Zwischen den 1950er- und 1990er Jahren wurden bis zu 12 Millionen Kinderverschickungen in der BRD und etwa 2 Millionen in der DDR durchgeführt. Dabei wurden Stadtkinder zur Erholung, Genesung oder Gewichtszunahme für meist 6 Wochen in Kurheime entsandt. Was als Urlaub gedacht war, entpuppt sich häufig als Ort des Schreckens und Gewalt.
Erst in den letzten Jahren wurde das Leid der ehemaligen Verschickungskinder sichtbar.
Between the 1950s and 1990s, up to 12 million children were sent away in West Germany and around 2 million in East Germany. City children were sent to health resorts for six weeks at a time for rest, recuperation, or weight gain. What was intended to be a vacation often turned out to be a place of horror and violence.
It is only in recent years that the suffering of the former children sent away has become visible.
It is only in recent years that the suffering of the former children sent away has become visible.
In the last century there were so-called VERSCHICKUNGSKINDER. These children, some of them still infants, were sent for several weeks, months or even years to institutions that were supposed to be beneficial to their health. Coercion, violence and abuse take place there. Years ago, a man who had been in the Niendorf sending home in the 1970s committed suicide and his widow then started a search for other victims, and there are now pages and pages of testimonials from people looking for answers to what happened back then.
For years, THE NUNS was just one of many of my mother's stories for me.
In the course of my work on my mother's childhood, this has become a whole separate part.
So far, only one picture has emerged that shows the fear and cruelty of the nuns, but is still abstract enough not to be disturbing.
For years, THE NUNS was just one of many of my mother's stories for me.
In the course of my work on my mother's childhood, this has become a whole separate part.
So far, only one picture has emerged that shows the fear and cruelty of the nuns, but is still abstract enough not to be disturbing.