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Through his work as a priest, Johann Hinrich Wichern came face to face with life in the slums of Hamburg. Appalled by the conditions he experienced, in 1833 Wichern set up a hostel "for saving neglected and difficult children". The youngsters lived in family-like structures: ten to twelve of them together with a supervisor. This educational system, which at the time was revolutionary, has changed very little ever since. Today the Protestant social service institutions which Wichern founded - the "Rauhe Haus" in Hamburg and the St. John’s Foundation in Berlin - care for adolescents, the disabled, the sick, and the elderly in more than a hundred projects.

This year, to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, Wichern’s work will be commemorated in numerous events. The Wichern Year was launched in a speech by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Besides presenting the celebrations, the preparations for them, and theatrical and musical performances by youth care workers, this report focuses first and foremost on the daily tasks carried out by the institutions Wichern established. We accompany one deacon who looks after disabled persons, highlight diaconic training, and examine the reasons why young people become active in the social sector. We visit an artist who creatively reflects Wichern’s work in a sculpture, and in Hamburg we look in on a communal residence for adolescents.