by Ton Leerschool
Early morning on August 16, I was woken up by the news of yet another dimension in the abuse drama in the Netherlands and I was shocked…and believe me in the almost 10 years I have been involved in exposing the cover-up of the catholic church in the Netherlands, I have heard plenty of horror stories, I should be armed against this kind of news and I found was NOT…
These new revelations add just another terrible dimension: these are not lives ‘only’ destroyed, but here we are talking of lives ENDED.
34 boys, all of ages before 18, have died…under ‘suspicious circumstances’ as the national press agencies tell us.
When there are 34, experience tells us that there is probably many, many more…
I was and I still am shocked…
My heart goes out to the boys… their parents… their brothers and sisters.
Just imagine to hear this news about your loved-one, after so many years, when you have found peace with their passing.
To rip open those old wounds…many of the next of kin will have passed themselves by now; this happend in the early ’50.
And maybe just as well for them.
I was and I still am angry…
The precise circumstances are yet unknown to us; we will have to wait for the results of the investigation.
After all these years it will be hard to reconstruct the truth. Also because, as a former employee of the home mentioned to the press:”…the archives of St Joseph hospital won’t help, because years ago I have assisted in destroying tons on dossiers…”
But the same person mentions that it was known under personnel that there occurred ‘inappropriate things’ at the home:
“That the rector would have patients placed on a stretcher and would fondle them…” and that if someone was to speak about it he/she faced immediate resignation. “One youth-leader had seen enough and started to talk about it…and he was fired!”.
We heard years ago stories about boys, getting in trouble after being abused by catholic clergy, being moved to a catholic psychiatrist home and that the suicide rate at this home was extremely high. Due to lack of treatment, continued abuse or general neglect…
So much about the good samaritan work of catholic employees!
On my Dutch website a father of a mentally handicapped child begs us not to stop publishing about the catholic cover-up and to continue the pressure for full disclosure. Is he a parent of one of the 34 boys? I don’t know, but I assured him that we will not stop!
It is these horror stories that convince me and press me on: I have a job to do and I will do it!
Below you find some clippings from international press:
Dutch to investigate 34 boys’ deaths at home
Irish Times – Peter Cluskey in The Hague
Dutch prosecutors are to open an investigation into the mysterious deaths of 34 boys under the age of 18 at a home for mentally handicapped children in the southern province of Limburg in the early 1950s.
The deaths at St Joseph’s Hospital in the southeastern town of Heel were reported to the Public Prosecution Office by the Deetman Commission – set up last year to look into allegations of sexual abuse of children by members of the Roman Catholic clergy in the Netherlands.
It is understood that the commission’s examination of the hospital’s archives found an unusually high number of deaths of minors in 1952, 1953 and 1954. In all cases the dead were boys under 18, and the death rate dropped back after 1954.
The hospital was run by Catholic monks until 1969, and the independent commission has established that the local Catholic Diocese of Roermond was aware of the deaths by the end of the 1950s.
A Catholic child-protection agency, the government’s labour inspectorate and a public health inspector may also have become aware of the deaths about the same time but no action was taken to establish how the boys died or whether their deaths were linked to sexual abuse.
The diocese welcomed the investigation, saying: “We want to get away from any suggestions of a cover-up. That is why we have opened up our archives and are actively encouraging the commission’s inquiry and the investigation by the Public Prosecution Office.”
The prosecutors’ office confirmed an investigation was under way into the circumstances of the deaths but said there would be no further comment until it had collated its conclusions, probably by the end of the year.
The commission has so far amassed around 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Dutch Catholic clergy since 1945.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0817/1224302578708.html
Dutch prosecutors probing ‘possibly suspicious deaths’ at Catholic institute in the 1950s
By: Mike Corder, The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM – Dutch prosecutors are to investigate the deaths of 34 boys in a Catholic institute for the mentally disabled in the 1950s — the latest probe in a long-running inquiry into sexual abuse in the church.
Prosecutors said Tuesday they are opening a criminal investigation into the “possibly suspicious” number of deaths over a three-year period “in view of the extent of the matter and the impact such matters have on society.”
The unusually high death rate was uncovered in church archives by an independent commission investigating sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Church. A prosecution statement gave no indication how the boys died.
Prosecutors warned, however, that if criminal activity is uncovered the statute of limitations will apply to any suspects.
The Roermond Diocese — where the institute was based — issued a statement saying it could not comment on the investigation, but welcomed the probe, saying it was in line with the diocese’s policy of reporting such matters to prosecutors if necessary.
The deaths occurred in a former Roman Catholic boarding school and social workshop for the mentally disabled in the town of Heel in the southern Netherlands.
The case concerns “34 boys under 18 who died in the years 1952, 1953 and 1954,” prosecutors said.
The commission, led by former government minister Wim Deetman, said it could make no comment because of the ongoing investigation.
Investigators said they have informed the dead boys’ next of kin — when they could be tracked down and were still alive. Prosecutors did not say how many relatives they had spoken to.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/dutch-prosecutors-probing-possibly-suspicious-deaths-at-catholic-institute-in-the-1950s-127838803.html
