For a long time, the Ruhr region was considered the melting pot of Germany and the “heart of social democracy”. Today, however, many things stand in the way of a peaceful coexistence: poverty-driven migration and clan criminality are causing controversy. Social and cultural tensions create rifts in society. Nowhere else in the West have so many people voted for AfD in the European elections as in Gelsenkirchen. At the same time, it is hard to find yet another region in Germany with a coexistence as a matter of course.
What role did immigration play for the Ruhr region – and does it still play today? Is the cliché of the “melting pot” true? Under what conditions did coexistence in the Ruhr region work in the past and what has changed today?
WRITER & DIRECTOR: Katja Nellissen EDITOR: Igor Garbuzenko CAMERA: Samir Saad COMMISSIONING EDITOR: Natalie Zinkand
