Steffi Kim and Falk Schacht talk to guests about what it feels like to grow up poor in an affluent Germany.
Photo: N-Joy
You do not talk about money. Communications consultant Steffi Kim and music journalist Falk Schacht had been friends for 17 years when they realized that although they both grew up in poverty, they had never said a word about it. So on October 17th, Poverty Day, they started the podcast “Poor & Still”. They chose the title based on the motto: “We were poor and yet we talk about it.”
According to the General Parity Association, 14.1 million people in Germany lived in poverty or were at risk of it in 2021, the equivalent of one in six. The Federal Statistical Office even gives a higher number, almost 17.3 million people. In 2022 the value was slightly higher.
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Steffi Kim and Falk Schacht bring the numbers to life and go into real life. They ask their guests, all of whom grew up with little money and managed to escape their precarious situation: How does it feel to grow up poor in an affluent Germany? Guests include politician Sarah-Lee Heinrich, beauty influencer Hatice Schmidt, presenter Janin Ullmann, former national soccer player Marcell Jansen and author Olivier David. After each episode, Kim and Schacht reflect on the talk. In the conversations you understand that everyone will probably never let go of the thought of their own poverty.
Each of the five episodes has a different focus. Kim and Schacht talk to their guests about health, politics and education, about violence and aggression and their experiences in childhood. Writer Olivier David cannot remember his recent childhood because he has suppressed it until today. Beauty influencer Hatice Schmidt talks openly about her tough youth in Neukölln. Her best friend was stabbed in a fight in the schoolyard, and at home she slept on blankets instead of in a bed. She didn’t own a doll, her only teddy bear was beheaded by her brother, and her parents forced her to study for a better future. Schmidt knew early on that she wanted a different life and sought refuge.
In 2022, David published his book “No Rise Story: Why Poverty Makes You Mentally Ill.” His mother struggled through life as a single parent. Suspecting she was mentally ill, she didn’t go to the doctor because she was afraid of losing her children. David began therapy for depression and panic attacks. Poverty per se causes stress, which leads to psychological problems, says David. He doesn’t demand a public debate about concern, but rather “opportunities and dough” so that people can find their way out of poverty.
“Poor & Still” is not a pity talk; instead, the respective guests and the presenter duo try to understand what they experienced back then. You analyze situations from the past and present, find similarities and differences. Marcell Jansen, now president of Hamburger SV, also has his say. His parents shielded Jansen from their poverty. Today he says: “I’ve always been rich.”
What initially sounds contradictory becomes clear over the course of the podcast episode. When Jansen wanted to buy new soccer shoes as a young player, his father explained to him matter-of-factly that it wasn’t the shoe that mattered, “but what’s inside it.” Marcell Jansen later became a national player. Because he had seen how hard his parents had to work, he advocated a holistic health system and ran several medical supply stores in Hamburg.
Sarah Lee Heinrich, herself a Hartz IV recipient, tells us how she learned about the dark side of the Hartz IV laws in her social studies class. She began to get involved politically. Heinrich was federal spokesperson for the Green Youth until October 2023.
In the last episode, Falk Schacht invited a colleague, moderator Janin Ullmann. Ullmann grew up in a GDR prefabricated building. She found support in the hip-hop scene. When she found out about the Viva casting by chance, her life changed suddenly. Schacht remembers sharing a taxi with Ullmann and immediately feeling a connection with her. They didn’t know that they came from similar backgrounds. You can feel this connection in all podcast episodes. you touch.
“Poor & Nevertheless” is available on all common podcast platforms and in the ARD audio library.
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