I'm a simple emigrant, and in Frankfurt there is a scandalously famous district

Frankfurt is one of the largest and most expensive cities in Germany, and it’s all the more strange that the gates to the city are submerged in human vices and dirt. I’m talking about the district of the main railway station, the Bahnhofsviertel district. The station building itself is very beautiful, as is the promenade in front of it, and it is located almost in the city center. But I hate being there; usually I want to leave as quickly as possible. I have always wondered how it happened that bankers in suits, worth as much as my apartment’s yearly rent, are dining there, while homeless people and drug addicts bustle nearby. It turns out that initially the station district was conceived as prestigious; around then, a little over a hundred years ago, the station was built, and around it wide streets and beautiful houses. But in World War II it was heavily bombed, and when the city began to rebuild, all resources went to the center and the business districts. The station district ended up abandoned, housing became cheap, and here migrant workers began to move in — first workers from Turkey, Italy and Spain, and then new waves of migrants. By the 1970s the district had become a transportation and commercial hub, and along with that, bars, cheap hotels and various taverns began to sprout. Then came a whole kaleidoscope of prostitution of various kinds, especially after legalization in 2002. All this led to more people who had something to hide coming here, and with them drugs and crime. The city has tried many times to save the district, but each time faced a new problem. In the 1990s, for example, they came up with the “Frankfurt Path”: they opened social centers and zones for safe consumption. But, in my opinion, it produced the Cobra effect: they give away for free and in a civilized way what drug addicts so desperately try to obtain; of course, this attracted addicts from all over Europe. To be fair, crime did indeed decrease. But this district cannot be called God-forsaken; there are still very different people living here, including families with children, well-off people, married couples, and a lot of young people. Here live about 3,000 people from 170 different nationalities — can you imagine that in one small district? There are also many cafes and restaurants here, and a legendary kiosk that sells 230 varieties of beer. We used to go there very often. All in all, a strange place, and this strangeness has earned it its own unique fame, in my view not very good, but still. It’s even interesting what will happen to it in five to ten years. In the photo, the Station District festival. #frankfurt #history