Focus Duisburg: Left Behind and Forgotten | SPIEGEL TV

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The SPIEGEL TV report sheds light on the situation in several Duisburg neighborhoods that have been grappling for years with structural change, unemployment, and neglected infrastructure. Reporters accompany residents, social workers, and law-enforcement officers to show everyday life in districts such as Marxloh and Hochfeld. Many former industrial plants have disappeared, and the well-paid jobs went with them; what remains are dilapidated apartment blocks, low rents, and a high proportion of people dependent on welfare benefits.

The focus is on families from Southeastern Europe who have come to Duisburg in search of work. They often end up in overcrowded flats without heating or electricity. Children play amid piles of rubbish while parents take odd jobs or collect bottles for deposit money. The city is trying to crack down on landlords who profit from this hardship by means of special task forces, but quickly runs into legal limits.

At the same time, the film highlights initiatives that want to help. Street workers organize homework assistance and outreach social work to offer prospects. Volunteers distribute food, try to arrange German-language courses, and support residents in dealing with the authorities. Despite these efforts, room for maneuver remains limited because staff, money, and long-term concepts are lacking.

The report also provides insight into police work in hotspots. Patrols inspect problem buildings, issue citations for illegal waste disposal, and encounter aggressive alcohol- and drug-dependent individuals. Residents complain of rising crime and feel abandoned. Experts, meanwhile, criticize that a purely law-and-order approach treats the symptoms but offers no solutions for poverty, educational deficits, and the housing shortage.

Finally, the team draws an interim conclusion: Duisburg is struggling with the long-term fallout from the decline of the coal-and-steel industry and from failed integration and social policies. Municipal budgets are chronically overstretched, while federal and state governments point to the need for structural reforms. Many of the people portrayed nevertheless refuse to give up hope—they are pinning their aspirations on better schools, affordable housing, and fair opportunities for the next generation

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