Even after 20 years, Pascal, who disappeared without a trace, has not been forgotten. A quartz stele in the cemetery in Schwalbach in Saarland still attracts many people.
Schwalbach – It has been 20 years since the then five-year-old Pascal disappeared from Saarbrücken. His fate is still unknown – his body has never been found.
The Pascal case haunts people to this day: A memorial stone at the entrance to the cemetery of the Catholic parish in Schwalbach in Saarland is still visited.
“Lots of people come by there. It is also decorated, ”said Pastor Konrad Hoffmann, who is a supporter in the community. The quartzite stele that was unveiled in June 2017 is a place of silent remembrance. “It must not be forgotten,” he said. Pascal disappeared without a trace on September 30, 2001.
A mammoth trial before the Saarbrücken regional court had not been able to clarify what had happened to the boy. In a circumstantial trial that lasted more than three years, all twelve defendants were acquitted in 2007 for lack of evidence of having raped and then killed Pascal in the back room of the “Tosa-Klause” restaurant in Saarbrücken-Burbach.
The memorial stone is also a “memorial for all missing and abused children”, said the chairman of the “Initiative against violence and sexual abuse of children and adolescents” based in Siershahn (Westerwald), Johannes Heibel. The stone had been erected on his initiative. “It is a very good place that is also well cared for,” says Heibel about the stele for Pascal.
A friend of Pascal at the time, whose very personal sentences can be read on the memorial stone, will switch a commemorative stream on Thursday from 3 p.m. (https://20-jahre-pascal.bernhard-mueller-saar.de/). After minutes of remembering Pascal, there will be time for questions and talking, he said. September is bad for him every year because of the memory of his friend. “The day of the disappearance is always particularly bad for me.” Dpa
