Die Schnabels - Mother, Father, 17 Children

A fascinating story of an exceptional family - a tale of solidarity and sacrifice. Katrin Hörnlein, editor at the weekly magazine Die ZEIT, speaks with Maleika Grün, the 13th child of the Schnabel family, about the challenges of everyday life in one of Germany's largest families: how nearly 20 people lived in a small space, the quantities of groceries needed, and how the children were involved in care and upbringing. At the same time, much was typical of West German family life from the 1950s to 1980s: the father earned the money, the mother was a housewife, children roamed unsupervised through the neighbourhood, and the mother increasingly sought to emancipate herself. Rudi Novotny (Die ZEIT) moderates this conversation about a remarkable piece of family history from the old Federal Republic.

Katrin Hörnlein works as an editor at the weekly magazine Die ZEIT, where she is responsible for children's and young adult literature and the Die ZEIT Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature. In 2023, her non-fiction book "Eine wie sie fehlt in dieser Zeit. Erinnerungen an Astrid Lindgren" was published. Katrin Hörnlein lives with her family in Hamburg.

Maleika Grün, née Schnabel, is the 13th of 17 children of the large Schnabel family from North Rhine-Westphalia. She works as a consultant at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and volunteers as a sports trainer for people with disabilities.

Rudi Novotny, deputy head of the Education section at the weekly magazine Die ZEIT, holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations and Politics from Essex and a master's degree from Hertie School of Governance. He joined Die ZEIT in 2014 from the Frankfurter Rundschau magazine and the third page of the Berliner Zeitung. He has been awarded the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize, among others.