Most of us could go a day without spending any cash. But a week? How about sixteen years? That's how long 69-year-old Heidemarie Schwermer, grandmother of three, has lived without money. Schwermer's odyssey is the subject of a documentary film, Living Without Money, by director Line Halvorsen, which is screening internationally and is also available on DVD.In 1996, Schwermer, a former schoolteacher and psychotherapist, decided to try to live without money for a year as an experiment. As a child she had experienced deep deprivation as a refugee fleeing from Russian forces during World War II. Her family had escaped what was then East Prussia and ended up in Germany "penniless." She has always felt a sense of compassion and empathy for the homeless community in the city of Dortmund where she settled as an adult.
German Grandmother Lives Money-free and Has Never Been Happier
