That’s right, Berlin is the capital, the capital when it comes to having the nation’s most welfare (Hartz IV) recipients.
Nearly 1 in 5 Berliners are receiving it.
“Berlin bleibt das Armenhaus Deutschlands”
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Observing Hermann 
That 1-in-5 number must vary greatly from one neighborhood to the other in Berlin. I went to the “Transition Town Festival” on Boxhanger Platz in Friedrichshain on September 5 and the number of Hartz IV recipients must have been closer to 4 out of 5, I would imagine.
I’ve just uploaded a bunch of photos from my trip to Berlin, if anyone is interested:
Photos from Berlin.
While I was there, hanging out in St. George’s Bookstore in Prenzlauer Berg, I was able to watch an hour or so of “24h Berlin,” the 24-hour documentary of Berlin. It seemed interesting, so when I got back to New York I tracked down a website that offers the entire program online. The Auteurs website offers each episode with the voice-over explanations in English and everything else in the original German with subtitles:
24h Berlin from The Auteurs.
It requires a very easy registration (it takes a few seconds).
The daytime hours are more interesting than the nighttime hours, in my view. The night is marred by the filmmakers focusing on DJs and that godawful German fascination with techno music. In the daytime, you’ll meet a lot of Germans who work. Some make very little and others rake in the cash.
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“Berlin bleibt das Armenhaus Deutschlands”…
Right said Fred !! A poor place, better to live in northern Mexico,than in that concrete desert.