Compensation for former home children

Former children from West and East Germany receive compensation

14/10/2012

At the beginning of the year, the Berlin counseling center for former home-children started work and has since helped around 1,200 affected people from East and West Germany. The offer is aimed at former children with current residence in Berlin, who suffered injustice and suffering in the home education of the Federal Republic of 1949-1975 or in the home education of the GDR from 1949-1990.

The need for a start-up and counseling service among former home-based children is apparently much higher than originally expected. „We are overwhelmed by the high demand“, explained the acting head of the Berlin counseling center, Herbert Scherer, to the news agency „dpa“. According to Scherer, the employees sometimes come up against their capacity limits, since it usually takes about ten hours to complete each individual case. The three psychologically trained social workers are often barely able to meet the needs. Scherer sees here „a discrepancy between what we can do and what we need to do.“

Suffering from home children can not be undone
„The former children were inflicted great and many sorrows and injustices. A suffering that is hardly measurable for outsiders, that can not be undone or undone“, said the Berlin Senator for Education, Youth and Science in January at the opening of the counseling center. Here, it should be ensured that the former home children receive unbureaucratic help and support. The counseling center is also responsible for the distribution of funds or compensation from fund home education. In doing so „Berlin use the room for maneuver in granting assistance and acting in the interests of those affected“, emphasized Scheeres earlier this year. Since then, 1,200 victims (800 people from homes in the GDR, 400 from homes in Germany) have turned to the counseling center.

Counseling center for home children at the capacity limit
The former home-children are mostly concerned with financial compensation, but many just want to tell their personal story in order to work through or process the experience, reports the acting counselor of the counseling center. „For many, talking is a great relief“, so Herbert Scherer opposite the „dpa“. However, the three social workers of the Berlin counseling center are often relatively helpless in face of the great need of the former home-children for advice and support. They simply lack the time capacity to handle each case in a timely manner. Anyone contacting you today for an appointment with the counseling center will not receive an appointment until May 2013.

Forced labor and violence in the homes of the FRG and GDR
The conversations with the former home children often reveal shocking life stories and terrible fates, reports Scherer. According to the expert, around 60 percent of victims in homes were victims of coercion and violence, which traumatized them and „sustainably thrown off track“ have. They were often denied the option of a free choice of profession and they were not even allowed to attend school. Forced labor was not uncommon in the homes, with no social insurance contributions paid for the forced labor. Accordingly, those affected today have a significantly lower or no pension entitlement.

Fund for former home children
For this reason, a 120-million-euro fund was set up for former home-children from the West German countries at the beginning of the year, which should enable a pension equalization for those affected. In July, followed by a fund with 40 million for former DDR home children. The money should also help those affected to pay for necessary therapies, because many are now relatively destitute, live from transfer payments, are severely disabled or in early retirement, reports the acting director of the Berlin counseling center.

Terrifying fate of home children
Scherer explained to the fates of the Heimkinder that these are often all the more frightening, because the affected as children had already experienced a bad history before they came to the supposedly better homes. Here, however, they were offered no help, but instead inflicted additional suffering. With rabid educational methods such as icy cold showers, starvation and beatings, the caregivers have made the home children docile. „The children came, so to speak, from the rain to the eaves“, explained Scherer. Thus, the home stay left many serious psychological damage. For example, studies have shown that the risk of developing traumas is much higher in later life.

Pension replacement and compensation for children from home
Fund home-education now promises late redress, with payments on the one hand comprising unpaid social security contributions for forced labor and, on the other hand, compensation for the suffering suffered. According to the acting head of the East and West Funds, a total of 450,000 euros in pension replacement benefits for victims and 220,000 euros in compensation were approved by the Berlin counseling center. Both sums were largely distributed to former home children from Germany. However, Scherer expects an alignment between East and West here in the future, since so far many applications of the GDR fund, which only existed since July, have simply not yet been finalized. (Fp)

Also read:
The agony of memories of trauma
Brain damage from mistreatment in childhood
Child maltreatment leaves scars in the brain
Higher risk of disease due to trauma

Picture: Martin Schemm