Thousands of poor Bulgarians and Romanians, mostly Roma, settled in cities like Dortmund and Duisburg because social benefits provide them with a better life than in their homeland, writes the magazine “Spiegel“ in an extensive report.
The report is titled “Hagen in the Ruhr area - where nothing is wrong”, but the publication examines the topic in a much broader context, noting that globalization in the Ruhr area was felt mainly in 2014, when restrictions on the German labor market for citizens of Bulgaria and Romania were lifted. At that time, white vans would arrive in the region, and people would get out of them with suitcases or plastic bags, but without jobs, writes the magazine “Spiegel“.
A great European idea
The freedom to be able to work wherever you want is a great European idea, the media commented: open access to the labor market, equal rights for all. Which, however, also means access to the social system. To use this in Germany, EU citizens only have to prove that they have a job (minimum employment, the so-called “Minijob“, in which social security contributions are not paid, is also sufficient). In this case, not only the worker, but also his entire family is entitled to social benefits, specifies “Spiegel“.
And people started moving from the poor Southeast to the richer Central Europe. Romanians and Bulgarians, many of whom are Roma, stigmatized and discriminated against in their home countries, have headed to Germany. They settled in cities such as Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Dortmund. Or in Hagen - a city in the Ruhr area with 190,000 inhabitants, in which jobs are scarce anyway, especially for people with low education, the publication also says.
But there was and still is cheap housing here - empty houses that were abandoned, old and crumbling. So neglected that they would have no chance of finding tenants on the normal housing market. However, the new tenants do not have high requirements, writes “Spiegel“ and offers statistics: in 2023, about 26,000 people from Bulgaria and Romania lived in Duisburg, 12,000 in Dortmund, and in Gelsenkirchen - 11,000. At the end of last year, there were 4,800 Romanians and 2,300 Bulgarians in Hagen, who together make up about three and a half percent of the city's population.
Could this be a problem, the publication asks. Maybe, if you ask the politicians, the answer is. According to them, there are entire regions and neighborhoods in the Ruhr area where social peace is threatened. They have long warned that there the free movement of labor is manifested primarily as "poverty immigration" or "social system immigration" - a diagnosis that applies with full force to some areas of the Ruhr area.
Further on in its report, "Spiegel" tells about the municipal working group established in Hagen, dealing with problem properties and their residents. It consists of representatives of the fire department, the police, the building inspectorate, the environmental and order office, the labor office and the energy supplier in Hagen. And what these people witness during their visits to the problem apartments is indicative of the entire misery of this part of the city's residents: rooms full of garbage, mold or pests, flood damage, electricity theft. In addition: residents without address registration or children who do not go to school. And they are especially often faced with suspicions of welfare fraud.
In mailboxes, the officers regularly find piles of unopened letters - for unpaid bills, reminder letters, mail from various debt collection agencies or from lawyers, the district court and the energy supplier. In another case, a building with four apartments was seen, in which a total of 108 people were registered. But there was no trace of them. For the investigators, this is almost certainly a case of welfare fraud.
Bad for Hagen, good for the “Alternative for Germany“
Wherever there is a risk of losing control, the populists win, “Spiegel“ continues. This is clearly visible, for example, in Gelsenkirchen, another city in the Ruhr area, which, like Hagen, had an unusually high number of cheap vacant homes. There, “Alternative for Germany“ (AfG) became the first political force after the last Bundestag elections - a real novelty for a region of Germany that has been considered a stronghold of the Social Democrats for decades. At the time, Gelsenkirchen's representative in the Bundestag, elected on the Social Democratic Party ticket, said that “the main problem in the Ruhr area is immigration“.
In the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia last weekend, the AfD tripled its results, and in three cities the party's mayoral candidates are going to a runoff - in Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Hagen. These three cities, plus Dortmund, also in the Ruhr area, have become centers of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, points out “Spiegel“.
