In the interview on the research project "Then imagine I'm locked up ... in a nursing home", Prof. Dr. Silke Birgitta Gahleitner talks about overpowering fear, phases of amnesia that follow intensive research and why abuse is not a misfortune, but an injustice...
Ms. Gahleitner, with the project "Then imagine they lock me ... in an old people's home", you are following on from the project "Testimony - Experiences in GDR children's homes. Coping and coming to terms" (2019 to 2022). Had the topic already suggested itself as a follow-up topic during the research process?
Prof. Dr. Silke Birgitta Gahleitner: That was exactly the case. In the 20 interviews that we conducted at the time, it became clear time and again that after experiencing violence in institutional contexts, the fear and worry of being helplessly at the mercy of abusive staff in an institution is almost overwhelming. It was not for nothing that we titled the project with a quote from an interviewee: "Imagine if they locked me ... in an old people's home".
The quote goes even further. In this case, he is afraid of becoming violent himself. He illustrates this quite vividly: "There aren't that many bedside cabinets, and there aren't as many doors as they need," he describes in the interview. At the time, we picked out a total of ten individual cases from the 20 interviews and incorporated the remaining ten into an overall comparison, but the topic came up again and again. Not in detail, because it was not one of our central issues at the time, but it was explicitly raised by many of those affected
The documentation of this injustice went unnoticed for a long time and only received the necessary attention in recent years, partly thanks to your work. Why is that?
Coming to terms with acts of violence and structures of violence is by no means a favorite topic in our society. Judith Lewis Herman, author of the book "The Scars of Violence", which is well worth reading, introduces this book with the observation that the discourse on violence has a peculiar structure. Namely, that periods of intensive research and publication activities are always followed by phases of amnesia, i.e. of concealment and denial, so that the findings have to be worked out almost anew each time.
This can be clearly observed in the reception of and research into sexualized violence, as Andrea Pohling recently pointed out in an article. Efforts to address sexualized violence were therefore repeatedly followed by attempts to declare victims untrustworthy. In 1990, under the campaign title 'Abuse with abuse', the focus was on abuse within the family, later organized violence was questioned until police reports confirmed it, and currently sexualized violence of a ritual nature is being called into question.
Years before the Canisius College scandal hit the media, there was already a report in the Frankfurter Rundschau about the Odenwaldschule. It was simply not picked up at the time. And for former children who have experienced sexualized violence, this silence is doubly true, because they have often suffered lasting financial and educational damage and it is challenging for many of them to articulate themselves.
Those affected distinguish between sincere efforts to come to terms with the situation and pointless expressions of sympathy and empty words
The people whose human rights were violated, instead of being cared for and supported, have long developed strategies for coping on their own and without support, because they had to. Is it possible to make amends - if at all?
I remember an interviewee who said: "You can't, you can't, no matter how much money you spend". That's how it is. But that doesn't mean that nothing can be done. I have always found that those affected are very good at distinguishing sincere efforts to come to terms with the situation from pointless expressions of sympathy and empty words. However, this effort is quite demanding: in addition to support for individual coping, it requires a confrontation between the institutions involved and society or the state, as Heiner Keupp has described for processes of coming to terms with the past. Individualizing acts of violence to those affected is not the solution. Violence and structures that support violence are a social problem and therefore those affected also need society to stand by their side in solidarity. Although coming to terms with injustice is not the same as taking action against injustice under the rule of law, it is definitely involved in the social definition of injustice. As Sabine Andresen writes in many places, coming to terms with injustice provides individual coping processes with a social framework for taking responsibility, acknowledging suffering and injustice and overcoming injustice in the future. And those affected expressly appreciate it when they feel recognition and a discourse that is fair to those affected.
As they get older, many of them are exposed to the threat of a repetition of traumatic experiences, and old people's homes as places of care and support certainly seem threatening after the experiences they have had. Which aspects need to be considered particularly or even sensitively during research?
Those affected by violence in institutions are not only subjectively exposed to the risk of re-traumatization, there is a very real danger that situations of powerlessness and helplessness will be repeated, not to mention the violent assaults that can and do occur in care home contexts. In this respect, a number of high-risk aspects must be taken into account when conducting the research project on care options and dangers for former children in institutions in old age.
