Germany and Beggars

I went to a wine-fest last night.  You have to exit the bus in the general area of the fest (Wiesbaden) and there's this 200-ft path to the entrance.  So here along this path.....a immigrant beggar had positioned himself and waited for 'donations'. The 'donations' never come.  I paused at the first booth and had a glass of wine, and continually glanced over at the guy and his effort.  Probably over 300 people passed in the next twenty minutes, and no one made any donation efforts.

On my first tour of Germany in 1978....it was virtually impossible to find beggars on the street.  Maybe over an entire year of walking around Frankfurt, at least near the train-station, you might have found a couple of guys engaged in the begging business.  It was rare.

Since 1990s, there's been this growth pattern, and I would suggest over the past five years.....it's more or less doubled.  You can walk around Frankfurt, Wiesbaden or Mainz on any given day.....finding literally dozens of folks.  I'm not even talking about street musicians (which tend to occur a fair bit as you enter the holiday season).  This is strictly a guy or gal standing there.....obviously not a German, and into the begging activity.

Cops don't say anything, and I don't think the city leadership (of any town) wants to do anything to be be perceived as anti-immigrant.  The problem I see is that the guy or gal is already on some type of assistance-pay situation with the government, and this begging isn't needed.  Oh, the guy or gal is unhappy with the amount of money that they are being given.....there's no doubt about that.  But the whole intent is that you go to the Arbeitsamt Job-Center, get a job, and raise your position in life.

German typical perception of beggars?  In a normal year, I'll witness maybe two or three Germans who put a couple of coins into the 'cups' of the beggars.....more so women-beggars than men-beggars.  No one takes statistics on this but if you just walk around on a typical work-day in the shopping district, it's a ratio of 95-percent non-German, and probably near three-quarters male in nature.

I would suggest that the typical German just isn't that keen on handing money to a street beggar.  If you engage upon this, the typical or normal response would be that if they are at a loss on money to live....you merely go to the local city Social-Help office, and present yourself.  Course, then they will take you over to the Job-Center, and start your review for a position (perhaps as a burger-flipper, or grocery stock-guy).

At some point, I expect German towns and cities to put into effect, some type of 'license' to beg, and force you to register with the local Social-Help office to get the beggar-license.