Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt battles a downtown drug scene
ANYONE travelling to Frankfurt may be surprised at their first glimpse of the city. Or the smell.
That is, if you arrive by train. Because the station district, Bahnhofsviertel, shows the dark side of Frankfurt. It is where drug users shoot up on house doorsteps, undefinable stains smear the pavements and brothels bathe the alleyways with a red glow. It chimes with Frankfurt’s title as the city with the highest crime rate in Germany.
But just a few blocks away, it is a city of the rich. Gleaming skyscrapers, bankers in suits and expensive restaurants give the city its nickname, Mainhattan, a play on the river Main and the skyscrapers. It is not only Germany’s hotspot of millionaires but also home to the European Central Bank, one of Europe’s biggest stock exchanges and the headquarters of major banks and insurance companies.
Yet, it was Frankfurt’s notorious reputation for drugs that gained attention in the run-up to the monthlong European football championship that starts here Jun 14. Some 100,000 additional overnight stays are expected, around half of which will come from abroad.
After the official event guide described the Bahnhofsviertel as an “especially appealing choice” for fans to stay, British tabloids warned of “the worst slum in Germany”. An exaggeration perhaps, but that optimistic wording has since been removed.
“What many people find problematic are the people you see there who are obviously drug addicts and who simply look terrible,” said Annette Rinn, City Councilor for Order, Safety and Fire Protection. “But you can’t forbid them from being there, because public space is public space.”
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
The Bahnhofsviertel, the city’s least populous district at some 3,600 residents, was not always known for crime and drugs. In the early 1900s, its streets were reserved for the upper class before losing their status after the World War II. Nightlife and the red light district flourished in the area – which suffered little damage – while serving American troops that occupied the city.
Some 200 listed or historic buildings from that era remain, now juxtaposed against the district’s current state.
One of them is Dennis Thomas’ office. He is a fifth-generation manager of the property firm JC Junior’sche Liegenschaftsverwaltung, based in a former hotel built by his great-great-grandfather in 1903. Today it is harder to find tenants for the office spaces in the building than anywhere else in the city.
“Things have simply gotten massively worse in recent years. We sometimes had 30 to 40 people dealing and consuming in front of the entrances to the buildings,” said Thomas, who has since hired private security guards. “There were a few tenants who actually left us due to the deteriorating situation.” Women especially felt uncomfortable coming to work.
Rents and property values have also lagged. Since 2019, apartment prices in Bahnhofsviertel rose only 5.1 per cent, compared with an 11.4 per cent gain citywide, according to data from Immobilienscout.
Just five years ago, the trajectory was different as the Bahnhofsviertel reinvented itself. A mix of iconic kiosks and hip restaurants, such as the chic pastrami bar Maxie Eisen, lured more of the banking world, young partygoers and tourists. Property owners hoped the district could finally shed its past.
Then the pandemic hit. As everyone isolated indoors, the homeless stayed on the streets. Hopes of revival faded. Crime rose, Maxie Eisen disappeared and the drug scene became more visible.
Today, bankers who once frequented bars in the Bahnhofsviertel to celebrate are largely avoiding the area.
Simply clearing dealers away from the front of the train station to another part of the district would not solve the problem, but would at least make tourists’ arrival more appealing. But such a step is a “century project”, Rinn said.
“The Bahnhofsviertel is the gateway to the city, so this is the first thing you see when you come out,” said Rinn. “There are an insane number of jobs there. And of course we don’t want people to be afraid to walk to work. There are incredibly great restaurants, where customers shouldn’t be afraid when they sit out there.”
To shed its reputation with international visitors, the city is cleaning up. Ahead of the championship, police are being added to the area, while colourful guidelines have been painted on the street.
Other efforts came independent of the championship. A new weapons-free zone has led to some 65 misdemeanour proceedings since November, and surveillance cameras have helped to identify more than 250 suspects this year, said a spokesperson for the city police.
Three new public toilets are on the way to help keep streets cleaner. Overall, the city spends around 13.5 million euros (S$19.8 million) a year serving drug addicts and related facilities.
The question remains why Frankfurt, a regulatory and financial stronghold, struggles to beat its drug problem in the first place.
The city adopted a pragmatic drug policy, known as “the Frankfurt Way”, after pressure from rising drug-related HIV infections in the 1980s. It includes the controlled distribution of heroin to the worst addicts, clean injection centres with sterile needles, as well as Methadone substitutes.
It succeeded in reducing drug-related deaths. The number quickly fell from 147 in 1991 to around 20 to 30 per year and has remained around this level ever since – contrary to the trend in Germany, according to Elke Voitl, City Councilor for Health and Social Affairs.
But now crack cocaine is becoming more prevalent. Unlike heroin, it leads to more aggressive behaviour, and the addiction is more difficult to treat.
While Frankfurt’s drug scene has remained stable at about 3,300 users in recent years, it has become more conspicuous because of the “extreme dynamics of crack use”, said Artur Schroers, the head of Frankfurt’s Drugs Department. “Help that has worked very well for heroin addicts for years needs to be adapted to the dynamics of crack use.”
Frankfurt’s humane approach attracts addicts from around the country. Fewer than half of people in the supervised injection sites are local, according to the most recent report. City leaders are lobbying their peers elsewhere to adopt similar policies to ease the strain in Frankfurt.
The influx of users brings crime, with narcotics offences jumping 26 per cent last year. And the Bahnhofsviertel is particularly striking. Despite being one of the smallest districts, it represents half of the city’s street robberies, according to police statistics.
“The basic problem is the huge amount of illegal drugs on our streets,” said Voitl. “The social sector cannot and must not be instrumentalised to correct regulatory policy mistakes. Fight the drug cartels, not the addicts.”
Despite the challenges, many locals hope for improvement, long after the football fans have left.
Nestle Deutschland is set to move its German headquarters to Bahnhofsviertel in September. They “know the challenges of the neighbourhood”, but look forward to sitting in “the centre of society”, said Anita Wälz, director for sustainability and corporate communications. And while Maxie Eisen has closed, the owners still operate another event venue, Stanley Diamond.
“We want it to be upgraded and feel like a charming district,” said Thomas, the property manager. “I think the city has finally understood that.” BLOOMBERG
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
