Silvana Lischper: Bailiff (almost) without a “cuckoo” // East Hesse|News Home Region Fulda District HEF-ROF District Vogelsberg District Main-Kinzig District Rhön Blue light Politics Economy Church
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Professions. Vocations. People (58)
Bailiff Silvana Lischper in front of the Alsfeld District Court.
Photos: goa
02.09.2024 / ALSFELD –
Reminders, debt collection agencies, seizures, evictions, arrest warrants. These words are part of the working world of bailiffs. When all reminders have come to nothing, things get serious at some point and the bailiffs’ hour has come. Silvana Lischper was already a legal secretary when she began this advanced training six years ago.
EASTERN HESSE|NEWS met her at the Alsfeld District Court and learned about her varied, but sometimes dangerous, work.
Main activity as a bailiff
The 31-year-old bailiff lives in the Vogelsberg district. In May of this year, she moved from the Giessen District Court to Alsfeld. When she joined the Hessian judiciary, she initially worked as a judicial secretary in the middle service at the Frankfurt District Court, then at the Giessen Regional Court – but with purely office work, as she says. She was looking for more challenge and variety within the judiciary: the 20-month training to become a bailiff, which began in 2018 and included a lot of theory and practice, offered her exactly that. Lischper was not disappointed, as her report on her “new” job shows: “My main job is to arrange appointments with debtors to provide information about their assets, which used to be called an ‘affidavit’.
But attempts to seize the debtors’ property at home are also part of the process. If the debtors fail to appear in violation of their duty, an arrest warrant is issued. This means that the disclosure of assets must be forced,” says Lischper, leaving no doubt that there is no escape for those who refuse. Evictions, cutting off electricity or gas in conjunction with the respective utility company – depending on the case, a veritable range of drastic measures that Lischper has already had to implement. With the exception of one intervention that she says “thank God” she has never had to carry out: the forced handing over of children to the youth welfare office.
“Versatile and always challenging”
She shares her office in the district court with colleagues, as she spends most of her office time in her home office. The appointments with the debtors she has invited take place in the district court. She counts a lot of flexibility as one of the outstanding advantages of her job: There are no fixed working hours, but she is “her own boss”. Appointments with debtors on site provide a lot of variety: she really appreciates the contact with people in their immediate life situation. “It is very varied, but also always challenging,” she says. Like all bailiffs, she also goes to the appointments alone. If there are indications of impending dangerous situations, the police are called in as part of administrative assistance. “It is not always easy on site, especially if you don’t know the people beforehand. There is sometimes an uneasy feeling and respect for the situation,” she admits. “Thank God that is rarely the case. By being friendly and as close to the person as possible, you can de-escalate the situation in most cases, at least as long as the other person allows it,” she reports. However, she has already experienced a highly dangerous situation: “In Giessen, a debtor was already waiting behind the front door with a crossbow and was shooting with it.” Fortunately, the authorities had already known that he was part of the Reich Citizens’ scene, so Lischper arrived with the police. “Thankfully, no one was injured, but the situation could have turned out very differently!” In a positive sense, this was a further sensitization to possible dangers, the bailiff draws positive experiences from the life-threatening encounter, but also adds: “It makes you appreciate your protective vest and the recently added emergency signal transmitter even more.”
“Dying” cuckoo
One colloquial utensil is unexpectedly rarely found in her working environment: the “cuckoo”. She has never used the seizure seal, she says. “Either the seizable assets are transportable or there simply aren’t any, but in practice you only very rarely have to use the ‘cuckoo’ to document seizures on site.”
Compared to her previous job, Lischper sees the appeal in the variety, but above all in the amount of personal freedom. She is critical of the per capita workload of bailiffs: “A nationwide increase in staff would be absolutely desirable, because at the moment there is hardly a 10-minute window for on-site appointments due to the high number of cases.” Klaus Schwaderlapp, director of the Alsfeld district court, has good news for those interested in the profession: “Until now, prospective bailiffs have had to undergo compulsory training in the white-collar or middle-level service, but now it is even possible to enter the profession from a different career path or directly under certain conditions.”
Silvana Lischper really appreciates her work, she says: “Going back to a purely office job would be out of the question for me!” she laughs, relaxed but also determined. (goa)+++
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