by Sieglinde Alexander in 2000
Very little has been written in English-language newspapers about Germany’s human rights violations following World War II.
An estimated 800,000 children were abused and exploited in religious and state-run institutions in Germany after 1945. Many were drugged, labeled as imbeciles, and declared mentally incompetent. Others were branded as criminals, deemed unfit to live, or considered a burden to society. They were taken away and forced into child labor for state or religious institutions. The methods of the Third Reich continued. Nuns, Christian brothers, and state employees disgraced and mutilated innocent children. Under their care, these children were sexually, physically, and psychologically abused—some forcibly drugged until adulthood.
Today, these formerly abused children live with ongoing trauma inflicted during their formative years. In addition to this trauma, they face the harsh reality that their years of forced labor are not recognized in their social security records—years effectively stolen from them.
The early abuse has shaped their adult lives. Many never had the chance to build functional, stable lives. Some now live on the margins of society—ostracized, in part, by political apathy and societal indifference. No one asked whether these children came from abusive or dysfunctional homes, or if they were simply unwanted. Child protection agencies across Germany locked them away in orphanages and institutions for the so-called “unfit,” hiding them from the view of “righteous” German citizens who were enjoying the postwar economic boom and seemed to care little for their most vulnerable children.
In doing so, Germany created a generation—800,000 strong—of disabled individuals who today are denied justice by inhumane statutes of limitations that prevent legal redress.
For decades, survivors of institutional abuse have tried to draw public and political attention to their plight. No one responded. No politician found it necessary to investigate. Society continued to label, shame, and blame the once-innocent children who now must endure broken lives.
The recently published book Schläge im Namen des Herrn by Spiegel Verlag—one of Germany’s leading magazine publishers—has finally brought renewed attention to the horrendous crimes committed after World War II. Yet this was not the first publication to document such abuse. Survivors have spoken out for years in search of justice, recognition of their human rights, and help for the lifelong depression and despair they suffer.
Even now, with the truth exposed, what has the German government done to provide restitution?
Very little.
So far, only one government body—the LVA Hessen—has publicly apologized to the abused. The rest of Germany’s political leadership hides behind a wall of silence.
An apology is a start. But an apology alone cannot erase years of suffering or stop the recurring triggers of trauma. It cannot heal severe anxiety or PTSD. No compensation has been offered for years of forced child labor. No social security benefits have been restored. No restitution has been made for the pain inflicted. And to this day, there is no formal government acknowledgment that a crime was committed.
The institutions that enabled or perpetrated this abuse—many of which are now among the wealthiest religious organizations in Germany—built their wealth in part through the exploitation of child labor. These same institutions have offered little cooperation. Only two government bodies have opened their doors to dialogue; the rest remain in complete denial or concealment, hoping the truth will fade away.
For example, “Rummelsberger Anstalten,” a religious institution in Bavaria, offers token gestures of goodwill without delivering real results. (See: “A Never-ending Pain or From the Frying Pan to Hell” – https://sieglindewalexander.com/other-writings/from-the-frying-pan-to-hell-or-a-never-ending-pain/
Some survivors have requested records of their time in these institutions, only to be told that no such documents exist. The dates and duration of their institutionalization can now only be confirmed by witnesses—if any can be found. Some German government agencies, including child protection offices, have refused to respond to victims’ letters altogether.
But that is not the end of the story.
In 2004, some of the survivors began searching for one another and founded the organization Verein ehemaliger Heimkinder (Association of Former Home Children) to support their claims and fight for their rights. However, the organization has struggled. It lacks funding, government support, legal resources, and access to psychological counseling for childhood trauma. Leadership challenges have compounded the problem, with two co-leaders and one employee reportedly more focused on sharing their personal stories than building a functional organization. Their actions, though understandable, have led to internal friction among survivors.
This raises a painful question:
If three non-swimmers attempt to save 800,000 drowning people, what is the likely outcome?
Without independent investigations, legal representation, and systemic support for the deprived—the child laborers, the psychologically oppressed, the physically and sexually abused—a half-million survivors will go down in history as victims of yet another kind of German holocaust.
Other articles:
Postwar Abuse
[link no longer available] http://www.theweekmagazine.com/glance_view.aspx?g_date=2/17/2006%2012:00:00%20AM
Berlin
At least a half-million children were neglected and abused in church-run children’s homes after World War II, a historical account published last week claims. Peter Wensierski’s Beaten in God’s Name is based on dozens of interviews with former charges in Protestant and Catholic facilities who are now in their 60s. “Many are so ashamed that they have not even been able to tell their own children or spouses about what happened to them,” Wensierski said. “Being interviewed for the book was simply a release.” In one typical story, a teenager in a home run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy was forced to work silently in the laundry for 10 hours a day. The nuns beat her with broomsticks if she spoke.
Die Weltwoche, 17.02.2006 (Switzerland)
http://www.signandsight.com/features/622.html
Peter Wensierski’s book “Schläge im Namen des Herrn” (blows in the name of the Lord) has not yet been reviewed in Germany. Reinhard Mohr is shocked at the book, which investigates violence in Church orphanages in the postwar period. “Most of the sisters were not at all qualified in childcare, and some of their methods were directly taken over from Nazi practices. More than that: in the ‘Kalmenhof’ orphanage in Idstein, for example, at least one thousand children were murdered between 1941 and 1945 in the context of the institution’s forced sterilisation and euthanasia programmes. Many of the ‘educators’ and staff from this time remained employed until the 1960s. And it was only in the 80s that the mass grave containing children’s skeletons was uncovered.”