Schneider’s Story: A Tale of Winners and Losers

Born in 1959, Karl-Heinz Schneider spent the first years of his life in the orphanage nursery in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz). Abandoned there by his mother with a note begging that he be cared for, the orphanage took him in, gave him a name and a date of birth, and allowed him a roof over his head. At the age of five, he was moved to a children’s home in Dresden, where malicious staff cruelly abused those in their care - a place where children had no rights, just obligations. In Dresden, Karl-Heinz learned how to survive, how to look out for his own interests. Now, as a young adult, he retains that survival instinct, that desperate need to stand alone and get money in his pocket without relying on others. One otherwise unremarkable day while delivering messages for much-needed cash, Karl-Heinz realises that he must report to a Mr Robert Wieland at the regional headquarters of the feared Stasi, and his life changes forever…