Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo Review (We Children of Zoo Trainstation)

Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo Review 

Plot: this is an autobiography of Christiane F. Journalists took notice of her when she was a witness in a law suit and had to testify. It was a law suit about substance abuse (german: Misshandlung gegen das Betäubungsmittelgesetz). So Christiane F told the journalists her story on how she spiraled into the abyss of drugs and destruction.

She begins the story with her family’s move from the countryside to Gropiusstadt, a suburb of Berlin in the area of Neuköln. There her life takes a turn. She exchanges her idyllic childhood for one filled with violence and the battle of power. She from day one realizes that she has to proof the world that she is not weak, if people saw her as that they would have destroyed her. It was a survival of the fittest. On the one side at home she battled a very violent father and on the other side she fighted for her recognition to fit in among her classmates. Always wanting to belong to the cool friendgroup because  for her that means strength. 

This book plays in the seventies when the abuse of drugs found its ways to the children in germany. With that being said it didn‘t take long for her to get acquainted with drugs. It all started in the Haus der Mitte where she for the first time did weed. At the beginning taking drugs was for her nothing different than what she had been doing all her life in Berlin. She did it to be cool, to proof that she was strong. But soon she realized that taking drugs had a very good sideeffect. It numbed all her pain and sorrow. At home things escalated quickly, resulting into her parents getting divorced and her mother finding a new boyfriend. So drugs became her get-away of reality. What started with alcohol and weed at twelve resulted into heroin and prostitution at fourteen.

This book dives into all aspects of drug abuse by children in the 70‘s. The story is mainly told by Christiane F. but there are also excerpts from interviews of her mother and also varies psychiatrists and social workers. It shows the hopelessness of a whole generation and its effects on the overall society. But more than anything it is filled with pain. You can‘t read it and not feel what Christiane F felt. What took me to surprise most (except the fact of her age) was how grown up she in fact was. She quickly realized the consequences of her addiction but there was no out of it on her own. Adults being just as helpless as her made her grow up faster than under normal circumstances. She knew that there was no help for her. It broke my heart to hear that from a young child. All the pain and sorrow trapped in such a young child with yet such an old soul. I am in no way idolising her by saying drugs made her grow up faster it is just stating the facts. But then sometimes you can hear the child in her nonetheless. And those are the parts when you want to rip out your heart because you get reminded that she is fourteen and not a grown up. That she did not really have a choice, she got sucked in into something that could - no, should have been prevented by her parents or adults in general. She was thirteen when her mother and father let her go clubbing and ignored or the warning signs. I don‘t wanna blame her parents, but as she is a child not really capable of judging for her own there has to be someone to be blamed. So, yes it may seem harsh but it is the parents‘ duty to prevent a child’s own ruin. A twelve year old cannot distinguish right or good like and adult and when it finally can it is often too late. Like in Christiane F‘s case.
But it also shows how someone that starts the abuse of drugs is subconsciously pushed into this destructive cicle by their life situation. 

This book makes you think a lot about society and how unfair life can treat some people. I can‘t recommend this book enough!