Only the schools are flourishing
Twenty years ago, hardly anyone would have dared to predict today's school boom in Hagen. Until 2010, demographic forecasts for the city pointed in only one direction: downwards. Jobs disappeared, and with them the prospects. And many left the city. Then Bulgarians and Romanians moved into their empty houses. Prices in Hagen were then among the lowest in the Ruhr area - about five euros per square meter of living space. Today, the city is unable to meet the growing need for new schools and kindergartens for the newcomers. In the past ten years, 37 kindergartens and five schools have been built or expanded. But even that is not enough: 250 children currently live in Hagen who cannot go to school because there is no room for them, Martina Sodemann, municipal officer for youth, social policy, education, integration and culture, told “Spiegel“.
In one of the new primary schools in the city, over 98 percent of the students have foreign roots. 40 percent of all residents of Hagen have a migrant background, and among those under 18, the figure is as high as 60 percent. According to Sodemann, 23 percent of Hagen residents do not have a German passport, and in this group, Romanians come in third place, and Bulgarians – seventh.
However, they continue to flock to a city that five years ago had one of the lowest average incomes in North Rhine-Westphalia - 17,200 euros gross. But seen from Bulgaria's perspective, this economically weak region of Germany looks significantly better, the German publication summarizes.
„With three or more children, it's no longer worth working“
How attractive the German social system is for these people is clear from the following examples, „Spiegel“ writes further. In Germany, anyone who lives alone and cannot support themselves on their own income is entitled to 563 euros in social assistance, and couples - 506 euros each. These standard amounts are the same for everyone.
Then: for children, between 357 and 471 euros in social assistance are received - depending on age. Those who are unemployed or have only minimal employment also have their rent paid, including utility and heating costs. Part of the income from work is deducted from social benefits. A family with three children under 14 can receive around 2,200 euros per month from the employment office, to which housing costs of around 1,150 euros are added. This makes a total of 3,350 euros.
This is something that municipal officials in Hagen often hear: that with three or more children, it is no longer worth it for some people to work full-time or at all. Apparently, the standard amount of benefits, intended to help people living on the edge of the subsistence minimum, is perfectly acceptable as a permanent solution for people who come from absolute poverty in Southeast Europe, points out “Spiegel“.
Some of the new recipients of social benefits themselves are involved in a fraudulent scheme in which people behind the scenes collect part of the payments. The employment offices, together with the Federal Employment Agency and the municipalities, investigated around 123,500 suspected cases of abuse of social benefits throughout Germany in 2024. In over 100,000 of these, the suspicions were confirmed. In addition, the Family Fund investigated around 140,000 suspected cases of improper payment of child benefits last year. In over 100,000 of these, an investigation under tax law was launched, "Spiegel" also reported.
“While social benefits in Germany are better than those in Romania or Bulgaria, poverty immigration will not stop“, says the former director of the Social Service in Dortmund, Jörg Süsshard. The free movement of labor for Bulgarians and Romanians is called a “catastrophic European and national decision, the consequences of which are borne by the municipalities“. Moreover, this freedom of movement has already become a “survival model for entire families from Southeast Europe“.
Jobs that Germans no longer want to take up
In February 2025, around 685,000 people from Bulgaria and Romania were employed nationwide in jobs requiring social security contributions. Many of them are in jobs that Germans do not want, such as in the meat processing industry. Without foreign workers, this sector would not be able to function, and schnitzel would be much more expensive for Germans, “Spiegel“ also points out. However, the publication clarifies here that not all immigrants from Southeast Europe should be accused of being exploiters who see the German welfare state only as a source of income.
Without the free movement of workers, Germany would not be able to meet its needs for personnel in many areas. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, 6.6% of those employed in Germany are from other European countries. Thanks to this workforce, companies find people ready to work in sectors for which it is difficult to find candidates on the local labor market. Overall, Germany benefits from the idea of free movement of workers, the “Spiegel“ article also states.
But in Hagen, more than half of Romanians and Bulgarians currently receive money from the labor office. The negative effects of free movement, of migration in general, affect people in the former working-class neighborhoods - in Hagen-Wehringhausen, Gelsenkirchen-Schalke and Duisburg-Marxloh the most. Migration due to poverty does not affect the wealthy suburbs of Hamburg and Munich, “Spiegel“ concludes.