[Neue Suchanfrage] [Weitere Artikel vom 17.02.1996] What has a holy Indian cow to do with the drugscene from Bahnhof Zoo?
thanks to Marc for finding this interview, sending it to me and translating it!
German text version
Christiane F. from Berlin Zoo is living in Neukölln.
She now has a dog.
Nothing, except that she's looking for something to eat (Just like the cows)
We children of the Zoo station. .. it was the authors that put those words into the book Christiane F.
Christiane erases the tears of laughing out of her eyes, she's turning her head and
light a cigarette. It was something! she said. It was not clear if she meant
the story of the cow or what the cow had eaten. A teen life in a book, a life with heroin
at Bahnhof Zoo between kids and the periods of trying to be clean. All in the '70s.
The book which was composed through recordings with Christiane is sold over the
world (about 3 million). Christiane received 1 million Marks. Sometimes she wished
it never was there (The money). She always has money for a shot.
From the money she earned by the book, she bought a house of her own in Neukolln.
Soon she's not feeling well. She's of the opinion that others people in the house can not cope
with the press and they want Christiane to leave. That's why she's moving to another
house nearby.
In the kitchen there's the bicycle. Her bathroom is very small. It's difficult
to turn around there. From outside you can view the whole room as if she's living
in a house of glass. She's leaving soon.
Now there are children who found her and knock at the door. they're yelling:
Christiane, Christiane and sometimes they rang the bell and ask if everything
is true (what it says in the book).
She was treated like Hollywood star and now after 20 years, Christiane is of the
opinion that maybe without the book, her life would have developed in a different way.
When you don't have a private life, it's difficult to stay out of drugs she said.
She thinks that if she had talked to the papers, yes or no it would have made no difference. They write
what they want. On television they showed the mattress lying on the floor as if nobody
has a mattress on the floor. Also her underwear(?) lying on the stairs was filmed.
Christiane became a drug expert. She's invited to talkshows, papers and there's
a movie "Wir Kinder von Bahnhof Zoo" in 1981.
Difficult to explain: Many time she was treated false. During the Spiegel movie,
she had nothing to say. The BRAVO youth paper once made a report when they all
were still in bed. BRAVO was pleased with that. They made a mess of the mattress
and asked if it could stay that way.
Christiane thinks that the press stinks and they created a different Christiane.
It's sometimes difficult to say who was the real Christiane.
By her being addicted she earned more money than other junkies do at the Zoo
scene. It's by her addiction that she became famous.
In 1985 she met Anna Keel, Fellini, Loriot and Durrenmatt.
After some time Christiane fell back to drugs. The papers said she was not
intelligent enough to hang out with those people. She liked Fellini and Loriot.
She could talk to them about world issues.
At 33 she still had the junkie image and she didn't like that.
At 13 she began with heroin and it changes her live. It was because of
the unknown and she wanted to be accepted by her friends. She lived
with her parents in Gropiusstadt. At age of 15 she looked for men at the
Kurfurstenstrasse to earn some money for the shot. In the beginning it
was just a game for her. After a while she felt mentally empty and her body
was in chaos.
Again and again she tried to quit heroin. Her father locked her up at home to prevent her from
using it. Her mother sent her to her grandmother in Northern Germany.
She went back to school and learned to become a book keeper.
Then she met Alexander Hacke who was a member of Einsturzende Neubauten, a rock band.
She lived with him in Hamburg and even made a punklike record which was sung
backwards (Ich bin so suchtig...I'm so addicted). Again she had the junkie image.
a little while later she fell back on drugs again. Her friend left her and
it was a most difficult time for her! She went back to the kurfursterstrasse.
She thought: When you fall back....do it right!
When she's saying this she's first thinking to herself for about 30 seconds.
Suddenly a huge (?) appears which belongs to a guy at the bar. She found no one
and light a cigarette. I always see her, Christiane said, but can't remember
who she is.
She could choose between a jail and a therapy.
When she came out of jail, she went to Greece. There, she met Panagiotis. She
lived with him for 6 years. After this period she went back to Berlin. Then
she felt alone. Most of her friends were gone. Again she fell back.
Christiane becomes a little irritated in the bar. Now she wonders with her
dog though Kreuzberg. The dog is walking like an old man. Christiane is treating
him like a little kid. She's smoking. She's greeting another person with a dog.
This is the place where she lives. She always thought of it in Greece, she said.
Today, Christiane takes Methadone. Together with 1300
other adicted people in Berlin. Every day she gets her medicine from the doctor.
Once a week she have to collect urine to see that's she's not using any other drug.
She thought for years she can make it on her own, she said. Now she knows better.
Physically she's doing well now, except for the fact that sometimes she has
bad dreams. In her dream, she wants to take a shot but can't find a vein.
Another problem is how to spend your day.
Twice a week she met friends at Bahnhof Zoo. You can't tell there is a former
prositute and adict.
Christiane is strong, lost two teeth which she shows us proudly.
Mensch, I know him, she suddenly said and she's greeting a man. He once
was a customer of Christiane.
He never would fuck me, she says and laughs. Excuse me for my language.
At the end of the Jebenstrasse she sees an old man and a young one together.
Why are they together, she wonders. On the other side of the street she sees
men with their hands in their pockets. There you can buy dope, 10 grams for 25 Marks.
At the station kiosk there's a couple with a dog. They must sell pills, i'm sure, she says.
Recently they asked her to buy some, but Christiane said: I'm clean!
Then she reached out for a little bottle of Apfelkorn for her way back.
It warms me up ,she says to Chico (the dog). The dog is walking to people who
are taking Polamidon. It's a junkie-dog she said. The dog can smell it.