For a long time the Ruhr region was rich. In the largest industrial region in the centre of Europe there was coal, iron and steel. Important for industrialisation, the defence industry and finally for reconstruction. But at the end of the 1950s, the coal mining industry plunged into a crisis and marked the beginning of the decline.
Much has been done to get the collapsing economy in the Ruhr area back on its feet, but lasting success has failed to materialise. To this day, the Ruhr region still has high unemployment rates, a lot of poverty and highly indebted cities. Why does the structural change not succeed? Why does a region that once represented economic power and wealth now stand for poverty and emigration in the perception of Germans? Can a trend be determined as to how things will develop in the Ruhr region?
WRITER & DIRECTOR: Katja Nellissen EDITOR: Igor Garbuzenko CAMERA: Samir Saad COMMISSIONING EDITOR: Natalie Zinkand
