Rüdiger Rossig | Journalist | Novinar

By Rüdiger Rossig

While welfare recipients in Germany are required to disclose extensive details about their wealth and possessions before they can receive benefits, data on large-scale property owners is at best nebulous. Why the double standard?

Germans love to argue about issues of wealth and poverty. In most cases, they focus on money and taxes, that is, on wages, salaries, savings and inheritances, whether in the form of cash, savings, securities, machinery or factories. In contrast, the subject of land ownership usually only comes up when a property owner makes some sort of ill-advised move – like blocking access to a public lake adjacent to their property. More ...