, the AfD received 12.9 percent and entered parliament with 11 members. Only the SPD and CDU have more MPs.

However, the vast majority of Gelsenkirchen residents do not want to leave the field to the right-wing forces when it comes to making the city more livable and taking people along with them, even in difficult times.

Sabine Wiesweg has been working at the Caritas Association Gelsenkirchen for 20 years. She currently leads the team in the southern quarter, very close to the main train station.

The 53-year-old knows that Gelsenkirchen is attractive to many people “who don’t have much money”. They are attracted by low rents and are looking for “the supposedly many jobs that in reality don’t exist”. Quite a few people who come here with the wrong ideas end up with aid organizations like Caritas sooner or later.

Sabine Wiesweg reports that many foreigners and migrants are asking for support, but also Germans who simply can no longer cope.

The issues are always the same. Trouble with the landlord or the electricity provider, financial difficulties, debts, worries about the children, health problems. More and more people don’t know how they are going to pay for everything when everything is getting more and more expensive.

“We feel the fears very strongly,” says Sabine Wiesweg. “There have already been price increases. Many people have noticed that things are getting tight. And they know that there is more to come. This is putting a lot of pressure on them. They are desperate and are becoming restless.”

Anyone with a low income is affected, says the Caritas manager. Long-term unemployed people, pensioners, single parents, students. Even people with low wages who are just above Hartz IV level (now called citizen’s allowance) and who receive little or no subsidies are in trouble. “They have to cope with the significantly increased costs all by themselves. And they don’t know how.”

The situation of these groups is the same everywhere in Germany. “But in Gelsenkirchen, problem cases are more common than anywhere else,” says Wiesweg. Unfortunately, Caritas can only support people in need with advice and moral support. “We are in a very poor diocese here. There are no means of helping those in need. We are just about getting by ourselves.”

At least the organization can bring some Christmas joy to some poor people in Gelsenkirchen. In front of the Caritas branch at the main train station there is a fir tree with many wish lists from people in need hanging on it. Anyone walking by can take a piece of paper, fulfill the wish and bring it back as a gift. They are small things, but when you read the wishes you can imagine how happy the poor people in Gelsenkirchen would be.

Marion, 66 years old, wants a wool blanket. Fatma, 68, wants a handheld vacuum cleaner. Engelbert would like some Christmas decorations. He is 83 years old.

The city of Gelsenkirchen also has a wish. It concerns its old debts. The municipality is currently plagued by liabilities amounting to 1.55 billion euros. It would take more than 50 years to pay off the sum in full, assuming no new debts are added. A heavy burden.

“For many years we have been calling for a regulation of old debts, which has been announced several times but has not yet been implemented,” complains city spokesman Martin Schulmann.

“Unfortunately, the fact is that, even with the best will in the world, there can be no talk of adequate financial resources for the municipalities as long as the issue of old debts is not resolved.” According to the city spokesman, “the state and federal governments have a duty.”

Despite the dire financial situation, Gelsenkirchen is investing around 58 million euros in new projects this year. The city has launched the largest school building program in 40 years. “Education is a key task in order to position the city well for the future and to escape the spiral of poverty,” says city spokesman Schulmann.

He stresses: “Gelsenkirchen is one of the few and probably the first municipality to have connected all schools to the fast digital fiber optic network and to have purchased a tablet for every pupil.” 26,800 devices with keyboard, pen and case were handed over to the schools. They lend the tablets to the children and young people. The money for the mobile computers – around 13.5 million euros – came from funding programs.

A ray of hope. And an unmistakable sign that Gelsenkirchen is on the way to a better future. Starting with children and young people, who will soon determine the development of the city. So the direction is right. Even if it will take a lot of patience to see lasting success.

The city and its people deserve not to be seen as eternal losers, left behind and without opportunities. Gelsenkirchen has potential, say experts.

Today, you can already find modern technology centers, a science park and the “Westphalian University” where around 7,700 young men and women study. Many innovative companies as well as small and medium-sized businesses shape the economy. Gelsenkirchen has made a name for itself as a service center and logistics location.

Cultural institutions, events, impressive industrial monuments, lots of green space for leisure and recreation, and of course the local football heroes of Schalke 04 – it doesn’t look so bad here after all.

The best thing is the people. People like Sabine Wiesweg from Caritas. She reacts “combatively” to every negative study and media report about Gelsenkirchen, says the helper.

She is moving forward with a now-more-than-ever mentality, looking for funding and finding solutions together with other committed people. She says: “I am optimistic that we can still make a difference in Gelsenkirchen. I notice that we are coming closer together, especially in difficult times. We want to tackle things together, we want to achieve something together.”

A hopeful motto that describes Gelsenkirchen’s future prospects can currently be found on information signs for parking spaces in the city center.

It says: “Everything will be fine!”