A photo shows Stephan Abt (name changed by the editors) with fellow firefighters on October 21, 2020, at the end of a long operation. He looks seriously into the camera and a little proud. He fought for many hours with his colleagues. A pyramid made of 400 straw bales in a field near Gundelsheim was ablaze, a sea of flames that could not be extinguished; the fire department had to let it burn down in a controlled manner. His department commander wanted to send him home three times, but Stephan Abt stayed until the last embers had burned out.
In his apartment, as another photo shows, everything was always prepared for the next mission: the fire trousers were hanging ready to hand in the cloakroom, the jacket was on the bedroom cupboard, the digital alarm receiver was on the chest of drawers, and a radio scanner was on the kitchen counter.
The photos could tell a little heroic story. But they found their way into a court file that does not tell of heroic deeds. More recent photos of Abt show a strong man who seems to have lost all pride. They come from the Heilbronn regional court, where he was tried in the summer of 2021.
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