memorial
Memorial in Lower Saxony commemorates tortured spa children
A stele in the Lower Saxony health resort of Bad Salzdetfurth commemorates the suffering of the children who were deported. photo
© Christian Behrens/Diakonie in Lower Saxony/dpa
Millions of girls and boys were sent to children’s homes to recover for weeks without their parents, especially between 1950 and 1980. Many of them experienced traumatic events in the health resorts.
In memory of the suffering of tens of thousands of spa children, a memorial has been inaugurated in Bad Salzdetfurth, Lower Saxony. According to the Sending Children initiative, this is the first inauguration of one in Germany Memorial.
The memorial stele is intended to remember in particular Stefan, Kirsten and André, who died in the children’s hospital in the small town in the Hildesheim district in 1969. Three-year-old André was beaten to death by three older boys in the home called Waldhaus, seven-year-old Stefan suffocated on vomit and Kirsten died as a result of an infection.
According to a study commissioned by Diakonie, negligence can at least be assumed to some extent in all deaths. The spa home was operated by a predecessor organization of the Diakonie. The mother and brother of three-year-old André, who was killed in 1969, also took part in the memorial service on Saturday. The mother cried. According to the brother, there was silence about the circumstances of André’s death for a long time.
Children returned traumatized
An estimated eight to ten million children between the ages of two and twelve were sent to health resorts without their parents for weeks to recover – many returned traumatized. It was particularly bad for the youngest children, said Anja Röhl, founder of the Sending Children initiative, which was founded in 2019. The initiative has now collected around 15,000 reports from those affected across Germany. This includes, among other things, beatings, bans on speaking, forced sleep and harassment while eating.
What happened for decades after 1945 in children’s health homes on the North Sea or in climatic health resorts in the mountains has not yet been comprehensively examined. However, some scientists are now looking into the background of the deportation practice and the health consequences from which traumatized former spa children suffer into old age. A public hearing on the topic is planned in the Bundestag’s Family Committee this Wednesday (March 20th).