Robert Blaser

“In my case it concerns three generations.”

Robert Blaser was born in Zollikofen (BE) in 1957. To support the family, both parents had to work, so the children were often on their own. In 1962 the authorities confronted the mother with the impossible choice: either stop working or place the children in care. The siblings were torn apart and placed in care. Robert Blaser spent the next ten years in the children’s home Landorf in Köniz (BE). He had to settle quickly into the hierarchy among the boys and later used this to his advantage.

Robert Blaser was always a technophile, but when it came to choosing a career there was no corresponding offer. Because he did not pursue any regular work when he was released at the age of 18, his guardian placed him in administrative care for two years in the forced labour institution “Kalchrain” (TG) as part of a so-called precautionary measure. Robert Blaser remained under protective supervision after reaching the age of 20.

Already Robert Blaser’s father had been placed in administrative care and Robert Blaser’s first wife had not grown up at home either. When she became pregnant, the young couple wanted to marry but did not get permission. One day Robert Blaser’s girlfriend was taken away, and he did not know where she was for a long time. The child was taken from the young mother shortly after birth; it took two years, until the parents had it with them again.

His fascination with technics led Robert Blaser later into the field of insulation. He holds a patent for a Minergie element that is used in housebuilding. Nowadays, Robert Blaser is committed to the concerns of those affected and heads the association “Fremdplatziert”. Together with his partner Brigitta Bühler he has supported more than 100 people applying for a contribution from the solidarity fund.

Nadine Felix

“Look, ask, engage: this is just as important today as it would have been then.”

Nadine Felix was born in Zurich in 1975. Her mother was an alcoholic and she only survived as a baby because her two older half siblings took care of her. Soon after her birth, she was adopted by a couple. Nadine Felix only found out what had happened then at the age of 35, when she met her birth family. Until she was 14 years old, she believed she was growing up with her biological parents. When her adoptive parents separated, Nadine Felix was suddenly placed in care, completely unprepared and in the middle of 5^th grade. After a time in Chur (GR), she was taken to the “Heim Hirslanden” (ZH) at the age of 14. In a letter from the Chur guardianship authority, she learned that she had been adopted as an infant.

Sometimes, Nadine Felix and her colleagues from the facility were allowed to go out, went to parties and danced the night away. Nadine Felix has kept the shoes she wore then to this day. For a housekeeping year Nadine Felix was to be taken to a closed educational facility. Together with her boyfriend she planned to escape to Italy – unsuccessfully: in handcuffs she was taken to the closed ward of the “Loryheim” (BE). Nadine Felix has never been involved in decision-making processes. She was never asked about her needs, despite having met numerous experts and having been in various therapeutic settings.

When her guardian died, Nadine Felix was released from guardianship at the age of barely 20. She was not supported in the transition to an autonomous life and slipped into drug addiction. After seven years of heroin use, she opted to go to rehab. A year later, her now adult son was born, whom she raised on her own. Nadine Felix completed various trainings, most recently as an educational nursery manager. She managed a nursery for ten years. To treat everybody with respect is important to her – and it is just as important to her to talk about it when this not the case.

Sergio Devecchi

“Out of shame, I remained silent for a long time and then opted for a reassessment.”

10 days after his birth in 1947, Sergio Devecchi was placed in the Protestant children’s home in Pura in the canton of Ticino. Prayer, labour and obedience accompanied him throughout his childhood. After 12 years, he was suddenly sent to another children’s home. He escaped several times and tried to return to Pura by foot. Finally, his guardian transferred him to the children’s home “Gott hilft” in Zizers in the canton of Grisons. Shortly after confirmation, he was brought back to Ticino, again without being informed in advance, by a hitherto unknown uncle.

Here, Sergio Devecchi started a commercial apprenticeship and lived in a room in Lugano at the age of 17 without any support from the authorities. He was lonely and suffered hunger again and again. With the support of private individuals and the “Young Men’s Association” things were looking up. In 1969, Sergio Devecchi began to study in Basel to be a social education. He then worked as educator and home director in various institutions in Ticino and the German-speaking part of Switzerland and was, among other things, president of the Professional Association for Social Education and Special Needs Education (Integras).

Out of shame, Sergio Devecchi disclosed his growing up in facilities only after he was retired. He still is active as a consultant in his former field of work and committed to the socio-political reassessment of compulsory social measures and placements.

