"Dirty hole" - an English fan who arrived for the European Football Championship in Germany had called the city this way in his video. He later apologized and praised the "great people" in the city, but the world had already seen the footage of a city in West Germany with piles of garbage, abandoned and dilapidated buildings - in short - from the slum of Germany.
Every fourth person in Gelsenkirchen who has a job also receives state benefits due to their low income. This is not surprising, given that the average annual income in the city is below 18,000 euros, the lowest in all of Germany, and the unemployment rate of over 14% is the highest.
From the city of the German economic miracle to a slum
This is a city where increasingly disillusioned voters who previously always voted for the labor party - the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) - are now casting their votes for the “Alternative for Germany“ (AfD). In the last Bundestag elections, the far-right party won the most votes - a total of 24.7% of Gelsenkirchen voters voted for it. Along with Kaiserslautern, Gelsenkirchen is the only city in the old western states where the AfD won the most votes cast for party lists.
In its history, Gelsenkirchen has seen both rise and fall. The city's heyday during the years of the German economic miracle (1950s and 1960s) was linked to coal mining in the Ruhr area. At that time, the city attracted many guest workers from Poland, Italy and Turkey and quickly became one of the most important coal mining centers in Europe. In the early 1960s, the city had about 400,000 inhabitants, but in the course of structural reform and the gradual abandonment of coal mining, the population fell to 258,000 people. In 2008, the last mine "Westerholt" in Gelsenkirchen was closed. At that time, the city also lost half of its jobs, says the mayor of Gelsenkirchen, Karin Welge. Like many other German cities with a similar history, Gelsenkirchen's financial situation is dramatic.
This is a serious problem for the city authorities, because investment is desperately needed precisely where things are declining and crumbling,“ says Karin Welge. When she took office as a city councilor in 2011, the city authorities had 17-18 million euros to invest in the city's development. Today, the money is not enough for anything. “Not a single new school has been built in Gelsenkirchen since the 1970s,“ says the mayor.
“Alternative for Germany“ is taking advantage of the city's problems
Welge formulates the city's three main problems as follows: 80,000 jobs lost, no new jobs created in their place and almost no funds for education. "After the EU's eastward expansion in 2007, many people from Bulgaria and Romania arrived in Gelsenkirchen with low education, and their integration has been a complete failure," says Mayor Welge.
The times when the German Social Democrats represented the interests of miners and won 60% of the votes in the city are over. The far-right populists from the "Alternative for Germany" are now taking advantage of the crisis.
Welge, who is herself a member of the SPD, commented: "People say that this is no longer their city, that they no longer feel at home here. The formula that characterized the city for many years, namely that it is a center of immigrants with successful integration, is no longer valid. And this is an invitation to radical forces who say: "There is no normal pension for you, and these "migrants" here we are being robbed“.
From „No go“ to „To go“: the creative district „Bochumer Strasse“
On „Bochumer Strasse“ in the Ueckendorf district, these stereotypes are being successfully fought. Until recently, this part of Gelsenkirchen was considered an absolute No go zone - an extremely run-down area with high gang crime and a dwindling population. But if you walk along „Bochumer Strasse“ today, you will be left with the feeling that you have found yourself in a modern district of Berlin with pleasant cafes, galleries and a church that has been transformed into a place for events and meetings.
Many people have volunteered to help breathe new life into the district, and money has also come from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. "For decades, there was a very strong sense of resignation here. People had the feeling that nothing was being done, that the city was in ruins. If only from a psychological point of view, it is very important for people to see that something is happening," Frank Eckardt told DW. For the Gelsenkirchen-born lecturer, this is just the beginning: "We are still far from the point where people will ask themselves why they should leave Gelsenkirchen, because it is a good place to live."