Herbert Keller

I was born on 26 August 1946 at the infant home in Herrliberg, Canton Zurich, and received my mother's surname, Keller, as the father was said to be unknown. In the files I later found my mother's letter in which she wrote that she was giving me up as her child. After that she disappeared. She went to England and married there. I was then placed with the childless foster parents Schöneberger in Mitlödi, Canton Glarus. The foster father was a commercial traveller by profession. The foster mother also worked and therefore had little time for me; during the day I was looked after at various places in the village…

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The Schönebergers had actually intended to adopt me. But after a few years they had a child of their own after all. I coped with this badly.

After that I moved to further foster placements in Canton Glarus. When I was 6 years old I was taken for a year to the child observation unit in Brugg, Canton Aargau. At 7 I was transferred to the children's home in Effingen, Canton Aargau, where I remained for nine years. I attended five years of primary school within the home itself, then went from there to secondary school in Bözen. After completing school I spent a year at an external vocational guidance school, while still having a separate room in another building of the home.

During my time in the home, several sexual assaults were committed by a teacher. These were never investigated. When I visited the current home in Effingen in 2020, I could find out almost nothing. Those there continued to keep silent. Only from the files did I later learn that I had a half-brother who had also been in Effingen for seven years at the same time as me – without either of us knowing about the other.

In 1962 I began a four-year printing apprenticeship in Wallisellen. During this time I lived in the apprentice hostel in Brüttisellen, in the locality of Baltenswil, Canton Zurich. In 1966 I completed the apprenticeship with a diploma. My home files are extensive – those from Effingen, the guardian, and the authorities run to 100 pages, filled with every minor transgression. In 1946 a doctor in Tägerig, Canton Aargau, examined me; his diagnosis notes that I was unable to put down roots anywhere. In 1951/52 I suffered several asthma attacks. In 1953 I went for a year to a home in Feldis, Canton Graubünden, and was then taken to the children's ward in Rüfenach, Canton Aargau.

The files from that period are very inconsistent and lacking in professionalism. At least it was noted that Herbert suffered from receiving no post and no visits. The various assessments – including age tests carried out when I was between 6 and 8 years old – are largely amateurish by today's standards. Trivial matters that any normal person would understand are overinterpreted. The findings of the physician at the cantonal hospital and care institution Königsfelden, Canton Aargau, dated 5 February 1953, addressed to the Lenzburg public guardianship office, are in part tendentious and based on false assumptions. Today I would have the right to demand that the records be corrected. After completing my apprenticeship I worked for two years at the firm of Conzett und Huber as a printer.

Addendum: my service in the Foreign Legion

In December 1968 I crossed the border on foot at Geneva into Annemasse, carrying a small suitcase and few clothes. Over the following months I travelled around southern France, then settled again in Marseille, where I held various casual jobs. There I also met former Foreign Legionnaires. On 25 April 1969 I signed a five-year contract with the Legion in Strasbourg. In May of the same year I reported to the barracks in Marseille, and on 1 June I sailed to Bastia, Corsica, for training. From there, by lorry to the south, to Bonifacio, where I obtained my driving licence, before being trained in various courses and postings. At the beginning of February 1972 I was made corporal there. In June 1973 I travelled via Paris to Djibouti in East Africa. At the end of September 1975 I returned to southern France and worked there for a time in the print shop of the Legion's centre in Aubagne. In February 1975, after 7 years of service, I was discharged. The reason for my enlistment in the Foreign Legion was the many years in children's homes and the feeling of having no home and no homeland – of being unable to put down roots anywhere. Fortunately, during those 7 years I was never injured.