Claude Richstein

“Until I was twelve years old, I lived in a good care place. The horror only began afterwards.”

Claude Richstein was born in 1961. His parents could not keep him with them. He was brought to a children’s home and from there to a foster family in Bern who already cared for another foster boy. Here Claude Richstein spent his first years in a loving environment. His foster parents wanted to adopt him, but his biological mother did not give her consent.

At the age of twelve, Claude Rechstein was taken by his guardian to a new foster family in the canton of Valais, as his former foster parents were not prepared to take over the costs for him any longer. A year later he was moved again because his guardian had accused him of stealing cigarettes which was not true. In the children’s home in Aarwangen (AG), where work defined a big part of everyday life, Claude Richstein stayed for the next four years. At the age of 16 he was sent to the ”Pestalozziheim” in Birr (AG). Here he experienced massive violence among the internees for three months. A horror for the youngster.

After his release Claude Richstein lived together with his older foster brother in a shared flat until he was 20. The latter was an important attachment figure for him and a support on his way to a self-determined life for which he was not prepared. Claude Richstein has had many exiting jobs throughout his life and, at the age of 60, has started a new training to become a home carer.

He is grateful for being healthy and having met many people in his life who loved him. He tries to pass on some of this to people who need support today. Claude Richstein draws his strength from his faith; it has helped him to come to terms with what he has experienced and to move on.

Christina Tomczyk

“My father is my hero and an example for me.”

Christina Tomczyk was born 1974 in Basel. After her parents separated, she initially lived with her mother, until she moved in with her father, Peter Bönzli, as a teenager. Father and daughter had a strong connection from the beginning, and he supported her in all her private and professional ambitions. In 1993, Christina Tomczyk reached the final of the Miss Switzerland pageant. A year later she made her debut as a racing driver at the Swiss Kart championship.

Christina is married to Martin Tomczyk. The couple has two children. After the birth of her children, Christina increasingly asked questions about the childhood of her father. She only knew that the father of her father had died early and that her father and his siblings had therefore grown up in children’s homes. Until then, her father’s stories had only been fragmentary. Not least because the topic had moved into public discussion, the family now talked more and more about the past.

A few years ago, Christina Tomczyk and her father, an uncle and an aunt, visited the children’s homes in Bern where he and his siblings had been cared for as children. She suggested to her father to go public, to talk about his experiences. Also, to show that despite bad experiences in childhood, he has found his place in life and society. And that he has not passed on the experience of neglect, lack of affection, violence and lack of schooling to the next generation.

Karin Gurtner

“I never solved conflicts with violence if possible.”

Karin Gurtner was born in Basel in 1958. Her mother was very young then and unmarried. Her grandparents were officially appointed as her foster parents by the guardianship authority until 1965. The grandparents loved the girl and gave her the foundation that would sustain her throughout her whole life. With her grandfather she spent many hours in the woods, observed and learnt to respect every form of life.

After her mother had married, she suddenly wrenched Karin Gurtner from her grandparents in 1963. The girl would have given anything to be able to stay with them because the visits from her mother had always been marked by coldness and distance. At the age of eleven, Karin Gurtner was placed in the home for difficult girls “Steig” (SH). In 1975, five placements followed in within a few months, including a stay in prison and then in the Psychiatric Clinic Breitenau (SH), because the authorities did not know where else to put the youth.

At the end of 1975, she was put into administrative detention in the juvenile correction facility “Lärchenheim” in Lutzenberg (AR.) Here the hierarchies among each other were very pronounced. Karin Gurtner gained influence but never used it to her advantage, instead she managed to protect other young people.

Karin Gurtner did not allow herself to be forecd into bourgeoise gender roles. She wanted to go her own way and did training time in electronic design. Later she trained as a beautician and makeup artist and opened her own business. Her mother did not leave her alone even as an adult and made sure customers stayed away. The family dispute continued over the inheritance with Karin Gurtner being accused of having plundered the inheritance of her grandmother, even though she had no access to it.

