Money and mendicancy

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From alms to citizen’s income 

by Günter Hoffmann, Berlin, © MoneyMuseum

In the cities, you can hardly miss them. They stand in front of both railway and subway stations, in shopping streets, in front of supermarkets or point of interests. And they grow more and more in number: beggars who ask for charity, sometimes wordless, sometimes audibly. An encounter with them creates an ambivalent situation for many people: if they hasten away without giving any alms, they act against their social conscience. Yet, if they give something out of pity then there is always the suspicion that they might have been exploited …

Money and mendicancy