Christine Birkhoff

Christine Birkhoff (* 1965 ) is the pseudonym of a former policewoman who published the experience report A false dream of love . In her book, she describes her arduous path from a cruel childhood to a happy family life as an adult woman. Christine Birkhoff's gripping story describes the many stages in her life and the difficulties that victims of physical and sexual violence still have to struggle with, especially in adulthood.

Career

Christine Birkhoff was born as the daughter of a future elementary school teacher. Her mother, who was 18 at birth, immediately placed the child in a home. Christine later came to see her grandmother. When she was three years old, her parents brought her back to live with them. Shortly afterwards, the mistreatment began with beatings and humiliation. After the parents' divorce, Birkhoff grew up with her mother and her new partner, who raped her at the age of 14 and sexually abused her until she attempted suicide shortly before she was 18.

At the age of 18 she moved out of home, graduated from high school and fled to a large construction site in West Africa, where she worked in accounting. From there she applied as a stewardess at Deutsche Lufthansa and flew around the world on intercontinental routes for five years. This was followed by retraining as a business correspondent in English and French at the IHK. Christine Birkhoff ended up in Frankfurt am Main, where she worked for a renowned headhunter. The passionate rider then moved to Hanover to train with Richard Hinrichs. In 1995 she applied to the police in North Rhine-Westphalia and worked on patrol duty until the opening of her equestrian shop in 2007. In 2001, after her mental breakdown, the investigation into her case began. A formal error and statute of limitations caused the OLG Hamm to discontinue the proceedings in 2002. After having had to seek professional help for 12 years, Christine Birkhoff is now committed to helping victims of child abuse and abuse. "We exist, even if nobody wants to admit it." Christine Birkhoff achieved her first breakthrough with her appearance on October 22, 2008 on SternTV. As a guest at Günther Jauch's , she described to a broader public for the first time the emotional torments to which, according to her, "tens of thousands" in Germany are exposed. "The silence of the victims only protects the perpetrators."

A change in the concept of prevention and the way adult victims are dealt with are their main concerns.

Works

• A false dream of love. The long way out of the hell of my childhood . Bastei-Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-404-61609-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Christine Birkhoff in the catalog of the German National Library