Questions have arisen to why certain sensitive sections of the website of the Chalk Circle Foundation, the foundation involved in the controversy over ‘abducted’ children discovered in Gozo, were removed as soon as the Gozo case of alleged child abduction came to light recently.

The Chalk Circle Foundation’s website manned by the founders, German couple Sonja and Marcus Bergfeld, had certain content removed after the case of two German mothers and their children – who were reported missing in Germany but were discovered in Gozo – surfaced.

Retrieved documentation bearing details of the HSBC Malta account and the name of a German lawyer (the account holder) was deleted on Saturday, a day after this newsroom contacted the founders of the Chalk Circle Foundation to reply to allegations made in their confrontation.

Image shows details which until Saturday were active on the Chalk Circle Foundation website page which bore the HSBC account number and the German lawyer’s name entirely removed, along with the Google search results URL and cached page.

When contacted on Friday, Mr Bergfeld said that the content was removed because the German authorities are claiming that the foundation was trafficking humans, and the foundation is in talks over formally registering the foundation as an NGO in Malta.

Retrieved website documentation in possession of this newsroom read: “If your children are ‘prisoners’ of the department for the welfare of children, take them and go to Malta.”

The German couple who hosted children in Gozo, some of whom were reported missing in Germany or were under care orders, had urged German families on the website whose “interest is to take their children to safety” to flee the “anti-child system” in their country and to seek new pastures in Malta by turning to them for assistance.

Mr Bergfeld, told this newsroom that the reason why the content was removed from the website is because the German authorities are claiming that the foundation was trafficking humans, claims he said were slammed by a Maltese police inspector.

He said that another reason why the content was removed and “we are about to bring the website down for the time being” is because “we are still in talks to register the foundation in Malta officially”.

But it results that the foundation did not start off yesterday but, in actual fact, in 2011 and the content was removed soon after the Gozo case came to light.

Mr Bergfeld was replying to questions made by this newspaper why the content was removed as soon as the Gozo case came to light.

He said that the foundation reports cases of mothers and their children who flee to Malta but whose children are under care orders to the Malta police or simply tell them to clear the issue in a Maltese court. When this newsroom asked him why he had not reported the case of a mother discovered in Gozo to be living in the same apartment as the founders but whose child was under a care order, he replied that he did he was unaware that she was issued with a care order by the German authorities.

“We have been living in Malta for two years. Prior to us coming over to Malta we tried to find some German nationals living in Malta so that we could get some information on your islands. The first person we made contact with is Kai Jochimson.

“We told him to create a foundation here in Malta; he told us he is a practicing lawyer in Malta and that it is legal to use his account for benefits but ever since we lost contact with him and we are not certain if the foundation is receiving benefits through the HSBC account mentioned by your newspaper.

“If it is, we are certainly not receiving the benefits,” he said.

“We are about to take our website down for the time being until we have everything in place,” he reiterated, referring to the fact that the founders are attempting to legally register the foundation in Malta.

“We help some families with no problems or care orders; those who are here in Malta illegally we report to the police.

“We reported an individual by the name of Rudi Mantaj for allegedly kidnapping his two kids and for physical abuse. Another person we reported is a mother by the name of Kerstin Halwatsch; she is wanted by the German and Swiss authorities but has no kids here in Malta.”

Ms Halwatsch is one of the individuals who was mentioned on the foundation’s website, the page of which has since been deleted but it was on one of the pages which was retrieved by sources who approached this newsroom.

Mr Bergfeld insists that there are certain individuals who are attempting to tarnish their reputation.

Mr Bergfeld also told this newsroom late on Saturday that an HSBC Malta account (Sliema branch) and the name of the German lawyer, Dr Jochimson, (the Malta Chamber of Advocates issued a warning on its website that the said lawyer cannot practice in Malta since he is not registered according to Maltese laws) were removed on Saturday from the website and the mention of the HSBC account and the lawyer’s name on their website was “simply an mistake”, apologising for the oversight.

The title accompanied with the HSBC account and the German lawyer’s name read in German as follows prior to it being deleted from the website: ‘Donations for the foundation: Please donate to children to help them experience a happy childhood’.

Where the name of the foundation may have derived from

The Augsburg Chalk Circle (Der Augsburger Kreidekreis in German) is a short story written in 1940 by Bertolt Brecht. The story derives from The Chalk Circle, a 14th-century play and can be seen as a first draft for Brecht’s subsequent play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Plot summary                                               

The story is set during the Thirty Years War. Zingli, a Protestant of means, delays leaving his home in Augsburg until the Catholic forces are plundering the city. His wife spends too much time packing her clothes, and so is forced to flee empty handed, leaving the child behind. Their maid, Anna, a simple girl, rescues the child and flees to her brother's farm in the country.

To avoid humiliation as an unwed mother, Anna claims that she is waiting for her husband to return for her. Given the nature of the war, the ruse is plausible for a time, but eventually, to avoid suspicion and possible eviction, she feels compelled to produce a husband. She marries a man who is on his deathbed, expecting to be a widow soon; however, he recovers and she must live with him for a few years.

When the war ends, Frau Zingli returns to reclaim her son. Ignatz Dollinger, a wise judge, cannot determine who is the real mother, so enacts a version of the Judgment of Solomon. The child is placed inside a chalk circle with two ropes tied around him: one in the hands of each claimant. Anna is unwilling to risk harm to the child, so pulls only lightly, while Frau Zingli pulls with force that could have "ripped the child in two." Although Anna appears to have lost the contest, the wise judge rules that, having shown the greater love, Anna is the fit and rightful mother.

Differences from the original

While the essential form of the story and its resolution remain the same as in the original play, there are several important differences. Most obviously, the setting is changed from Imperial China to Germany but the period chosen (the greatest civil war in the turbulent history of that country) has important consequences for the story.