Die Schnabels - Mother, Father, 17 Children

Katrin Hörnlein, editor at the weekly magazine "Die ZEIT", speaks with Maleika Grün, the 13th child of the Schnabel family, about everyday life in one of Germany's largest families. The conversation explores how nearly 20 people lived in a small space, the quantities of groceries needed, and how children were involved in household care and upbringing. At the same time, much was typical of West German family life from the 1950s to 1980s: the father as sole breadwinner, the mother as housewife, children roaming unsupervised through the neighbourhood - and a mother increasingly seeking to emancipate herself. The conversation is moderated by Rudi Novotny from "Die ZEIT".

Katrin Hörnlein is an editor at the weekly magazine "Die ZEIT", responsible among other things for children's and young adult literature and the "Die ZEIT" Children's and Young Adult Book Prize. In 2023, her non-fiction book "Eine wie sie fehlt in dieser Zeit. Erinnerungen an Astrid Lindgren" was published.

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 is co-head of the Education section at the weekly magazine "Die ZEIT". He joined "Die ZEIT" in 2014 from the Frankfurter Rundschau magazine and the third page of the Berliner Zeitung and has been awarded, among other things, the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize.