On 16 and 17 April, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany is hearing six constitutional complaints against Section 217 of the Criminal Code. Since the end of 2015, he has been penalizing the business promotion of suicide in this country. Active euthanasia is allowed in the Netherlands.
In January 2018 photographer Sandra Hoyn and 29-year-old Aurelia get to know each other. The first meeting is also the day on which the farewell begins: The young woman will live only 26 days. Not even a month stays, then she will drink a poisonous liquid and die. Because she wants it herself. And because that works in the Netherlands.
Aurelia is seriously ill. She has depression, suffers from so-called dissociative disorders and borderline syndrome. Several times she has already tried to take her own life. "In my head is a monster that stings me with a hundred knives" - this is how she describes her condition.
For years, Aurelia has been fighting her illnesses. But no treatment has helped her, no therapy struck, her condition even worsened. The decision to die has not been easy for the young woman, but her mental pains have increased. "I would like to live, but I do not want to suffer anymore," she says. "The only thing I think about is 'let it be over!'"
Although euthanasia is also legal for the mentally ill in the Netherlands, only a few cases a year are allowed. At the age of 21, Aurelia applied to die for the first time, but received a negative response. But a few years later, several independent doctors certified that she had recovered - her renewed application was accepted. The deadline for the mobile euthanasia team is set for January 26, 2018.
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Aurelia does not want to live anymore: "January 26th will be my day"Photographer Hoyn had accidentally become aware of Aurelia on the Internet, and for a few years she had dealt with the topic of euthanasia. She had already accompanied some people who wanted to use them in Switzerland. Now she wrote to Aurelia, who immediately agreed. Only a few days later, the photographer sat on the train and drove off.
"We agreed that we would end the project at any time if we did not like each other or if Aurelia was getting too much," says Hoyn. But the two understand each other immediately, spend each day from now on each other, even sleep in the same apartment. In a short time a strong bond between the women arises. They talk a lot, laugh together, cry, argue.
Aurelia cuts herself in the skin with broken glass, puts out cigarettes on her arms, sprays deodorant into her eyes. Some days she wants to kill herself, but she does not, because she knows her appointment is approaching. Hoyn says, "Once she said to me, 'Sandra, I want to hurt myself now, you can stay in the living room or go out if you can not see it, but do not stop me.'" The photographer stays.
In the video: Aurelia does not want to suffer anymore
Sandra Hoyn / laif
"I wanted to understand their pain, their despair, which of course is limited," says Hoyn. "Nobody can really sympathize with that, but if others accepted their decision, that helped."
Aurelia organizes her funeral, meets friends, crafts. Most of the time she spends on Instagram and Facebook, tweets, posts, makes videos; she writes a blog and gives interviews. Their mission in their last weeks is that euthanasia for the mentally ill is more accepted in the Netherlands.
"She did not want other people to commit suicide," Hoyn explains. "She wished that those who really wanted to end their lives because of the suffering would have the chance to die self-determined and supported by a doctor."
And then the 26th of January is here. Her friends say goodbye to Aurelia. Then she goes to bed, drinks her medication, which the doctors give her. She just falls asleep - as she wished.
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