[Leica] photographing the homeless "smug Europeans"

[pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig)]

Sounds pretty mich the same as back home in blighty Douglas,

Peter

Douglas Sharp wrote:
>  From a Brit who has been living in what is/was probably the smuggest 
> European country (Germany) for over 30 years Larry,
> homeless and particularly the homeless or unemployed with an alcohol or 
> drug problem are a common sight in most German cities. And if you don't 
> actually see them, there are enough reports of them being beaten up by 
> neo-nazis and young German-Russian immigrants - two cases alone last 
> week in Hannover.
> Much is done here in the way of giving them a bed at night - if they 
> accept it, and quite a few don't on the grounds that what little they 
> have is often stolen by their bed-neighbours. Similarly there are 
> organisations offering free meals, a bath and medical/dental facilities 
> too (Salvation Army, Samaritans etc.) In the same way much is being done 
> on the drug addiction front - controlled methadone dosage, clean 
> needles, hygienic "fix-rooms" and Hannover planned the free and 
> controlled provision of heroin - cheaper and with less detrimental 
> side-effects than methadone, Federal Government has now scrapped this 
> plan in the course of cost reductions.
> 
> Similar to the magazine "Big Issue" (UK), there is a magazine project 
> here called "Asphalt" which attempts to get them back into an "ordered" 
> life. They sell the magazine and get a proportion of the proceeds, the 
> magazine publishers organize various measures for reintegration of their 
> sellers.
> 
> Although homelessness is a big problem here, the situation will get even 
> worse over the next few years, rising unemployment (at present over 4 
> million unemployed) cut-backs in unemployment  and social security 
> payments mean that more and more people will be ending up on the 
> streets. The main reasons given by the homeless themselves are - in 
> order  of significance - poverty after becoming unemployed - divorce  
> (alimony payments, supporting children) - deaths in the family - release 
> from imprisonment and most of these also in conjunction with 
> accompaniment of alcohol or drug abuse.
> 
> The police here do tend to keep the "Penners" out of the main shopping 
> areas and public transport  by quietly requesting them to move along:  
> In earlier years there were a couple of cases of police transporting 
> them to the city limits (e.g. in Frankfurt) until two men froze to death 
> in mid-winter, that soon stopped it.
> Begging as such is not forbidden here, "Have you got a Euro?"  is common 
> in all railway stations and city centres, but aggressive begging is 
> considered to be on a par with assault, and arrests are common.
> 
> The general public and shopkeepers tend to more or less ignore them as 
> long as the aren't making trouble, in a country where becoming 
> unemployed no longer has its social stigma it is certainly a case of 
> "There, but for the grace of God - Go I", people are too worried about 
> their own situation to look down on them from the heights they used to. 
> It has become noticeable over the last 15 or 20 years how many stores, 
> restaurants, public transport operators etc. now employ security 
> personnel to stop the homeless entering their premises to get warm.
> 
>  From a civilized country
> Douglas
> 
> 
> 
> larry.k@rcn.com wrote:
>>  
>>
>>   So, what do the smug Europeans say on this subject? Do they have any 
>> answers to the plight of the homeless?
>>  
>>     
> 
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