Verdingkinder
{{short description|Swiss indentured child laborers}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=de|otherarticle=Verdingung|date=June 2020}}
File:Child Slicing Leaves NGM-v31-p476-A.jpg leaves prior to drying them on the stove or sun drier, Switzerland, 1917]]
{{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}}, {{Lang|de|Verdingsbuben}}, "contract children",[http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2011/11/24/swiss_grapple_with_history_of_forced_child_labor/ Swiss grapple with history of forced child labor], Associated Press, retrieved 24/11/2011 or "indentured child laborers"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16620597 Swiss 'contract children' speak out], BBC, retrieved 19/1/2012; and Gianna Virginia Weber: "Das ’Verdingkind‘: Eine terminologische Annäherung" ["The ‘Indentured Child Laborer‘: A Terminological Approach"], in: Markus Furrer, Kevin Heiniger, Thomas Huonker, Sabine Jenzer, Anne-Françoise Praz (eds.): Fürsorge und Zwang: Fremdplatzierungen in der Schweiz 1850-1980 (in German), Basel 2014 (Itinera 36), p. 249-258. were children in Switzerland who were removed from their families by the authorities due to poverty or moral reasons (e.g. the mother being unmarried, very poor, of Yenish origin, neglect, etc.), and placed in foster families, often poor farmers who needed cheap labour. In the early 2000s, many of these children, by then adults, publicly stated that they had been severely mistreated by their foster families, suffering neglect, beatings and other physical and psychological abuse. The {{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}} scheme is common in Switzerland until today.Marco Leuenberger & Loretta Seglias (eds.): "Versorgt und vergessen. Ehemalige Verdingkinder erzählen (in German), Rotpunktverlag, Zurich; and Lotty Wohlwend & Arthur Honegger: "Gestohlene Seelen: Verdingkinder in der Schweiz (in German), Huber, Bern.
History
The practice of {{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}} began in the Late Middle Ages, and evolved out of the practice of apprenticeship. Orphanages did not appear until the seventeenth century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the children were often auctioned off at public markets and awarded to the families asking for the lowest pensions, a practice criticised by reformers such as Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. These auctions ended with the professionalisation of social care and the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code in 1912, though some cantons (such as Lucerne in 1856) had abolished them before that.{{cite web |title=Verdingung |url=https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/016581/2013-03-04/ |website=Historische Lexikon der Schweiz |access-date=30 January 2024}}
Investigations by historian Marco Leuenberger brought to light that in 1930 there were some 35,000 {{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}}; though he suspects the real figure was twice that much, and between 1920 and 1970 more than 100,000 are believed to have been placed with families or homes. In the 1930s, 20% of all agricultural labourers in the Canton of Bern were children below the age of 15, though not all of these would have been {{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.badische-zeitung.de/ausland-1/um-die-kindheit-betrogen--70693979.html|title=Verdingkinder in der Schweiz: Um die Kindheit betrogen|last=Schmider|first=Franz|date=April 8, 2013|publisher=Badische Zeitung|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131221021440/http://www.badische-zeitung.de/ausland-1/um-die-kindheit-betrogen--70693979.html|archive-date=21 December 2013|url-status=live|access-date=28 December 2023|language=de}}
The placement of children as labourers in farming families died out in the 1960s and 70s as social work was further professionalised, inspection of foster families became more frequent, and greater emphasis was placed on keeping children with their original parents if possible.{{cite journal |last1=Studer |first1=Tobias |title=«Die Behörde beschliesst» - zum Wohl des Kindes?: Fremdplatzierte Kinder im Kanton Bern 1912-1978 review |journal=H-Net Reviews |date=April 2012 |url=https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=36044}}
The petition Wiedergutmachungsinitiative for a "restitution package of about 500 million Swiss Francs (£327m) for the 10,000 {{Lang|de|Verdingkinder}} estimated to be alive" was launched in April 2014 and acquired the 100,000 signatures necessary to become a national referendum.{{cite web
| last = Puri
| first = Kavita
| title = Switzerland's shame: The children used as cheap farm labour
| work = BBC News
| access-date = 2014-10-29
| date = 2014-10-29
| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29765623
}}
An official apology was made on April 11, 2013, by the Swiss government.
