Close to people | Stories from Bethel
On the road, you're on your own
Spending the night on park benches, almost freezing to death outside in the freezing cold and begging for money every day: Most people cannot imagine the struggle that homeless people face every day. Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt can: the 76-year-old spent 18 years on the streets. "What I experienced there, I wouldn't have experienced anywhere else," says the pensioner, referring not only to the social abyss of a life without a home, but also to the tricks he learnt and life-threatening situations. "Many people have already told me that I should write a book about it - it would certainly be a bestseller."
For the former chief constable, the personal misery began with a typical vicious circle: alcohol problems, divorce from his wife, even more alcohol consumption and finally the resulting dismissal from his civil servant position. "From then on, nothing worked. I could no longer keep the flat and fell into a hole," recalls Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt. He then found accommodation for the first time in a homeless shelter in Mühlheim an der Ruhr. But when he had to leave after three days, his odyssey through the Ruhr region began. He formed friendships with some homeless people, while others stole from him. "On the street, you're on your own. It's every man for himself."
Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt, who was always travelling with his bicycle and a small "emergency pharmacy", learned all the "lazy tricks" while making a record. To warm himself up during the day, for example, the homeless man sat in on public court hearings - without knowing the subject of the trial. In addition, at some point he knew exactly in which municipalities the social welfare offices paid the highest daily rates. As the payments were not yet recorded electronically in the 1980s, the Oberhausen native often received money in several cities in one day. His simple calculation: "If you had grazed and cheated three social welfare offices in one weekend, you were fed up."
After Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt had been through all the homeless centres in the Ruhr area at least once, he moved on to Lower Saxony: "There, too, the day always followed the same pattern: "Pick up your daily rate at the social welfare office in the morning, beg at lunchtime and raise your cups in the afternoon," reports the long-time welfare recipient. Excessive alcohol consumption on the street almost caused him to freeze to death once. During an overnight stay outside, the temperature dropped to minus 21 degrees. When he woke up in the morning in his sleeping bag, it was completely frozen - it was only with a lot of luck that his limbs were spared. "Once you reach a certain alcohol level, you no longer notice the cold, you just fall asleep," recalls Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt of the dangerous night.
With increasing physical problems, the man, who weighed 150 kilograms at the time, suddenly spotted a poster for the homeless charity in Freistatt on his "bike tour" at a railway station. Once there, a doctor diagnosed him with severe diabetes. "The insulin injections kept me in Freistatt," says the now recovered man with a smile. During his 25 years in a private flat in Freistatt and Haus Morgensonne in Heimstatt, Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt not only got his physical problems under control, but also swore off alcohol. "When I went shopping at Edeka, I fought with myself a few times in front of the liquor shelf. But I stayed tough." Although Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt doesn't miss anything about being homeless after 18 years on the streets, many memories of this time bring a smile to his face. Because one thing the client has never lost in his eventful life is his sense of humour. "If you take everything seriously here, you can go straight into the box."
Text: Simon Steinberg | Picture: Christian Weische
This story simply told
Heinz-Gerd Bredefeldt became homeless due to many of his own problems and lived on the streets for many years. He learnt how to get money more easily with certain tricks. He later found help in Freistatt, where he treated his illness and beat alcohol. Today he lives in his own flat.
