Jonathan Overfeld

Heinz-Jürgen "Jonathan" Overfeld is Vice Chairman of the Association of Former Children in Care . As a result of severe retrograde amnesia , he became known as "the man who lost his memory".

Life

In April 2005, Jonathan Overfeld was sitting on a park bench in Hamburg. He had forgotten his life. He didn't remember his name, whether he has a family, whether he smokes, or where his car is. After alcohol or other drugs could be ruled out as the cause in the hospital , Jonathan Overfeld was finally diagnosed with retrograde amnesia. It was assumed that he had hidden threatening experiences from his memory and completely forgot himself. The attending doctor finally got in touch with memory researcher Hans Markowitsch to discuss the Overfeld case with him.

The journalist Kuno Kruse became aware of Overfeld when he tried to find out his identity through press releases. Kruse helped Overfeld research and reconstruct his life. The first memories that Overfeld found back were in childhood. He got access when he sat down at the piano and found that he could play. Simultaneously with the “ Ave Maria ” from the Prelude in C major of the first part of the Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach , he also remembered that he had to experience his first rape after a concert .

Research revealed that Jonathan Overfeld was a home child in the 1960s. In addition to violence and drill , the boy, who is considered rebellious, was also exposed to sexual abuse . Overfeld speaks of over 100 rapes. Among other things, he lived at the time at the Catholic Salvator College in Klausheide near Paderborn.

Today Overfeld, who retires early, is involved as vice-chairman of the “Association of Former Children in Care” to publicly denounce the grievances suffered together with numerous other children in the home. Due to the statute of limitations, many of the perpetrators can no longer be prosecuted today.

literature

• Kuno Kruse: The man who lost his memory. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-455-50159-9 .
• Peter Wensierski: The suffering of the early years . In: Die Zeit , No. 7/2006.
• Peter Wensierski: Merciless sisters . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 2003 ( online ).
• Frauke Hinrichsen: The key to memory . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 16, 2010.

Web links

• Katja Bigalke: “I thought about who I am, and nothing came of it.” The Jonathan Overfeld case. On: dradio.de from August 17, 2009.
• Interview with Jonathan Overfeld. On: Top-TV from October 2010.
• Jakob Kneser : The man without memory. Why Jonathan Overfeld lost his memory. WDR television, Quarks & Co .
• Kuno Kruse: The man without a memory. On: stern.de from June 28, 2008.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ weltderwunder.de.msn.com ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ rnw.nl ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ rnw.nl ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ bild.de
5. ↑ jungle-world.com
6. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Berg, Jürgen Dahlkamp , Jan Friedmann, Frank Hornig, Simone Kaiser, Sven Röbel, Alexander Smoltczyk, Peter Wensierski: Scham und Angst . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 2010 ( online ).
7. ↑ Christian Denso: Children in the Federal Republic of Germany - one wipe out . In: Die Zeit , No. 38/2009
8. ↑ hoffmann-und-campe.de ( Memento of the original dated November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.