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Posted on 07/11/2003 5:52:52 PM PDT by Pokey78
Norway's "whore children" still get spat on in the street. Between 10,000 and 12,000 of them were born to Norwegian women, fathered by occupying German soldiers during the Second World War - and the abuse they endured is thought to have been unprecedented in recovering Europe.
As well as name-calling, beatings and, in some cases, rape, several were sent to psychiatric institutions because the authorities assumed they were retarded. The government even considered sending 8,000 to Australia to get rid of them.
Now aged in their sixties, the survivors announced this week they are taking their battle for compensation against the Norwegian state to the European Court of Human Rights.
Seven "war children" started legal proceedings in 1999, claiming the state had violated the European Convention on Human Rights. Each sought compensation of between £50,000 and £200,000. They were joined by a further 115 people. "The stigmatisation, the shame, the oppression was so absolute it took us 50 years to come forward" said one, Gerd Fleischer, from Oslo.
For most in Norway, the treatment of the war children is a collective shame. In 2000, the Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, apologised in his New Year speech. In December last year, the Supreme Court decided the case fell under the statute of limitations but, on the same day, parliament decided to issue a formal apology and awarded compensation.
But not everyone in Norway agreed. Tove Laila Strand, a war child from Oslo, who was beaten by her mother if she spoke German and physically, mentally and sexually abused by her Norwegian stepfather, was spat on by her neighbour after a television appearance.
Compensation was agreed six months ago but, with still no word from the government on how much or when it will be paid, the claimants said this week they would appeal at the European court against the Supreme Court's decision. "Nothing has been done, so on behalf on my clients I'm forced to take the case to Strasbourg," said Randi Hagen Spydevold, a lawyer. "The sad thing is that some of them are dying while they're waiting. My clients are getting worse. A lot of their daily lives are spent thinking about it. They want money to pay their psychiatrists, to go on holiday or maybe rent a flat. All they want is the lifestyle they would have had if they hadn't been treated the way they were".
Several war children were part of a secret Lebensborn or Spring of Life eugenics project, set up by the Nazis to supplement German racial lines with pure Aryan Nordic blood.
In Norway, unmarried, racially valuable pregnant mothers were checked into discreet maternity homes. Most mothers kept the children, other babies were placed with staunchly Nazi families.
When Ms Fleischer was born, she was given the number Lebensborn 2620. Her father returned to Germany after the war and her Norwegian stepfather, who had been a member of the Resistance, was particularly violent to her. Last Monday, she attended a meeting with the Minister of Justice, the first since parliament handed over the case to his department in December.
"He showed goodwill, but that's not enough," she said. "He has to be pushed. We are not confident and that is why we believe the case should also go to Strasbourg. It will stay there until we see what the government decides. If the government doesn't come up with compensation that reflects our suffering it will be a second injustice."
A White Paper on compensation should be ready by the end of this year. But time is not on the claimants' side. When the awards are finally made there are likely to be fewer alive to receive them.
Guess it's me...
Quislings and collaborators. Those were once the worst words in the Euro languages. Now, these words are everyday occurences, especially in France and Germany.
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Except for those wrongly institutionalized by the government, I don't think any of those individuals are owed government compensation.
This is not to say that their treatment was justified or insignificant, but their abuse came from private citizens. If they are owed compensation, who is to say that other tormented groups, such as the obese, are not owed compensation as well?
I'm tempted to scream KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!
Great screen name!
If someone beats me up because of my parentage I have no cause of action against the government. But if I report the action to the police and they refuse to arrest that person because of my parentage then I do have a cause of action against the government.
I was under the impression that the Lebensborn project was run by the Germans. If so, the victims should be taking their complaints to the German government, not the Norwegian one.
That would be a legitimate reason to seek compensation.
Unfortunately, they have. Rapes, assaults and the usual cultural chaos are blossoming accordingly.
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