Merkel’s Working Poor Pose Election-Year Dilemma as Divide Grows

Every Saturday, about a hundred people arrive in a silent procession at a small church in the north of Berlin, armed with empty shopping carts.

Some smoke, others play with their children as they wait patiently to be called for the packets of noodles, vegetables and cans of soup that are handed out. They are Germany’s poor, come for out-of-date food that has been collected from supermarkets by the Laib und Seele charity.