#detlefr

[vintageladyofthelowlands]

In 1987 (I was 14 years old,yes I'm that old now 🙄)I had to read the book "Christiane F, Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo " wich in Dutch is called "Christiane F,Verslag van een junkie".It wasn't a school assignment it was my mother who made me read the book.In the small Dutch town where I grew up my mother was (amongst other things) a drugs counsellor and she thought it was a good idea for me to read the book.

Yeah ,the story is shocking and all that but why does no-one ever mentions the people who literally got thrown in front of the bus so to speak and I'm talking about Detlef R.,Stella, and everyone else who gets mentioned but doesn't have their name on the book cover and/or title page.

To be honest I've never liked Christiane F. she seems a bit self centred to me and over the years after a (horrible) second book and watching interviews she comes across as a very shallow person who based her whole being on being a drug addict.

For me, Detlef was the real hero of the book, the fact that he was the only person with two pictures in the Dutch edition of the book drew my attention towards him. I mentioned before that my mother was a drugs counsellor and I've met many boys who were in the same position as Detlef with the difference that the life they tried to get away from didn't get documented in a world wide bestseller, a blockbuster movie and a television series.But in a small town where most people know each other maybe there isn't much difference. And I admired each and every one of them the same way I admire Detlef.

My admiration for Detlef grew years later when I saw a documentary in wich he,Stella,Frank H and some others shared their side/views on the story.Detlef gave a very matter of factly view on everything without hiding the underneath sadness,shame and anger.

Stella in the same documentary broke my heart ,and Frank seemed like a very nice bloke.

But some people feel different and are actually angry with Detlef for telling the truth, namely that as far as he was concerned what he and Christiane had was more based on their dependency on drugs and really had nothing to do with love.

Has anyone ever noticed the degrading way Christiane speaks about Stella in the book?It really doesn't make any sense,she calls Stella ugly while the picture of the stunning girl in the book speaks otherwise.

The documentary from the mid 1990s can be found on YouTube

There's also an interview from the early 1980s with Detlef and Frank

See al the links below.

About the pictures the black and white one is from a report of Stern from 1978(?) The other three are screenshots from the documentary.

If I'm informed correctly, Stella and Frank are both dead, but Detlef is still alive.

I did post this to pay attention to the unsung heroes of this immensely tragic story.

[vintageladyofthelowlands]

Because Detlef deserves his own gifs