Uschi Waser

I was born on 13 December 1952 in Rüti, Canton Zurich. According to the files I was first placed with a foster family and then in the children's home Friedheim, also in Rüti. As the daughter of a Yenish woman (the term used in Switzerland for Travellers, who were equated with Roma), guardianship over me was imposed on 2 June 1953 by the head of the Pro Juventute relief organisation "Children of the Open Road", a Mr Siegfried. The stigma of belonging to a persecuted minority followed me for many years. That same year I was placed with a foster family in Samedan, Canton Graubünden…

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In July 1953 I was first taken to the children's home St Ursula in Deitingen, Canton Solothurn. From there I was transferred, also in 1953, to the children's home La Margna in Celerina, Canton Graubünden. In March 1954 I was collected again and taken to the children's home Auf Berg in Seltisberg, Canton Basel-Landschaft. Already in September 1954 I was returned to La Margna in Celerina. Two years later, in September 1956, I went first to my mother and then to the day home of the City of Basel. As early as October 1956 I was sent back to La Margna in Celerina for the third time. In December 1959, when I was seven years old, I was placed with a foster family in Oberrieden, Canton Zurich. After some time the foster family moved with me to Weesen, Canton St Gallen. In January 1961 the children's home Hofbergli in Rehetobel, Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, was my next stop. In June 1961 the next stage was the reform school Burg in Rebstein, also Canton St Gallen. A year and a half later, in July 1962, I went to the reform school Lindenhof in Churwalden, Canton Graubünden. In May 1963 there was a further transfer to a foster family in Taverne, Canton Ticino. After only six months I was removed again and taken to the reform school Jung Rhy in Altstätten in the Rhine valley of Canton St Gallen. Almost a year later, in October 1964, the municipal home Ibach in Canton Schwyz became my new residence for a few months. And in July 1966, the retirement home in Obervaz, Canton Graubünden, was selected as my new domicile. Many of the Swiss Yenish originate from Obervaz. In December 1966 I returned to Altstätten, where I was confined to the home Zum Guten Hirten until April 1971. In total, over all those years, I was moved 25 times.

Through various escapes, hospital stays, returns to my mother, and temporary nursery placements, the number of places I lived in approached 50. Throughout all those years Pro Juventute was always at pains to sever all connections to siblings, mother, and relatives. Until I turned 18, open racism followed me through every home, school, and institution in the form of insults and prejudice. I remember the feeling of powerlessness that this repeatedly produced in me.

By marrying at 19, I at least finally rid myself of my surname, which was so distinctively Yenish. Although my spouse was also Yenish, we lived undisturbed as “settled” people in a flat. After the divorce of my first marriage I moved to a different part of the country, but there again encountered racism. At the time I forbade my daughter to speak about my origins at school or with friends. She should not have to suffer as I had in my life – and, what mattered far more to me, she should have the same chances as other children. Only our closest circle of friends knew of our “background.”

When I learned from my files years ago who had been pulling the strings, I broke my silence. Today I stand fully by my origins and fight for the injustice inflicted on us as children to be addressed in full and with all its consequences. Over time I accumulated a pile of files amounting to around 3,500 pages. Armed with knowledge of my history and of who was behind the "Children of the Open Road" operation and the authorities' measures, I have confronted the injustice that was done and broken my silence.

Goals

Being difficult to raise, vagrancy, pathological lying, and sexual licentiousness were the prejudices levelled at us from earliest childhood that found their way into the files. These deprived us of our childhood, cheated us of our youth, and prevented independent, unconditional, and fair assessment by all courts and authorities. We want and need full rehabilitation, including correction of the files, with all the consequences that entails.

“I fight for the injustice inflicted on us as children to be addressed in full and with all its consequences!”

Many of those subjected to administrative detention suffered not only from the associated coercive measures. They were frequently sexually abused as well, but criminal proceedings against the perpetrators were unfortunately initiated in only a few cases. It must be assumed that the criminal justice system also largely failed to the detriment of the victims, allowing perpetrators to go unpunished. It is therefore necessary to investigate not only the conduct and the wrongs committed by the civil authorities in the welfare system, but also those of the criminal justice authorities of the time.

I was born in spring 1950 in Dürrenäsch together with my twin brother. Later my parents moved to another flat in Dürrenäsch towards Teufenthal, where we remained until 1954/55. My parents had emigrated to Switzerland in 1948 from Silesia/Poland together with my older sister, who was three years old at the time. My father had smuggled my mother and sister across the Polish-German border. After crossing the border the family first went into quarantine in Brunnen, Canton Schwyz. There, in 1948, my older brother was born…

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The family then found a permanent home in the municipality of Dürrenäsch. In 1951 our half-brother Heinz was born. A little later we moved to Lenzburg, where I attended kindergarten and year 1 of primary school. After contracting tuberculosis and the surgery that followed, I went in 1957 for a year to a home in Amden, Canton St Gallen, for a cure and recovery. Barely back with my parents, they had a violent argument. The children were taken away by the authorities. Heinz, my twin brother, and I were placed in a private home in Speicher, Appenzell. My older sister and brother were each placed as indentured children with different farmers. Shortly afterwards my parents divorced.

I attended year 2 of primary school in Speicher, where the three of us siblings remained until 1959. The foster parents of that time did not spare punishments. We were then separated again. I did not see my siblings again until 1964. From 1959 to 1965 I was placed as an indentured child with a farmer in Stettfurt, Canton Thurgau, where beatings again occurred. After school, at 15, I went for the domestic training year to Unterentfelden, Canton Aargau. During that time I had a room with the Scheibler family.

Then began my two-year cookery apprenticeship at the Sonnenberg retirement home in Reinach, Canton Aargau, which I completed successfully with a certificate of competence. For my first job as an employee I went to the Hôtel de Famille in Vevey, where I stayed for a year. I then worked for a year as a cook at the hospital in Montreux. In the neighbouring town of La-Tour-de-Peilz I found a private position as a cook with a silk merchant. Later I held several six-month seasonal posts in winter in Graubünden and other ski resorts, and in summer again in French-speaking Switzerland or the German-speaking part.

My first marriage was short-lived. With my second husband I went to Uznach, where we successfully ran a bakery and confectionery with several branches for ten years. There our three children were born – a boy and two girls. When my husband became involved with an apprentice, our marriage fell apart, and from then on I had to support the children on my own through my work, until they had completed their apprenticeships and come of age.