Residential care in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s: Through qualitative interviews, the life memories of children and adolescents, as well as the professional recollections of former staff members of residential care, are brought to life, analytically evaluated, and compared with one another. This study thus positions itself as a contribution to the debate regarding the assessment and evaluation of residential care in the early years of the Federal Republic: Is the characterization as a phase of systematic abuse accurate, or should a more nuanced approach be taken?.