Dresden night cafés - a unique concept

It's Thursday evening and the parish hall of the Loschwitz church in Dresden is buzzing with activity. The night café takes place here every week from November to March - the church opens its rooms and offers homeless people a place to stay overnight.

A total of seven Dresden churches take part in the project, a different one every weekday: the Dreikönigskirche in Neustadt on Mondays, the Christophoruskirche in Laubegast on Tuesdays, the Heilige Familie parish in Zschachwitz on Wednesdays, the Loschwitz parish on Thursdays, the Zionskirche in Südvorstadt on Fridays, the Immanuelkirche in Cotta on Saturdays and the St. Franziskus Xaverius parish in Cotta on Sundays. Franziskus Xaverius parish in Neustadt.

First night café opened in 1995

The night cafés have been offered in Dresden for 29 years and are a supplement to the services provided by the city's homeless shelters. The idea was developed by students at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences for Social Work. The first night café opened on November 5, 1995 in the Dreikönigskirche. "That was the starting signal," says Gerd Grabowski, spokesperson for the Night Café Coordination Group. Other churches were added one after the other.

It is a unique concept, as Grabowski explains. "There is no other city in Germany where seven churches make their parish rooms available to the homeless and needy during this period from November to March." There has also been interest in the model from other cities. Grabowski once even presented the idea to a church in London, but it was ultimately not implemented there either.

Anybody can come

Anybody is welcome at the night cafés. "We don't want to see any ID or know what ethnicity someone belongs to, whether they are in church or not," says Grabowski. Anyone who pays one euro at the entrance is allowed in.

In the event of problems, the police provide support: "If we have someone - like before - who doesn't understand that they're not allowed in here and then starts trashing the place, they come by and solve the problem for us." In return, the officers can bring picked-up homeless people to the night cafés as long as they are not too drunk, as Grabowski explains.

Although the locations are spread across the Dresden city area, many of the guests come regularly. Grabowski, himself the manager of the night café in the Zion Church, greets some of them by name; he knows their stories and their worries.

The mood in the parish hall is good, the atmosphere relaxed - even though the police have already had to arrive twice that evening. Some guests line up for food at the kitchen door with plates in hand, eating in the dining room opposite. Next door, some have already set up their sleeping quarters.

Night cafés offer 25 places to stay overnight

Every evening, admission is at 7.00 pm. The 25 overnight places available in each night café usually fill up quickly. Guests are given a hot meal and breakfast on site and can shower and do their laundry. Basic medical care is also provided if required. Grabowski also describes the night cafés as a place of communication, where guests can share their experiences with each other or get advice and information from the helpers.

Because of the large crowds, it has also been possible to come for dinner only for some years now. Those who do not wish to stay overnight or have not been given a place to sleep must leave the premises by 11.00 pm. This means that between 30 and 40 people take advantage of the offer every evening.

A total of around 250 helpers look after more than 3,000 guests every season. In each of the seven night cafés, 35 volunteers work in three shifts in the evening, at night and in the morning. The project is financed exclusively by donations.