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Stereotypical depiction of a beggar family in Sebastian Brandt’s “Ship of Fools”, printed in Basel in 1494.
Britta-Marie Schenk and Daniel Allemann
Christmas is over. Also the willingness to donate and give money to beggars. However, people who ask for a few francs stay. And then they appear again, the small, nasty thoughts: I can’t give everyone something, where is that supposed to lead? Am I supporting the next intoxication or even the “beggar mafia”? And why is that actually my responsibility – shouldn’t the state ensure that nobody has to beg?
Everything brand new? no way! Moral self-questioning in giving has a tradition, primarily a religious one. In the late Middle Ages, poverty became the Christian ideal – thanks to the rise of the Franciscans and Dominicans. The so-called mendicant monks were propertyless on paper. But they had a clever business model: nobles and bankers could buy themselves a clear conscience with huge sums of money – “pious foundations”. In return, the “paper poor” took care of the salvation of the souls of the beggars who were actually in need.
However, beggars were soon stylized as a danger to public order. All were under general suspicion of being lazy “loafers”. Worse still, the fraudulent “vagants”, i.e. itinerant beggars, would kidnap children and use them for their purposes. Many things changed with industrialization, but the prejudices remained: it was thought that those who begged led a “dissolute lifestyle” and did not want to work. In order to tame the danger, the aspiring bourgeoisie donated what they could.
Things went more radically at the end of the Middle Ages, when begging was banned. “Beggar bailiffs” went into battle against the “masterless rabble”. Those who were dragged outside the town limits got off lightly. Others were sentenced to forced labor or even expelled from the country – into galley slavery on the Mediterranean. But it wasn’t until around 1800 that begging became a criminal offence. Anyone who begged was now a criminal – and went to jail.
Begging is still criminalized today. In many cantons there are bans on begging, which are primarily aimed at “organized” begging. The result: Roma from Eastern Europe are generally defamed as members of the “beggar mafia”. The discrepancy between grudgingly accepted local beggars and reviled foreign beggars has a long tradition itself. Because people were already taking action against begging economic refugees in the late Middle Ages – only the “foreign fötzel” were not Romanians at the time, but other Swiss.
In the 19th century, giving alms individually became obsolete. Anyone who wanted to do good and feel good now donated to associations that professionally looked after the needy. Giving was “outsourced”, saying no to the beggar on the doorstep was labeled a social act, and on top of that there was a clear conscience. What does that mean for us – to give or not to give? We recommend: If you are unsure, just give each one something.