Anyone walking through Berlin will come across people experiencing homelessness. Some have temporary shelter in emergency housing, while others sleep in doorways, on the streets, or on makeshift beds underneath bridges. Berlin has one of Germany’s largest unhoused populations. According to estimates, more than 50,000 people in the city lack permanent housing, and around 6,000 of them live permanently on the streets. The reasons for homelessness vary, from poverty, misfortune, and eviction, to debt, addiction, and criminality. Some try to make ends meet by selling what are known as street newspapers. Others have been living in the same public spaces for years, and are well-known in their neighborhoods, though not always well-liked. This documentary follows Bülent, Daniel and Manni, three men who grew up in Berlin and now find themselves without a home. Six days a week, Bülent sells newspapers outside a shopping center in the city's Moabit district. Everything he owns fits into a rucksack. Because he has no valid papers, he's not entitled to social benefits, so he lives on donations and the money he makes from newspaper sales. Manni, meanwhile, has spent years living in a tent pitched at Helmholtzplatz, a public square in the Prenzlauer Berg district. The park is his home, though city officials repeatedly force him from his camp. Daniel was forcibly evicted from his apartment six years ago. Today, he lives in a subsidized temporary apartment and is politically active in the fight against homelessness. The documentary follows these three men through their daily lives, capturing encounters with people who offer help and with those who turn a blind eye. It tells the stories of three Berliners whose lives have taken very different paths, but who have not given up on their desire for a better future. #documentary #dwdocumentary #dwdocs #berlin #housingcrisis #germany ______ DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch top documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world around you with DW Documentary. Subscribe to: ⮞ DW Documentary (English): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDocumentary ⮞ DW Documental (Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDocumental ⮞ DW Documentary وثائقية دي دبليو (Arabic): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDocarabia ⮞ DW Documentary हिन्दी (Hindi): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDochindi ⮞ DW Dokumenter (Indonesian): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDokumenter ⮞ DW Doku (German): https://www.youtube.com/@DWDoku For more visit: http://www.dw.com/en/tv/docfilm/s-3610 Follow DW Documentary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwdocumentary/ Follow DW Documental on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwdocumental We kindly ask viewers to read and stick to the DW netiquette policy on our channel: https://p.dw.com/p/MF1G
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God bless the people who treat the homeless people with dignity and respect.
Man that life must be so exhausting. I hope everyone featured gets into a better situation I was addicted to drugs for a long time but I was so grateful for me being well enough and it being pretty hard to be homeless in my city in Finland due to our social safety net and the housing situation
Some people need a little help to get by. It's easy to dismiss them since we don't walk a mile in their shoes.
Stop building houses just for profits. Build houses for minimum wage workers too, you built only for the rich!
Take the name Berlin our and you're looking at pretty well any American and Canadian city and town. This problem is universal and will only get worse for obvious reasons, AI, aging populations, etc. Imagine that Berlin is one the most esteemed cities in the world that people from around the world aspire to live in.
How sad. I am shocked people live outside during cripplingly cold winters. Why don't their families help? Or neighbours ? The community ? Religious leaders and charities ? Why doesn't the government help ? Society needs affordable housing and limitations on how much rent a landlord can charge or how often he can increase rent. Housing is a basic human right. Pay politicians less , counter corruption and misuse of tax payers money by local councils. Theres plenty of money - its going into greedy pockets.
It's tragic you are constantly in the shadow people treat you differently not because what you are but your life situation.
The most gut-wrenching part of this documentary is watching human beings become completely invisible in one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. Berlin has billions for corporate bailouts and bureaucracy, but when it comes to a warm bed, mental health support, or a permanent roof for its most vulnerable, the system suddenly runs out of resources
Thank you for such documentary DW!
What a heartwrenching coverage. Don't kick someone down when they're already down. Help them up! That nice older woman who keeps kindness. He even gave what was given to him his pastry food to a hungry other homeless. Compassion! 💙
Maybe Germany should stop investing in refugees and start investing in its people. Send the people hacking who aren't German and or don't align with the German culture and way of life and focus on their own people. Every country around the world should be doing this, build up their own people first and then help. Similar to when a plane is crashing, you don't help everybody around you first, you're always instructed to help yourself, then help others. Saying should be for countries at this point. I'm looking at Canada as a perfect example and probably somewhat to Germany. The average benefits for refugees in this country average 80,000+ a year where the Canadian retiree, especially on low income, gets a fraction of that bike comparison. The systems are broken, especially in the Western world. It's time to shore those up. Bring back the Western Nations proper and led to the balance of these countries around the world. Build themselves up and take care of their people and if a country is having a hard time, the regional countries should be stuffing it and helping. Western kinds might be able to help with certain aid but that's after their own houses in order and their people are taken care of.
I heard the country took in a lot of millions refugees, but Why government can not help these people?
great video, thank you
Private property is false life everywhere,it most waiting for miserable collapse and I don't know bank lords will manage what?They need their life,hierarchy
Germany is so traumatized about WW2, that they opened their doors to millions of '''refugees''' while their own people are homeless. The whole world was responsible for WW2, not just Germany. Then during the Israeli Hamas war, Germany offered EVERY Israeli, EURO, 250, trying to play nice.
Homeless in Germany 🇩🇪
Please continue with your wonderful work in raising awareness about these global problems about humanity.
Bülent is a wonderful person, and homelessness absolutely does not define him. It is something that has been done to him. It isn't his identity. I left Berlin about five months ago, but while I was there, I feel like I did pass by him somewhere (Prenzlauer Berg, maybe?). He looks very familiar to me. But the man I saw wasn't selling magazines. He just said hello and smiled exactly like this man. I walked away quickly because he was smoking (and I am extremely sensitive to cigarettes and other smells). If it was him, I feel ashamed for hurrying away due to the cigarette. I wish I'd just breathed through my mouth and stopped to talk to him.I probably should have done this anyway, whether it was Bülent or not.
Thank you for sharing, much appreciated. 🇨🇦
Im just blessed mum n dad left Germany in 69 n i was born in Sydney nsw where on unempolyment benefits you can live like a half decent human being ( thats if you find your self needing the dole or a distilled pension or even old age one .. Australia dosnt lower or kick you of unempolyment after year year as you get it for life or until you find a job. You can always tell wat a country is like wit how they look after there most venerable. I feel spoilt after watching this