02 - 2003
Growing older in Germany
Growing old autonomously
Shared living projects in Germany
by Renate Giesler
To stay within their own four walls as long as possible is the desire of most elderly people in Germany. The problem is that many are without children or a spouse to live with. According to the Fourth Report on the Elderly in 2002, 32 percent of 70 to 75-year-olds today live in one-person households, as do 46 percent of 75 to 80-year-olds, and 60 percent of those over 80.
Moving to a conventional home for the elderly is out of the question for many people aged 60 to 70 in Germany. They are deterred by the costs — and by the atmosphere. They still feel like active members of society and want to grow old without losing their autonomy, in surroundings where long-lasting relationships and a feeling of community are possible. Architects, traditional apartment-building cooperatives and even politicians have recognised that there is a need for projects in shared living space.
The oldest experiments are now over 20 years old. The palette extends from intergenerational houses to women’s projects to "senior citizens’ group flats”. Most shared living projects in Germany are aimed at intergenerational living. With 150 such projects, the city of Hamburg leads the way. But new forms of shared living are also found in Berlin, Munich, Dresden and Gšttingen. Doctors and nurses confirm that inhabitants of such projects are less often ill and remain mobile longer than other senior citizens. The following are examples of the shared living scene.
Intergenerational house in Hamburg
Pensioners, elderly couples, single fathers and youths, 37 persons in all, have realised their dream of shared living in one house. It took nine years for an original idea of theologians and psychologists to become reality. "We had a party when a suitable building site in the inner city was finally found and the authorities granted us a building permit,” says Elisabeth Schmidt-Brockmann. She has been part of the group from the beginning and hardly missed any of the weekly meetings at St. Stephen’s church.
Many who were originally interested fell away over the years. The long wait had one advantage, that those who are now the inhabitants got to know one another well and tested their reactions in conflict situations. Task distribution was also done well ahead of time, and justly: the house motto is "Give and Take”. A retired teacher, Jette Gršnwoldt, tutors children in the house for free, while someone else takes care of her shopping.
The 18 apartments are of different sizes according to the inhabitants’ needs. Persons living alone need less space than couples or a father and child. What is special in this project is that people who earn well live side by side with those who have little money. Single parents have childless senior citizens for neighbours. For a blind person who was among the initiators the building was designed for access by the disabled, and free of barriers for the benefit of all the elderly.
Women’s group house in Göttingen
On the beautiful east side of this university city, eleven women live together in an art nouveau villa, trying out a new way of living in their older years. The city of Gšttingen, the state of Lower Saxony and some foundations financed the conversion of the villa nine years ago.
"I needed a sense of adventure to move into shared living at age 66,” says Charlotte Lierse. She had quietly envied her children long ago when they lived in group flats as students, and today she enjoys life in a community. After her husband’s death she gave away furniture and books and said farewell to her house and belongings to which she had become attached. "It’s wonderful, my life now is free of the past.”
She has no problem getting along with "only” 50 square metres of space, and finds it ideal that she has her own little bath with shower and a cooking alcove. If she wants to do fancier cooking she can use the big common kitchen on the ground floor.
Ulla Lauenroth, at 71 the youngest member of one of the first self-organised shared living communities in Germany, also had to give up a great deal. She used to live alone in Bad Orb, and knew she wanted a change. A report on TV about shared living for the elderly gave her the idea of making contact with the women in Gšttingen, over 300 kilometres away. She was fortunate in being accepted by all the women in the group, and joined the waiting list. When one of the ladies died, she cancelled her apartment lease and moved. "It was a new world for me, I didn’t know anyone there.”
Leni Gaber took the newcomer under her wing and showed her the city and surroundings. Ulla Lauenroth loves flowers and went to work immediately in the garden, an important step in her integration. "There’s no chance for anyone to withdraw into her little nest in our house,” says Leni Gaber. She is responsible for renting the two guest apartments which are used by relatives and friends, and for the joint cash box. The women share the cost of a cleaning woman for the stairs, dining room and library.
Students come regularly to meet with the women for coffee and story-telling, and for a project on testimonies from earlier times. It is a house full of life. Sometimes even schoolchildren come to see how shared living for the elderly works and what grannies think about. It is still an all-women society. "We’re open to men,” says Leni Gaber pertly. But the only gentlemen who have enquired so far immediately wanted to know who was going to iron their shirts and who does the cooking, which knocked their chances down to zero. There is no place in this house for people who want to be waited on, or for chummy attitudes.
Shared living for seniors in Dresden
Their combined age is 500 years, and they radiate the pure joy of living. "I have my own space, but I’m not alone,” says Sigfried Pohl emphatically. A professional radio technician, he moved into the seniors’ shared-living group in Dresden-Wšlfnitz in 1999. It is the first of its kind in the region of Saxony. He has never regretted it a day since.
Four women and three men have decided to grow old together. They didn’t know each other before, and only decided after meeting at the "Grow-Old-Together Club” to try living together. The club took care of the conversion of unused restaurant premises on the ground floor of a high-rise building into eight studio apartments. Two bathrooms designed for the elderly were also installed, and a kitchen with an adjoining common room. — The inhabitants gather for mid-day dinner in this living-dining room. Each brings food to share from his or her own mini-kitchen. If asked, however, Helga Adler cooks for them all, or sometimes it is Sigfried Pohl at the stove. "They like my roulades with dumplings and black salsify.”
The group gets along well. On Fridays the gentlemen run the vacuum cleaner and do the major cleaning of the "living room”. There is a cleaning schedule which is kept, but someone who doesn’t feel well can ask someone else. If shelving is needed, Sigfried Pohl gets busy, and if household appliances don’t work, Helga’s husband Gottfried looks to see whether he can repair them. The group has coffee together on Wednesdays to discuss activities and purchases such as an awning for the terrace. Guests and those interested in new ways of living are also welcome at these afternoon meetings.
That the chemistry is right, even strangers can tell. "Even if we argue about something, from religion to politics, no-one shouts at anyone or throws crockery around the room,” admits Sigfried Pohl. Another plus for a single person is that if he has to go into a hospital, he always has visitors and someone at home to look after plants and heating. They take care of one another, but leave one another free.
"We’re all independent — for example our Dorle dashed off yesterday with her partner, leaving a note on the door: Back Monday. We respect that,” says Karl-Heinz Ršttjer. At 66 he no longer has any family and was already in a home for the elderly, so was happy about this alternative. Helga Adler, mother of several children and grandmother of 16, consciously chose shared living: "I took care of my parents until their death. It was so hard, I don’t want to be such a burden to my children.” Another argument: "When one of us dies, there’s still the community — it will be there for either my husband or me.”
The author, a free-lance journalist in Hamburg, put this article together from several news articles especially for this issue of Ecumenical Dialogue.