Karin Gurtner is a fighter. She draws strength from the tree of life Yggdrasil and from a motto of the old norse gods: “Get up and keep fighting!”

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.

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.

Uschi Waser

“My life was good until the day I read my files.”

Uschi Waser was born in 1952 in the canton of Zurich. At the time of her birth, her mother was unmarried. Because of her Yenish origins, Uschi was placed in care and under guardianship. In the first 13 years of her life, she was placed in 26 different places. After having been abused for years by her stepfather, Uschi Waser was raped by her uncle on the night of her 14th birthday and subsequently placed in administrative detention in the Catholic institution “Zum guten Hirten” in Altstätten in the canton of St. Gallen.

After her release, Uschi Waser founded a family and after her divorce cared alone for her daughters. When she inspected the files, she learned that the assessment from her guardianship files had been interpreted exclusively to her disadvantage in the lawsuit against her stepfather and uncle. Her life was never the same after the inspection of the files.

For many years, Uschi Waser has been committed to reassessing administrative coercive measures and placements as well as the role of the judiciary in this context. She was the representative of the victims of Pro Juventute at the “Round Table on Compulsory Social Measures and Placements Prior to 1981” (2013-2018) and has chaired the “Naschet Jenische” foundation since the 1990s. In 2022, Uschi Waser received the Somazzi Prize. It is awarded annually to a woman or group of women who fight for education, women’s rights and peace.

Afra Flepp

“You can accomplish a lot with very little if it comes from the heart.”

Afra Flepp was born in Zurich in 1947. During her childhood she was repeatedly placed in homes and foster families. First in the canton of Ticino, where she experienced a regime of award and punishment. A short stay at home was followed by a placement in a foster family in the Zurich Oberland. The farmers took the child in because of the board money. After her foster brothers had spied on her in the toilet, Afra Flepp was transferred once again, this time to the Pestalozzi home of the city of Zurich in Redlikon-Stäfa. As one of few she was allowed to attend the public school in the village and sometimes smuggled sweets into the home. For the last part of her compulsory schooling, Afra Flepp was once again placed in a foster family.

While still an apprentice graphic designer, Afra Flepp moved into an own room and became self-employed after her graduation; which was far from obvious for a woman in the 1970s. Until her retirement, Afra Flepp worked in her studio in the city of Zurich which soon became a meeting place for the youth of the neighbourhood. They liked to drop by at Afra Flepp’s, as hardly anything was forbidden and there was a lot to discover.

Afra Flepp first attracted attention as an artist in 1975. The facade painting with clouds and rainbow at the Kreuzplatz in the city of Zurich was talked about. Today she paints precise works of art using a special acrylic spray technique.

Yvonne Barth

“I worked my way up from nothing.”

Yvonne Barth was born in Basel in 1953. Her mother moved again and again and took her two children with her. Yvonne Barth did not feel safe with her. At the age of three, she was sent to the children’s home “Vogelsang” in Basel on monthly basis and in 1958 to a foster family in Davos Wiesen (GR). Yvonne Barth missed her older sister and begged her mother to be placed in the same facility which was arranged in 1961.

Yvonne Barth stayed in the children’s home “Röserental” in Liestal (BL) until she was 12 years old. Here she was often teased by the other kids because she squinted and was walking clumsily due to adhesions on her feet. The girl was not encouraged by the adults: because of her outward appearance, she wasn’t thought of being capable of anything. During this time, animals were important to her: they gave her the closeness and affection that she missed in people.

As an adult, Yvonne Barth continued her education. She trained as a medical massage therapist and opened her own practice. Music always gave her strength – and does to the day. Yvonne Barth was always quick to learn an instrument and still composes her own songs.

She sang her song “Placement in Care from the Perspective of those Children” for the first time in front of an audience at the memorial event for the victims of compulsory social measures in Basel in autumn 2021. It is important to Yvonne Barth to be part of the reassessment – also for all those who are no longer here.