Despite an already detailed application, we have received a number of helpful hints from the Ethics Committee. In addition to a risk analysis, i.e. all the ethical aspects to be considered during the interviews, we have explored measures that we can provide in concrete terms if difficult situations arise for the interviewees during the interviews. However, I have to say from my experience - and this experience ties in with even more experienced researchers such as Dan Bar-On - that after the many, many interviews that I have conducted with my teams in very sensitive areas, I have only very rarely received explicitly negative feedback. Most of the time, the relief of having told my own story again and having 'gotten something off my chest' prevails. I would like to express my gratitude to my qualified research team, without whom the implementation would not have been possible!
It is definitely about injustice
What could the results mean for society?
I think that society bears a large part of the responsibility for the acts of violence that took place in the institutions at the time and that caused lasting damage to people for the rest of their lives. In the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse, of which I am a member, it is important to us that this is not a matter of misfortune, but definitely a matter of injustice. The resulting suffering must therefore not only be acknowledged, but responsibility must be taken for it and the powerful structures that enable injustice must be overcome.
How is this solved in other countries?
In Austria, for example, there was an interesting and impressive attempt to make amends: at the highest political level, an act of state took place in parliament together with those affected, in which high-ranking politicians apologized to those affected for what had happened. I did research in Austria for a while and wondered why the 'children's home issue' took a slightly different course there than it did here. I think it has something to do with the seriousness of the attempts that were made there to come to terms with what happened. We won't be able to achieve that with this small research project. But perhaps we will succeed in encouraging a different attitude in care facilities for the elderly.
"We involve those affected in the research process"
What could the research mean for those affected?
I hope that this change in attitude will promote a way of dealing with those affected where they are not simply managed or even discriminated against and stigmatized instead of being helped to integrate the traumatic sequences in old age. Since I learned in the last project that this basic attitude of the people around them and of society is of such great importance for those affected, I hope that these efforts will have a positive effect on those affected themselves. We are not only interviewing those affected for the project, we are also involving those affected in the research process through an accompanying advisory board and active support.
In addition to the hope of a change in attitude in some professionals working with the elderly and the result of trauma-appropriate concepts in this area, I would therefore also be pleased if empowerment aspects were also possible for those involved at various points in the participation in the development of the results. You can't force something like that, it has to happen. But when I think back to our previous project 'Testimony', we really enjoyed these aspects in particular. I expect to receive concrete suggestions after the first advisory board meetings, in which we want to take up suggestions from those affected and other professionals.
The research project is funded by the Independent Commission for the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse. Since 2016, this commission has been investigating the extent, nature and consequences of sexual violence against children and young people in families, institutions and organized contexts. What do you expect from the commission's work in the near and distant future?
I worked for many years and with great passion as a social worker and psychotherapist with traumatized girls and women in a social therapy facility and in private practice - and subsequently conducted research on the topics of trauma, attachment and relationships here at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. My research and publication projects often shed light on violent relationships from the perspective of those affected in order to give them a voice through research and to find out what else could be supportive in the coping process.
However, research results always have a limited impact and you have to rush from one project to the next. I have long thought that something should be done systematically, not just selectively. When I got to know the Commission, I was fascinated by it. At last there is a central authority that is trying to systematically offer those affected better conditions to open up, talk about their experiences of violence and find help and support. This creates a climate in which they feel they are in better hands and where they experience solidarity and recognition for what they have achieved. That simply gives me pleasure. I hold a lot of hearings, which are at the heart of the Commission's work. This means that we talk to those affected in a safe, protected and confidential environment. We share our findings with society, for example in the form of reports or public events, in order to inform, educate and promote reappraisal.
I believe that it is important to understand even more through research and to develop even more opportunities to support individual and social reappraisal. This is what distinguishes the Commission, and this is also my task in the university sector. In this respect, I see my work in the Commission as a classic field of 'third mission' and I really enjoy working there because I have the feeling that I can make a difference. Of course, I can't do this alone, which is why I would like to take this opportunity to thank my entire research team and my colleagues on the commission.
The questions were asked by Denis Demmerle.
About the project:
"Imagine if they locked me ... in an old people's home": Care options and risks for former institutionalized children in old age
Project duration: 01.08.2024 to 31.07.2026
Partners: None.
Further information on "Testimony - Experiences in GDR children's homes. Bewältigung und Aufarbeitung" (2019 to 2022) and at tageschau.de the article "Gewalt und Vernachlässigung im Heim".
