Overview

• At about age 11–12, Sawatzki says she became the primary caregiver for her ailing father while her mother worked night shifts and the family lacked money for outside support.
• She recounts violent incidents, including being held down and struck in the face until she bled, and says neighbors likely heard her screams.
• Sawatzki describes living with fear and hatred during those years and feeling relief when her father died in 1978.
• She says the trauma left her believing for years that she could not love or be a mother, later finding stability with Christian Berkel and their two sons.
• Her disclosures in Die Zeit and on ARD’s Riverboat follow years of processing through psychoanalysis and the novels Brunnenstraße (2022) and Biarritz (2025).