Denmark says sorry to children of failed experiment

Source: BBC

Denmark says sorry to children of failed experiment

By Adrienne Murray
Copenhagen

9 March 2022

Six people who were part of a failed 1950s social experiment have won compensation from Denmark's government and have received a face-to-face apology from the prime minister.

"What you were subjected to was terrible; it was inhumane, it was unfair, and it was heartless," Mette Frederiksen told the six Inuit Greenlanders at a ceremony in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

They were among 22 Inuit children sent to Denmark from Greenland in 1951 to learn Danish. It was part of a scheme to raise "model" Greenlanders to help bridge Danish and indigenous cultures.

However, the children remained separated from their families, lost their mother tongue and struggled with identity issues.

Faced with legal action, the Danish government settled and agreed to pay damages of 250,000 Danish kroner ($38,000; £28,000) to each of the six. The other 16 people involved have since passed away.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60646898


Historic photos of Gabriel Schmidt, now 77, who was taken from his family as a child in 1951