EP54 Ute Susan Weiss - Abuse over time....

• I was born on 23rd Feb 1962 in Stuttgart, Germany.
• Having a very imaginative mind I was reading books from a very young age. I´m still reading a lot and I love watching movies.
• I started traveling when I was a teenager and learning about other countries and cultures opened my mind very much.
• After school I worked as an au-pair in Winchester and went to a language school studying English.
• I wanted to be a vet but didn´t get into vet school. I studied Agrobiology at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart instead.
• My studies enabled me to travel as well: I worked on farms in Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany and participated in a student exchange program with the University of Georgia, Athens, USA
• After University I didn´t do my PhD - as everyone expected - but went on a trip around the world as a backpacker for almost 1 1/2 years.
• When I came back to Germany I was broke but happy. I didn´t feel like pursuing an academic career. Instead I found a job at a little publisher´s at Lake Constance. I worked as an editor, secretary, translator, horse handler etc. We published a working horse magazine. That´s where I met Henry (not his real name).
• When I turned 30 I wanted to start a family and have a little farm in the country :) Before that I actually never imagined myself as being a mother.
• Henry wanted the same and I felt he was my soul mate. Yeah. Love bombing here we come .....
• Our dating was insane, intense and crazy - I´ve never felt more loved. I got pregnant and we got married.
• He got more abusive. After son no. 2 life with him was hell - but not always. We had good times too.
• When my youngest said: I wish Daddy was dead I knew something was very wrong.
• he moved out in 2002, we got divorced in 2005, financial abuse stopped in Oct 2020.
• After he had moved out my sons and I had a great family life. I started working as an English teacher and later on as a Biology and Health Care teacher as well. I work in adult education and at a vocational college.
• I live in the Black Forest right now, near Freudenstadt. (That´s the northern part of the Black Forest)
• My sons are wonderful grown up men of 28 and 25. One lives in Munich, the other in Gießen (near Frankfurt)
• I am no contact with Henry
• I´ve written my story „I wish Daddy was dead". I want to finally get it published and that´s what I´m researching at the moment: how to get a book published.
• Besides reading and watching films I love training dogs. I have got two dogs. George is a certified search and rescue dog and Loony is an apprentice search and rescue dog. George is a Border Collie and Loony is a Spanish Waterdog.

***

Abuse Talk Podcast currently offers a series of interviews with those that work in the domestic abuse sector. Getting an inside feel for what its really like in their job role and sharing it with all of you.

Now mixing with survivor stories.

Don't forget you can respond to this episode by leaving a voice message on Anchor, get in touch if you have any queries.

Our website: www.abusetalk.co.uk

My website: www.jennifergilmour.com

@TeacherSusanUte (UteSusanWeiss)