Rita Brunner

“There is always a balance in life. One cannot take without also giving.” (Menuhin)

Rita Brunner was born in 1966 in Zurich. She never really knew her father, and her mother was overwhelmed with the two daughters. At the age of 6 weeks, Rita Brunner was taken to a nurse’s home in Zurich and later, together with her older sister, to a private children’s home in Ossingen. The home was closed because the operators allegedly belonged to a cult.

Under the pretext of going on an excursion, the two girls were taken to the “Kinderdörfli Rathausen” (LU). Rita Brunner was three and half years at the time and spent the next 12 years there. She had good and bad experiences in the facility, always depending on the actual educators. In addition to collective punishment, she also experienced psychological and physical violence. Hunger, fear and loneliness often accompanied her, especially in the evenings.

After completing her compulsory schooling, Rita was released at the age of 15 and placed in a position as a groom. The path to an independent life was not easy for Rita Brunner. During this time, she often thought of suicide. Then, for the first time, she met a person who wanted to know who she was and what she had experienced, who listened to her and whom she could trust. In her mid-20’s, Rita Brunner made a conscious decision for life.

On her way she met time and again people who encouraged her and supported her, professionally as well as privately. In the beginning Rita Brunner didn’t want to have a family on her own because she did not want to put anyone at risk of maybe having to live a life like she had. Meanwhile she is married nevertheless and has a grown-up son. Her husband refers to her as their tower of strength.

Today Rita Brunner is a local councillor and in her work she tries to change things positively in small ways. In particular, she tries to avoid that people who are in need of support today are violated in their integrity: she pays special attention to old-age and nursing homes.

Bruno Frick

“Reliable relationships are central to the development of children and adolescents.”

Bruno Frick was born in 1957 as the oldest of three brothers and grew up with his family on the lake of Zurich. He first encountered children living in the Wädenswil orphanage as a Scout Leader. When the orphanage closed, and the children and youths were distributed to other places, a 14-year-old did not want to go to another facility. She asked Bruno Frick if she could live with him and his flatmates. The competent authority granted the request and appointed him as foster father, later as guardian.

In 1978, Bruno Frick began studying to become a social and special educator. For his final thesis he interviewed many former residents of the Wädenswil (ZH) orphanage. This work and his studies caused him to think more critically about society, and he came to the conclusion that constant relationships are central to the development of children and adolescents. He has always been guided by this, as the educational manager of the “Jugendsiedlung Utenberg”, as a foster father and later as a father of his own children. Since the 1990s, Bruno Frick has offered integration support, mainly to young adults aged 18 and over who left the home where he worked. At the same time, he ran a socio-educational foster family together with his wife. Six foster children lived between four and 18 years in his family.

As a member of the board of trustees of the Guido Fluri Foundation, Bruno Frick has been committed since 2014 to the concerns of those affected by compulsory social measures and placements in care and to a broad social discussion of this topic.

Mario Delfino

“I am fine – if it weren’t for these stories.”

Mario Delfino was born in Italy in 1955. For the first five years he grew up in an orphanage in Bergamo, where he had a loving carer. Then he was adopted by a Swiss couple and brought to their home in Thalwil (ZH). Here he wasn’t fine: he was often locked up and beaten. Finally, his adoptive mother brought the boy to a children’s home in Altdorf (UR). Mario Delfino experienced the time there as strongly marked by religion but not by violence. After four years, the nuns from Menzingen sent the boy back to Thalwil to his adoptive parents.

At the age of 12, Mario Delfino and two school mates stole a cash box. They found 40,000 Swiss francs in it but returned it to owner by post. A few days later, Mario Delfino was arrested in the schoolyard and taken away in handcuffs. The next four years he spent in the “juvenile reform facility” in Knutwil (LU). The home was run by German monks who inflicted massive physical and sexual violence on Mario Delfino and other boys.

In 1972, when he was 16, Mario Delfino was released from the facility. But his adoptive mother no longer wanted him with her and called the police. The youngster had to wait for three weeks in a detention cell in Horgen (ZH) until the juvenile attorney took time for him. It had been him who had committed Mario Delfino to Knutwil back then and now he envisaged another administrative detention. But when a social worker joined the conversation, Mario Delfino experienced for the first time that someone took time to listen to his story. The social worker took him to her home and found him a job.

