Life in the Fuggerei: living with mini rents - and with dignity and self-determination

Created: 05/02/2022Updated: 05/02/2022, 11:30 am

By: Catherine Brumbauer

Always a sympathetic ear: social worker Michaela Huber (left) is always on hand to offer help and advice to the residents of the Fuggerei, here Johanna Grünwald.

Sometimes she just comes by for a chat.

© Annette Zoepf

The Augsburg Fuggerei has been a place of solidarity for its residents for 500 years.

It is the oldest social settlement in the world.

150 needy people live there - for 88 cents cold rent per year.

Augsburg

– Johanna Grünwald is sitting in her armchair with the soft red cushion.

In her hand she holds a book.

The 67-year-old loves to read.

Always has.

She's happy when she can browse in the living room of her small Fuggerei apartment.

Although she has to pick up a special magnifying glass to decipher the lines.

Twelve years ago she became seriously ill with herpes zoster.

The virus attacked her eyes.

Since then she has only had ten percent vision.

She lost her job as a nurse and could no longer pay for her apartment.

Johanna Grünwald is very religious, she says: “I am firmly convinced that God then directed me to the Fuggerei.

Here I could live in dignity again.”

She found support in the community of the Augsburg social settlement.

In December 2013 she moved into her barrier-free ground floor apartment in the ocher cottage - three years after she had applied for one of the coveted places in the development.

You have to meet three conditions in order to get a chance at a Fuggerei apartment: You have to be Catholic, needy and from Augsburg.

In the approximately 60 square meters behind the green wooden door, Johanna Grünwald has created more than just a home.

She can live there independently again.

She furnished the empty rooms with great attention to detail.

Psalm tablets on the wall and a wooden cross above the door show her deep faith.

A crocheted doily adorns your glass table in the living room.

There is always a bowl of nibbles on it.

If visitors come.

The Fuggerei: The needy people of Augsburg can live independently in the small ocher yellow houses.

© dpa

Grünwald sometimes receives it involuntarily.

The Fuggerei is a popular attraction in Augsburg.

Many visitors do not realize that people still live there.

You walk into the houses like in museums.

When Grünwald was cleaning and left the door open, tourists suddenly appeared in her hallway.

When she explained to people that it was her private home, they were uncomfortable.

Grünwald laughs with her neighbors about such incidents.

They are a great support to her.

"If the woman next door doesn't see me for a few days, she'll have someone see what's going on.

The cohesion is unique.”

The first nights in the Fuggerei felt oppressive.

The main gate closes at 10 p.m. every evening.

Residents must pay 50 cents to a night watchman between 10pm and midnight to pass through the gate.

One euro is due by 4:30 a.m.

Grünwald has to think twice about staying out longer in the evenings.

At first the senior felt trapped.

"But actually we are only protected."

In gratitude for this protection, Grünwald prays for the Fuggerei employees every day.

A Lord's Prayer, Ave Maria and a daily creed have been part of the rent since Jakob Fugger founded the council estate in 1521.

For one Rhenish guilder, the merchant let day laborers and craftsmen live in his settlement.

In return, his tenants should seek divine assistance for him and his family.

This commandment still applies today.

Every apartment is still adorned with a picture by Jakob Fugger.

Of course, it is no longer checked whether the residents pray every day.

For Grünwald it goes without saying.

Always on hand: carpenter Arndt Baumann (right) immediately repairs everything that needs repairing.

© Annette Zoepf

She is particularly grateful to the social workers Doris Herzog and Michaela Huber.

They help at any time when the needy have to apply for a nursing degree or financial benefits.

That morning, Huber only rings to chat.

"We're there when the residents need someone to talk to," she explains.

Housing carpenter Arndt Baumann is also always on hand.

As he cycles by, Grünwald asks him to fix her mailbox.

In the workshop they discuss the order and chat.

The Fuggerei residents can also talk at the weekly breakfast together.

Or they go to Ilona Barber.

She sells tickets for tourists at the cash desk.

Barber grew up in a circus.

Later her love was music.

She toured with bands in the 1970s and saw a lot of the world.

After her return to Germany, the now 72-year-old received little pension.

In 2014 she received a place in the Fuggerei.

I pray that the donors will continue their work for a long time

Johanna Grünwald, resident of the Fuggerei

There the tenants pay a symbolic cold rent of 88 cents a year.

But the exploding energy prices caused by the war are hitting the additional costs for heating and electricity.

"That's a big problem, even if we heat with wood pellets and are connected to the city's district heating network," explains Astrid Gabler, spokeswoman for the Fugger Foundation.

The settlement administrators calculate the additional costs monthly so that the large total sum is not due at the end of the year.

Donors want to position the Fuggerei for the future.

New Fuggerei are to be created.

"Munich could also use a social housing estate like this."

The founders want to preserve the Fuggerei and prepare it for the future.

"The goal is to take the idea of ​​the Fuggerei out into the world and thus inspire new donors," says Alexander Graf Fugger-Babenhausen.

He is the chairman of the Fugger family senior council, which runs the foundation.

To mark the 500th anniversary, several donors have announced "Fuggereien of the future".

In Lithuania, a facility is being set up to combat poverty in old age and the lack of nursing care.

In Sierra Leone, young women in a fishing village are to receive educational opportunities and health care.

"Munich could use a social settlement, too," Gabler suggests.

Rents in the state capital are becoming more and more expensive.

"We notice that because so many people from Munich move to Augsburg and commute."

Discuss in May on the town hall square.

The events there will be the highlight of the anniversary.

In August 2021, when the Fuggerei actually had its 500th birthday, major celebrations were canceled due to Corona.

Johanna Grünwald will be following the future Fuggerei projects with excitement.

"I pray that the donors will continue their work for a long time to come." She enjoys her peace and quiet in a small garden behind her apartment.

"The sun shines until evening." Or she sits back in her favorite chair with a book.