Alma Kahn [1983] A
Biography
I am the daughter of a violent drinker and an anxious mother
At age three I receive medical attention for the first time after my father’s violence, without my mother protecting me
At age six I am raped by my father and placed in a children’s home for a year
At age nine I am raped by my sixteen-year-old cousin and my mother brands me a liar and the traitor of the family
At age eleven I learn to smoke hash and feel good in the company of outsiders
At age eleven I am sent by my parents to a closed psychiatric unit, fight desperately against it and am given tranquilisers to keep me quiet
At age thirteen I survive my first suicide attempt, am disowned by my father and flee from the city together with a friend
At age thirteen the friend gives me my first shot of heroin and takes me with her to walk the streets
At age thirteen I am a drug addict, move in with my pimp and live in shame
At age fifteen I hope that my divorced mother will take me in and am rejected
At age sixteen I marry my pimp
At age seventeen I fall in love with a male drug addict, am happy, clean, and become a mother
At age nineteen I go back to heroin and prostitution
At age twenty-one I provide for my lover, who is in jail, and my son, by dealing
At age twenty-one I break off contact with my father
At age twenty-two I am diagnosed as having cirrhosis of the liver and I break off my first course of treatment
At age twenty-three my boyfriend is released and we escape to Germany because of my court case
At age twenty-three I am arrested, convicted, and given a long prison sentence
At age twenty-three my boyfriend leaves me
At age twenty-three I understand and forgive my mother’s betrayal
At age twenty-four I am depressed, deliberately harm myself, and seek help
From a dialogue with the participant and with the aid of the matrix a biography of basic facts is developed, which portrays the person’s life as a sequence of events and decisions, of acts and reactions.
The texts of the biographies are spoken by the participants themselves, and recorded for the audio modules of the Baby Dolls and the project’s audio archive.