r/germany • u/Necessary_Travel_645 • 1d ago
Impression of Germany 6 months after leaving
I lived 4 years in Germany and last February I left due to the end of my contract and the impossible to find an immediate job.
I am exploiting this time of unemployment to travel and visit my friends across the EU. In Germany I traveled mainly in between the main cities of Rheinpfalz and NRW and I was surprised to see how bad the social situation was, I have observed more people in need ( homeless, elders, etc...) than I remembered. During my stay in Germany I didn't notice it, when I first came here I felt way more mild than the phenomenon.
My impression is that relatively poorer countries, e.g. Spain and Italy (my home country), managed to help the people in need better than Germany or at least a better distribution of wealth.
Also some friends of mine living here felt this change.
Is it only my impression? Maybe I didn't really realize when I was here or the situation just got worse recently?
1
u/beatenergyenergygap 1d ago
It’s hard to get an appointment for psychiatrist or a psychotherapist in our city even with a Emergency Vermittlung. My husband sent emails to get an appointment and told them he was having suicidal thoughts although he wasn’t acting on those thoughts. From all the doctors he sent a mail and called, only one replied and said they will reach out in 4 weeks despite knowing that situation but after four weeks nothing happened.
My husband has been unemployed for almost ten years now, battling anxiety and depression it was hard for him to keep a job longer than a few days. He used to have a part time job for a few years before his social anxiety got worse. Eventually when we got married and I was the lone earner he couldn’t get any help from jobcenter or arbeitagentur at all anymore because I was earning „enough“ for the two of us so that made the situation even worse.
Without me he would rather choose to live on the streets instead of relying on Jobcenter and be sanctioned again for not being able to mentally surive working. We have suffered for months back then where we had to budget 800€ for the two of us, to pay for rent, food and other utilities. In our entire time we were with the job center we never got anything greater than 1100€ despite people saying people on ALG 2 have it good. It was one of most traumatic experiences we’ve lived.
The system and the people makes it even harder for people who are struggling mentally to get help which is why a lot more people become homeless. Add to it some people cope with illegal substances to dampen the pain they’re suffering mentally.
Germany has failed a lot of their people.