German play about sex abuse at school stirs up real-life memories

GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

No one wants to be a victim, but boys in Germany were sexually abused in Catholic schools. Now a new play examines their struggles as adults – and comes painfully close to reality.

One after the other, the actors enter the dark stage and sit on chairs arranged in a half-circle. Thomas Melle’s play, “Bilder von uns” (Pictures of us) begins by separating the individuals from each other – and that is not a coincidence.

“No one is the only one,” a victim will later say, “But each one is alone with their memories.”

These are memories of the unspeakable: the abuse of a priest, who inappropriately touches the children in his care in the shower and sauna, who takes nude pictures of them, and even forces them to engage in sexual conduct. All of these things happened many years ago, in a school.
Since then, time has passed. But one day, a photo turns up.

Jesko is a 40-year-old media manager who is successful in his job and happily married. He discovers the photograph on his mobile phone. It’s a picture of him, naked, as a young boy. He continues to receive similar photographs. Is someone trying to blackmail him?

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