Draft:Dear Son
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Last edited by BackgammonFilm (talk | contribs) 2 days ago. (Update) |
Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. BackgammonFilm (talk) 09:47, 30 July 2026 (UTC)
| Dear Son | |
|---|---|
 Dear Son | |
| Directed by | Yadolah Dodge |
| Written by | Yadolah Dodge |
| Produced by | Yadolah Dodge |
| Starring | Beatrix Schartl (as Maria Magdalena Ischer) |
| Cinematography | Yadolah Dodge |
| Edited by | Yadolah Dodge |
Running time | 70 min. |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Language | German |
Dear Son is a 2018 documentary film directed, produced, and filmed by Yadolah Dodge, featuring Beatrix Schartl. The film follows Maria Magdalena Ischer, a Swiss woman who as a teenager was subjected to the practice of administrative institutionalization (administrative Versorgung
) in Switzerland, under which she was imprisoned without trial and had her newborn son taken from her for adoption without her consent.
Synopsis
[edit]Between 1942 and 1981, Swiss authorities detained pregnant teenage girls without legal proceedings and placed them in institutions alongside convicted criminals, ostensibly for their "education." Maria Magdalena Ischer was one of these girls. In 1966, at age 17, she was arrested in Lutzenberg and held for roughly a year and a half in Hindelbank women's prison without ever being charged with a crime. Her newborn son, Thomas, was taken from her and given up for adoption by force. The film follows Maria Magdalena at age 61 as she searches for her son, hoping to find him while she is still alive.
Background
[edit]Maria Magdalena Ischer was born on 23 July 1949 in a women's hospital in Bern. Her father was of Swiss-French background and her mother of Italian-French background; her parents were unmarried at the time of her birth. From roughly age one until her mid-teens, she was moved between a series of children's homes and institutions across several Swiss cantons, including facilities in Baden, Laufen, Rathausen (Lucerne), Rebstein (St. Gallen), and Gut Hirten (St. Gallen). In the film, she recounts harsh discipline, corporal punishment, and forced labor she says she experienced in several of these institutions, particularly those run by religious orders.
Pregnancy and imprisonment
[edit]At age 16, while pregnant, Maria Magdalena was sent by the authorities to a psychiatric clinic in Münsingen, in the canton of Bern. She recounts in the film that the intent behind this placement was to obtain a psychiatric assessment that would permit a forced abortion and sterilization, and that she avoided this outcome with the help of a Catholic priest at the clinic.
In the spring of 1966 she was transferred to Lutzenberg, in the canton of Appenzell, where she worked at a knitting factory through the end of her pregnancy. She gave birth to her son, Thomas, at a hospital in Heiden. Shortly after the birth, the child was taken from her for adoption.
In the spring of 1967, Maria Magdalena was held for several weeks in a county jail in Bern, and from July 1967 to November 1968 she was held in the Hindelbank women's prison, despite never having been charged with or convicted of any crime. She states that documents she later obtained confirm the transfer to Hindelbank had no legal basis.
Search for her son
[edit]Decades later, at age 61, Maria Magdalena is shown attempting to locate her son Thomas, working through official channels and intermediaries. The film documents her reflections on the years of separation and her hope to see her son again before she dies.
Style and structure
[edit]The film follows Maria Magdalena as she revisits locations tied to key moments in her life — former children's homes, the Münsingen clinic, the hospital in Heiden, and Hindelbank prison — where she shares her recollections on location. The film also incorporates personal letters and archival documents belonging to Maria Magdalena as historical evidence supporting her account.
Subject matter and context
[edit]The film addresses Switzerland's historical practice of administrative Versorgung ("administrative care" or administrative institutionalization), under which authorities could detain individuals — including unmarried pregnant minors — in institutions without a court judgment, on the basis of decisions by guardianship authorities. This practice affected an estimated tens of thousands of people in Switzerland over the course of the 20th century and became the subject of increased public attention and eventual government acknowledgment in the following years.
Crew
[edit]- Director, producer, cinematographer: Yadolah Dodge
- Featuring: Beatrix Schartl
See also
[edit]- Administrative detention in Switzerland
- Verdingkinder