Later he moved to Zurich. With the help of Ernst Sieber, a priest for the homeless in Zurich, he found stability in life. Together with his wife Katharina Delfino, he worked as a caretaker in a school in Zurich for 18 years. He is father of two adult sons. Mario Delfino is member of the project team “Our faces – Our stories”.

Alois Kappeler

“It was not a nice life.”

Alois Kappeler was born in 1953 in Galgenen in the canton of Schwyz, the 13^th of 14 children. Two days after his birth he was taken away from his Yenish parents, who lived in a caravan, and taken to a children’s home in Solothurn that was run by the “Seraphisches Liebeswerk”. In the following 18 years, Alois Kappeler was moved again and again – in total he was in far more than 20 different facilities and care places. There he experienced physical and sexual violence again and again.

When Alois Kappeler was of age, he wanted to be released from guardianship, but his guardian opposed it. In his early 20’s, he left his job one day and hid for eight years on an alp in the canton of Grison. After an accident in which he suffered severe head injuries, his guardian found out where he was staying.

Alois Kappeler was admitted to the Cantonal Psychiatric Clinic St. Urban (LU) and four years later transferred to the Psychiatric Clinic Beverin (GR). There he was to be castrated against his will because he was attributed an excessive sex drive. In this context he injured a guard and was moved to the prison Realta (GR). The journalist Hans Caprez from the “Beobachter” made sure he was released and made his story public.

In 1994, Alois Kappeler met his wife Eva through an advertisement in the magazine “Tierwelt”. She became his most important support. Initially he moved in with her in Davos, later they moved together to Wiesen, a village within the municipality of Davos. A day after Alois Kappeler had inquired about work at the municipality, a representative of the authorities was at their door: The couple was placed under guardianship. With legal support, they were only able to free themselves from this in 2004, thus 6 years later.

Michael

“A children’s home is not a home – and educators are not parents.”

Born in Zurich in 1964, Michael was the third child of very young multi-addicted parents. To this day, he doesn’t know how many siblings he has. His grandparents cared for the boy until the guardianship authorities of the city of Zurich took him away from his grandmother after the death of his grandfather – even though she would have liked to keep him with her. First, Michael was placed in various foster families and at the age of 9 in the children’s home Heizenholz in Zurich-Hongg. He experienced educators who responded to him and others who were violent. What he lacked was a contact person to whom he could turn to when he had questions or concerns. Even after his release he would have liked to have a contact person to turn to for example regarding questions about money or taxes.

After completing the compulsory schooling, Michael was threatened to be interned again in a home in the west of Switzerland if he didn’t find an apprenticeship quickly. During his training he lived in a studio and managed everyday life independently. In 1984, Michael was released from guardianship. He went his own way, found friends, started a family and experienced joy in his professional everyday life. Michael talks openly about his childhood, also to his daughter. It is important to him that he does not pass on what he experienced to her and thus breaks the circle of violence. Coming to terms with the experienced injustice and acknowledging it, he considers as very important: for those affected but also for society.

Eva Kappeler

“He didn’t know fondue and raclette – they never had that in the facilities.”

Eva Kappeler was born in Davos in 1954. She grew up with seven siblings in a loving family. Her first husband died early (1987), and so she was left alone with her three children. For a year she also ran the family farm on her own. When she got ill due to blood poisoning, the guardianship authorities wanted to take the children away from her. With the support from her family doctor, Eva Kappeler was able to go on holiday for four weeks and to recover. The family stayed together.

Her second husband, Alois Kappeler, Eva Kappeler met through an advertisement in the magazine “Tierwelt”. When she saw him, she knew they belonged together. That was in 1994. After their marriage they moved from Davos to Wiesen, where Alois Kappeler inquired at the municipality about work. He was turned away and the following day a representative of the authorities was at the door: Alois and Eva Kappeler were placed under guardianship which was only dissolved six years later with the help of a lawyer. During this time Eva Kappeler lost her life insurance and all other assets.

Eva Kappeler knew her husband’s story but when she began to read the individual files, she had to put them aside again and again because tears came to her eyes. To this day she supports her husband in his everyday life and in coming to terms with what he has experienced and makes him angry at times. Eva Kappeler can calm him down and listens to him. Good food is important to both, because Eva Kappeler’s husband has never had that before. Music connects them and so they dance as often as possible, with pleasure also with their grandchildren.