We have to say good bye to our honorary member
who died too early for all of us on September 3rd 2005.
She has been friend, source of energy, mentor,
realistic visionary and driving force of the foundation
of the German Network of Hearing Voices.
We will continue our work in accordance with her standards.

Netzwerk Stimmenhören e.V. (NeSt)

Notice of loss – obituary – memories in commemoration of Hannelore Klafki

Hannelore Klafki, this small slightly build woman with the breathy voice with eyes flashed up by interest, the warm-hearted, unsentimental friend, the tireless initiator of changes, the loyal companion in crises, the realistic visionary, this bundle of energy, who gave herself permission to rest only when she had to withdraw from anything and anybody for a while, is no longer with us. Death overwhelmed her at her birthday while she was writing on her computer. She was found by worried friends lying on the ground beside her desk, the computer still on. I am convinced, if she had a choice she would have chosen to pass away as she did. She hated any form of dependency. For us, who are left behind, the void created by this passing away becomes even crueler and even harder to understand because nobody had a chance to say good-bye. There are many, who are left behind, because Hannelore influenced lives just by meeting people.

Even though her own development encompassed already in early stages unwanted changes, painful losses and trespasses, she did not become helpless despite all the anxiety she experienced. She found in herself strength to question the realities and to open up for the passionate desire for change and especially for self-determination. How angry she was about the concept “empowerment”! She did not want to be empowered or even “healed” by others; she wanted to use her energy and power on her own conditions.

The terror of suddenly in her 17th year appearing malicious, mean and obscene voices, which she called her “tormentors”, complicated her life for many years. Sometimes she became so overpowered by them that she was hospitalized for months – in the beginning usually against her will. While fighting with the tormentors she managed to ally herself with the eventually appearing supporting voices, her “guardian angles”, thus breaking the power of the tormentors for lengthy periods. She allowed the guardian angles to advice her in complicated situations and took their suggestions into account in her creative work. When the voices turned up too often she tried to reduce them by getting even more active, as for instance in engaging in political work.

Ultimately Hannelore won the battle with her tormentors. She accepted another crisis intervention on a psychiatric ward as a possibility, negotiated her wishes and her prohibitions with the hospital staff and never again entered a psychiatric ward as a patient. One necessary prerequisite for this victory was an agreement with her voices, in which she offered the voices speaking time during the early hours of the morning on the condition that they left her alone for the rest of the day. The better this agreement worked the more energy Hannelore had to spend on her goals.

During these times she worked for a peroid in the „Run-Away-House“, as ombudswoman for psychiatric patients, headed a communal crisis centre and reacted – in the beginning by herself later on together with other voice hearers – to the many demands for training in a different approach to hearing voices by psychiatric institutions. For Hannelore the vision of a “crisis boarding house” run by a team working trialogically – i.e. a user, a carer, a professional share equal power – was an important driving force. This crisis boarding house respects voice hearers as a start as experts of their own experience and supports them in their personal way of dealing with their voices.

Impressed by the Dutch and British approaches to dealing with voices and enthused by the emancipatory ideas of the psychosis seminars she looked for allies to implement these concepts in trialogue groups for voice hearers. Being one of those she found, I can attest to the energy, dynamics and power of persuasion Hannelore set free and which prejudices she – seemingly without any effort – overcame. The formation assembly of the German network of voice hearers – an institution which critically questions traditional psychiatric behaviour – took place in the conference room of the medical staff of the psychiatric hospital of Kaufbeuren. The biannual conferences on hearing voices organized by the German network take place in the city hall of Neukölln, a borough of Berlin. Hannelore loved the fact that every other year the “crazies” hold meetings in the chambers of the city hall.

When she was convinced of the network’s stability Hannelore returned to her political roots. Her leaving the network made obvious how much work she had taken on. The network had to transfer her self adopted tasks on to three individuals.

During the 2003 conference the network made Hannelore Klafki an honorary member, knowing well that she will always be a pillar of support. We have to say good-bye to this notion. While continuing our work in her spirit we keep in touch with her.

Monika Hoffmann (for the Netzwerk Stimmenhören e.V.)

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