When "lost and found" could not find my mental peace - a not so small rant

Hi everyone,

I’m an expat currently doing my master’s at a public university in Germany. I recently moved cities for my internship and am now doing my Masterarbeit at the same company.

About 45 days ago, while traveling back to my current residence, I accidentally left my backpack on an S-Bahn. I noticed it almost immediately, but the doors had already locked and the train left the station.

It was very early in the morning (5 am), so when I tried calling the DB helpline, I only got an automated recording saying it was outside service hours. I rushed to a bigger nearby station and informed someone at the DB information centerc(after waiting till 6:15 am). He tried contacting staff at the end station to check the train, but he could not find any personal at that station. Then the train was connected to another one, things got more complicated, and even after checking the final stop, nothing turned up. The DB staff mentioned two possibilities: either someone took it, or it might show up at a Fundbüro. I kept checking the DB lost and found, hoping it would appear,but it never did.

I also went to the police station at the Hbf, but they didn’t register a complaint initially since it was considered negligence. Later, I registered a complaint at a police station near my home (exactly a week later), but by then I was told that CCTV footage inside the trains gets overwritten every 36–72 hours, so there was nothing they could do.

It has all my master degree course notes, my german notes from A1-B2 and also my fachdeutch glossary, only limited number of files in my icloud due to the 5GB storage limit. It also had all my research papers that I collected for literature survey for my master thesis with my notes in some of the papers that I completed going through.

“Find My” was turned off, so I couldn’t track the iPad. It’s still visible in my Apple account, which means whoever has it can’t really use it—maybe just sell it for parts (it’s also engraved with my name, along with the Apple Pencil - so I guess it reduces the value for selling it for spareparts).

I know if this had happened back home, I wouldn’t expect to ever see it again. But here, I had hope—and losing that hope has been really hard. I’ve been feeling frustrated, heartbroken, and honestly, pretty low. It’s affecting my concentration on my thesis, and I feel like I’m sabotaging a really good opportunity.

I am constantly finding myself surfing through kleinanzeigen and fb marketplace, to see if it shows up somehow. I am so bad at grieving/letting go this ipad. I guess I just needed to vent about this incident somewhere and try to move on.

Ps : If the person who found/took it comes across this, you can return it to a nearby police station or Fundbüro and claim a finder’s fee (which you’re entitled to in Germany). I just really want my notes and files back :/

Thanks for reading. Sorry for the lengthy ramble.