How could methods of healing and therapy be used for decades to abuse children and adolescents? Even 20 years after the conviction of the pediatrician and remedial educator Franz Wurst, found guilty of involvement in the murder of his wife as well as sexual violence against numerous children and adolescents in public institutions, the decades of institutional violence in Carinthia remain an open wound. The public exposure of this case marked only the beginning of a long process of societal reckoning and the critical examination of so-called “total institutions.” How was it possible for violence on such a scale to remain invisible behind institutional walls?
The visible and the invisible, as well as the possibility of narrating them, lie at the center of Noam Brusilovsky’s documentary production, which brings together actors, residents of the city, and young participants from the Stadttheater’s youth theatre club. In a staged “guided tour” through the city, the sites of these events and their histories are revisited on stage. Drawing on research literature in remedial education, testimonies of survivors, and voices from the city, the closed structures of these institutions are opened up and different narratives are interwoven audiovisually. This creates a dynamic interplay between what can be seen and what can be heard—between what one believes to know and what one can only sense.

The production was awarded the Nestroy Prize in 2022 (special category).