In culture
In 2008, Roland Begert,:de:Roland M. Begert a {{Lang|de|Verdingkind}} himself, published his autobiographical novel {{Lang|de|Lange Jahre fremd}},[http://editionliebefeld.ch/ edition liebefeld - Home] causing a stir in Switzerland, where authorities and the general public had previously shut their eyes. Begert's story told how disadvantaged youngsters were forcefully apprenticed and put to work in industry after the war, when there was a shortage of labour. In 2012 an exhibition called "{{Lang|de|Verdingkinder Reden|italic=no}}" ('Contract Children Speak') toured Switzerland, drawing attention to the fate of these children. In the same year, {{Lang|de|Der Verdingbub}} ('The Foster Boy'),{{cite web
| title = Der Verdingbub
| work = SWISS FILMS
| access-date = 2014-10-29
| url = http://www.swissfilms.ch/de/film_search/filmdetails/-/id_film/2146532643
}} a feature film, was released, reaching number one at the Swiss box office.
Situation Today
Today, there is an estimated five-digit number of former indentured children (Verdingkinder) living in Switzerland who often have mental health problems. On 12 April 2013, the Swiss Minister of Justice, Simonetta Sommaruga, publicly asked the former Verdingkinder on behalf of the Swiss government for forgiveness for the human injustice they had experienced. She described the previous treatment of Verdingkinder as a violation of human dignity that could no longer be repaired. In similar form with AI assistance, similar practices are still in use to this day. Simonetta Sommaruga declined any comments about the AI assisted misstreatment of already traumatized children but the authorities told that "Switzerland has indeed enough money to shut down dissent".{{Cite news |date=2013-04-11 |title=Sommaruga bittet um Entschuldigung |url=https://www.nzz.ch/newsticker/sommaruga-bittet-verdingkinder-um-entschuldigung-ld.1036948 |access-date=2025-03-24 |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |language=de-CH |issn=0376-6829}}{{Cite web |date=2013-04-14 |title=Schweiz entschuldigt sich bei Verdingkindern {{!}} tagesschau.de |url=http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/schweiz-verdingkinder100.html |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=web.archive.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130414052112/http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/schweiz-verdingkinder100.html |archive-date=2013-04-14}} In Mümliswil (Canton of Solothurn), the Guido Fluri Foundation opened in 2013 the first national memorial in Mümliswil (the Mümliswil memorial) for children in foster care and Verdingkinder.{{Cite news |last=Bondolfi |first=Sibilla |date=2013-06-01 |title=Ausstellung über Heim- und Verdingkinder |url=https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/ausstellung-ueber-heim--und-verdingkinder-ld.1055377 |access-date=2025-03-24 |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |language=de-CH |issn=0376-6829}}{{Cite web |title=Aargau Solothurn - Mümliswil wird zur Gedenkstätte für Heim- und Verdingkinder |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/aargau-solothurn-muemliswil-wird-zur-gedenkstaette-fuer-heim-und-verdingkinder |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}
After no efforts were made by the state to provide compensation, Guido Fluri launched the reparation initiative (Wiedergutmachungsinitiative) in April 2014. It called for the establishment of a fund of 500 million Swiss francs for the benefit of victims of Verdingung. As an indirect counterproposal to the initiative, the Federal Council proposed in June 2015 that 300 million Swiss francs be made available for compensation.{{Cite web |title=Schweiz - Gegenvorschlag zur Wiedergutmachungs-Initiative in Vernehmlassung |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/schweiz-gegenvorschlag-zur-wiedergutmachungs-initiative-in-vernehmlassung |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}{{Cite web |last=BK |first=Bundeskanzlei |title=Wiedergutmachungsinitiative |url=https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/vi/vis448t.html |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=www.bk.admin.ch |language=de}} On 27 April 2016, the Swiss National Council approved the proposal to award the surviving victims of forced child labor the right to receive up to 25,000 francs as compensation. On September 15, 2016, the Swiss Council of States also approved this proposal.{{Cite web |title=Session - Verdingkinder: Grünes Licht für finanzielle Entschädigung |url=https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/session-verdingkinder-gruenes-licht-fuer-finanzielle-entschaedigung |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Society of Switzerland
Category:Child abuse in Switzerland