Richard Brox

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Helmut Richard Brox (born July 9, 1964 in Mannheim ) is a German author and blogger who was homeless for more than 30 years and who campaigns for homeless people. He became known through the book No Roof Over Life - Biography of a Homeless Man , which became a bestseller .

life and work

Richard Brox's mother was Polish, who was deported to Germany for forced labor in 1942 . She escaped from a labor camp and was taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp after being picked up . His father was a 17-year-old for the army moved in, four times for desertion sentenced and detained in army prison in Linz. Both the mother and the father were severely traumatized . Brox spent part of his childhood in children's homes, which also traumatized him. He attended "all together probably only four years". His father died in 1977. Brox became a drug addict at the age of 13 and thrown out of her apartment in Mannheim after his mother's death in 1985.

In late 1989 Richard Brox underwent inpatient drug therapy . In 1990 he left the Electoral Palatinate and went hiking all over Germany.

Starting in 2006, he reported on his experiences in facilities for the homeless in a blog and named contact points for people without a home across Germany. According to him, the assumption that homeless people do not use the Internet is wrong: “In my experience, every second person uses the Internet relatively regularly.” When he created his first website, he was helped by users of an Internet café in Berlin in 1999 , where he worked when it was raining Had sought protection. His blog entries on accommodation and social facilities contained addresses, opening times, hygienic conditions, the tone of the social workers and what offers were made, such as advice or subsidies for tickets. Günter Wallraff became aware of him through the blog, and they met each other in 2008. Wallraff shot the documentary Unter Null - Homeless Through Winter with him and became a friend of his.

In December 2017 his book Kein Dach über dem Leben - Biography of a homeless person at Rowohlt was published , which he had written with the help of Dirk Kästel (research) and Albrecht Kieser (text); Günter Wallraff wrote the foreword , with whom he had come to write the book. The work was on the Spiegel bestseller list in the non-fiction category for 21 weeks and had seven editions by 2019. Since November 2018 it has been published as a special edition in the publication series of the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Bonn as a text and instruction book. The Goethe-Institut in Taipei recommended No Roof over Life as Book of the Month in March 2020 and makes it available in its library.

After more than 30 years of homelessness, Brox moved into a small apartment in Cologne in January 2019 , which he gave up after a two-month stay. His goal is to build a hospice in which homeless people with advanced illnesses can look after the last phase of their lives and spend the last phase of their lives in dignity. The association art helps give in Cologne supported him in the realization of his plan. The cooperation with the association ended in April 2019 by mutual agreement. Brox is now working with the dormitory for homeless women and men of the Salvation Army in Göttingen.

In December 2019, together with Andreas Rammig, he published a plea for a fringe culture. Two outsiders with parallels . Brox described his experiences, which he gained for several months in the rocker milieu , Rammig described life in the rocker club from his point of view.

Brox, who calls himself a Berber , appears publicly at readings and on talk shows and campaigns for the right to work and the right to a home to be enshrined in the state 's constitutions.

Brox has a daughter from a previous relationship.

Public recognitions

In 2012, the Federal Association of German Foundations nominated Brox for the establishment of the Internet portal Federal German Homeless Aid for the German Engagement Prize .

In 2014 Brox was featured for his blog Without a Apartment - What Now? nominated for the taz Panter Prize .

After one of his readings, Brox was allowed to enter himself in the Golden Book of the municipality of Kalletal in Westphalia in November 2018 .

Publications

  • No roof over life - biography of a homeless man. With Dirk Kästel (research) and Albrecht Kieser (text), foreword by Günter Wallraff. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2018, ISBN 978-3-499-63294-5 .
  • Plea for a fringe culture. Two outsiders with parallels. With Andreas Rammig. Honorable Society, Hof 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820230-1-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b No roof over life , bpb.de, accessed on July 21, 2019.
  2. ↑ Ralf Balke: 30 years on the road. juedische-allgemeine.de, October 11, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Life on the street has become rougher". deutschlandfunkkultur.de, March 28, 2018.
  4. ↑ The Incredible Life of Homeless Richard Brox. welt.de, April 4, 2018.
  5. ↑ Annika Glunz: Hostile Environment . taz.de, May 14, 2018.
  6. ↑ “Everyone needs a chance. Some also two ”. welt.de, March 13, 2018.
  7. ↑ Wolf H. Goldschmitt: No roof over life. rheinpfalz.de, September 22, 2017.
  8. ↑ Blog: Without an apartment, what now?
  9. ↑ The professional homeless. nzz.ch, December 22, 2018.
  10. ↑ "There are no friends on the street". fluter.de , December 15, 2017 (interview).
  11. ↑ Hauke ​​Heuer: Homeless person helps fellow sufferers - Helmut Richard Brox has been running a website for the homeless for years. dnn.de, September 9, 2015, accessed December 21, 2019.
  12. ↑ Gina Bucher: Traveler without a home. taz.de, accessed on July 22, 2019.
  13. ↑ Social participation: “People should take care of one another”. mainpost.de, December 16, 2019, updated December 20, 2019.
  14. ↑ Richard Brox in Coffee or Tea . swr.de, broadcast on July 11, 2018.
  15. ↑ Best-selling author Brox is planning a second book. rnz.de, April 19, 2018.
  16. ↑ No roof over life, mirror ranking . buchreport.de, accessed on July 21, 2019.
  17. ↑ The Life Story of Richard Brox. br.de, January 4, 2019.
  18. ^ Special edition for the Federal Agency for Civic Education. dnb.de, accessed on July 21, 2019.
  19. ↑ Goethe-Institut Taipei , accessed on August 3, 2020.
  20. ↑ Goethe-Institut Taipei , accessed on August 3, 2020.
  21. ↑ Ex-homeless person wants to open a hospice against cold and loneliness. stuttgarter-zeitung.de, January 31, 2019.
  22. ↑ Richard Brox has been homeless for 30 years - and continues to fight. Kreiszeitung.de, January 25, 2019.
  23. ↑ Marc Langenbrinck: No roof over life . blick.ch, May 12, 2019.
  24. ↑ Ex-homeless person wants to open hospice. kn-online, January 31, 2019.
  25. ↑ Homeless and no way back? SWR , broadcast Planet Wissen , April 16, 2019, accessed on July 25, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Richard Brox's plea for a fringe culture. lovelybooks.de, accessed on December 21, 2019.
  27. ↑ Richard Brox tells a story from the bottom up. nrz.de, October 10, 2018.
  28. ↑ A life on the street. rheinpfalz.de, December 13, 2017.
  29. ↑ Anna Miller: The professional homeless. nzz.ch, December 22, 2018, accessed on December 21, 2019.
  30. ^ Wallraff's helpers. fr.de, June 6, 2012.
  31. ↑ Film off for the nominees . taz.de, accessed on July 28, 2019 (nominations for 2014).
  32. ^ Moving reading with Richard Brox. Press releases from Kalletal, accessed on July 26, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Brox, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author and activist
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim