#053kids

In the supposedly rich industrial country of Germany, one in five children lives in poverty. In districts like Duisburg-Hochfeld it is more than every second minor.

This is a long-term documentary about teenage life, social injustice and questions about own identity and belonging. The kids I photograph often don’t know their parents’ home country and nor do they feel accepted in Germany, so they use the digits 053 from the postcode of Duisburg-Hochfeld for identification instead. These are the #053kids.

You see as many Germany flags in Hochfled as Antifa-graffiti. It is often unclear whether the flags are hung by migrants as a deliberate sign of the will to integrate, or by the last remaining „real“ Germans as a sign of demarcation. Many of the teenagers have a German passport, speak local dialect but do not see themselves as German. For them thes are the old people who hang out at the kiosks every day and struggle with the decline of the district just as much as the young people struggle with the lack of prospects.

Hochfeld has a population of 18,000 and the highest number of people with migration background of all Duisburg districts and at the same time the highest number of children, 93% of those under 18 are from immigrant families. It has always been seen as a „place of arrival“. Previously dominated by Turkish and Albanian residents, it has also become a settlement focus for immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria in recent years. Especially Roma, who now make up more than 15% of Hochfeld‘s population. Often the new arriving immigrants are exploited

and forced into unworthy living conditions. When five siblings have to share one room, even contact restrictions and curfews are hard to implement. So the young people spend a lot of time in the parks and streets of the city. In a milieu that is dominated by drugs, prostitution and daily violence.

17-year-old Apo describes their lack of opportunities like this: „We used to be known all over Germany for steel and football. Steel is no more and the local club plays in the third league. But Hochfeld is now the worst district in all of Germany. That‘s the only thing we‘re still the best at.“

The feeling of being left behind existed in Hochfeld long before the pandemic. But the restrictions have exacerbated the disadvantage, especially for young people. Many consequences will only become visible in the coming months and years.