The House as Chosen Family

Auerhaus becomes a chosen family by making room for vulnerable outsiders, though its care remains imperfect and temporary.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Four Residents

Four Residents An Unlikely Arrangement Frieder, Höppner, Vera, and Cäcilia move into the grandfather’s neglected house. Their reasons differ: care for Frieder, escape from family, and a desire to participate in a life less constrained by parents. Domestic Belonging They paint rooms, arrange mattresses, and make meals together. The house is cold and inconvenient, yet its routines give them a shared identity stronger than the village’s labels for them.

Harry’s Room

Harry’s Room A Place Offered After Harry returns bruised from telling his father he is gay, the household lets him sleep in the slaughter kitchen. His practical makeshift bed becomes a declaration that violence at home need not send him back there. Growing the Family The group’s living arrangements are not planned as a perfect support system. They emerge from urgent need, and each new resident adds both intimacy and practical risk.

Pauline’s Arrival

Pauline’s Arrival No Place to Return Pauline leaves the psychiatric hospital but cannot return to the youth home. She moves into Auerhaus and sets up on the hayloft, despite the residents’ concerns about her history of fire-setting. Inclusion Without Certainty Her arrival illustrates the group’s willingness to include someone who does not fit a safe or simple category. Their welcome does not solve her difficulties, but it gives her a roof and companions.

The New Year Gathering

The New Year Gathering A Public Community The party gathers school students, psychiatric patients, gay visitors, and neighbors in and around the village house. People who would normally remain separate share music, food, and the transition into a new year. A Fleeting Expansion The crowded celebration makes Auerhaus feel larger than its six residents. Yet the narrator senses it may be their first and last New Year together, placing fragility inside the moment of collective joy.

The Community Disperses

The Community Disperses Separate Futures Cäcilia stays away to protect her legal defense, while the remaining residents face sentences and the end of Harry’s apprenticeship. Their shared household cannot remain untouched by outside demands. A Temporary Kinship They move to Köln for a time, but the arrangement eventually ends. Auerhaus is remembered not as a permanent family but as a place where its residents learned the difference between being alone and having belonged.

late autumn, as the house is prepared

Christmas Eve, after Harry comes out

Christmas Day

New Year’s Eve

after the case and before the move