Government

Germany’s Financial Capital Battles a Downtown Drug Scene

  • Frankfurt’s train station area combines major banks and drugs
  • The city is cleaning up for the European football championship
Frankfurt’s nickname is Mainhattan, a reference to the river Main and the skyline.Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

Anyone traveling to Frankfurt may be surprised at their first glimpse of the city. Or the smell.

That is, if you arrive by train. Because the station district, Bahnhofsviertel, shows the dark side of Frankfurt. It’s where drug users shoot up on house doorsteps, undefinable stains smear the sidewalks and brothels bathe the alleyways with a red glow. It chimes with Frankfurt’s title as the city with the highest crime rate in Germany.