Until well into the 20th century, children were auctioned off in Swiss village squares and forced into work. Each and every year tens of thousands of children who mainly came from poor families or orphanages were taken away by the authorities and distributed to farms. Many of them were then forced into child labour and exploited as domestic servants or farm labourers, with some of them severely maltreated or sexually abused. Many children died of physical exertion and abuse. Most of these indentured child labourers or ‘contract children’ (Verdingkinder) have been left seriously damaged by their experiences. They still suffer from the humiliation, torment and brutal mistreatment they were forced to endure when they were young.

Hostettler, Otto; Strebel, Dominique (2011): Man nahm ihnen sogar das Spar­büchlein (Beobachter 21/2011).

Thousands of children in state, church and private children’s homes were systematically humiliated, punished, physically maltreated and in some cases also sexually abused. Many children in care were forced into child labour and exploited – at the expense of their schooling. As there were no consistent state control mechanisms, the helpless children in these closed institutions were simply left to their fate. In most cases, the abuse went unpunished. Many children formerly in care speak of traumatic experiences, violence and torture.

Hostettler, Otto (2010): Düstere Jahre (Beobachter 10/2012).

Up until the beginning of the 1980s, teenagers and young adults were placed in administrative detention without trial or conviction. These young men and women were committed to closed institutions and prisons for ‘corrective labour’, as they allegedly led ‘immoral lives’ or were classed as ‘idle’. Women who were accused of having a ‘corrupt lifestyle’ were also locked away – in Hindelbank women’s prison, for example. As these administrative detentions were in violation of the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), this practice changed in 1981. The injustices suffered have since been officially recognised. In 2014 Swiss parliament ‘rehabilitated’ all administrative detainees. Financial recompense for the suffering they endured is not covered by the rehabilitation law, however.

Strebel, Dominique (2008): „Was die mit uns gemacht haben!“ (Beobachter 20/2008).

Forced sterilisations, forced castrations and forced abortions were performed in Switzerland up into the 1980s. Authorities and doctors often coerced their patients into giving their ‘consent’ through the use of force or extreme pressure. Female welfare recipients were threatened with having their allowances withdrawn, for instance. Abortions were often only permitted if the women agreed to be sterilised at the same time. People were also threatened with committal to an institution.

Swiss parliament rejected an initial campaign for reparation payments in 2004. Five years later, in November 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Committee reprimanded Switzerland in its third report on human rights because it had done nothing to “compensate or otherwise make reparation for forcible castrations and sterilizations conducted between 1960 and 1987”. The committee recommended that Switzerland “should repair this past injustice through forms of reparation, including non-financial means, such as public apology”. This has not yet happened.

Strebel, Dominique (2011): “Schweiz verweigert Wiedergutmachung” (Beobachter 3/2011).

Countless newborn babies were separated from their unmarried mothers up into the 1970s by the guardianship authorities. This was because the women were from poor backgrounds, allegedly led ‘immoral lives’ or because their husbands were alcoholics or classed as being ‘idle’. The mothers were often put under so much pressure that they ‘agreed’ to give their newborn up for adoption. This is referred to as forced adoption. Owing to the currently valid adoption law, it is practically impossible for the victims of these forced adoptions to find their children. The mothers receive no help from the authorities in the search for their lost babies.

Hostettler, Otto; Föhn, Markus (2012): Gebt mir mein Kind zurück (Beobachter 25/2012).

Between 1926 and 1973 those responsible at the Hilfswerk für die Kinder der Landstrasse (an aid organisation for ‘children of the road’) forcibly removed around 600 children from their families. They were the offspring of travellers, in particular the Yenish people. The aim of the ‘aid organisation’, founded as part of the Swiss Pro Juventute foundation, was ultimately to destroy the travellers’ way of life. The children from this section of the population were to be re-educated so that they became ‘settled’ and ‘useful’ members of society. This compulsory social measure caused immense suffering among hundreds of people. The children forcibly removed from their families were usually placed in children’s homes and institutions where they often endured extreme humiliation and severe maltreatment. The reparations initiative includes those victims of compulsory social measures who, at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, did not receive adequate compensation from the foundation set up for compensation of travellers’ children.

Grossried, Beat (2012): „Das war haarsträubend“ (Beobachter 10/2012).

In psychiatric clinics throughout Switzerland medicines were tested on hundreds of unsuspecting patients. Investigation into this form of medical abuse has only just begun. The scale of the operation, now slowly becoming evident, is shocking: medication was tested on patients for the pharmaceuticals industry, among others, up until the end of the 1970s – even on pregnant women and children. Tests were carried out in ethically extremely questionable and scientifically dubious circumstances. There is no evidence in the files to show that the subjects of the experiments were informed of the medical tests. Many victims of the medical trials on record are still suffering from the aftereffects of this serious violation of their physical integrity.

Hostettler, Otto (2014): Die Menschen­versuche von Münster­lingen (Beobachter 3/2014).

Bernadette Gächter, born in 1954, was sent to St. Margrethen to live with a strict Catholic foster family when she was just a toddler. At the age of seven her foster parents began harbouring doubts about her character and had her examined by a psychiatrist. He diagnosed the girl as having “infantile organic psycho syndrome of the brain” (now known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD). When she was 18, Bernadette fell pregnant. This caused a scandal in her foster family. Her legal guardian, local priest and GP subsequently took action. In a report submitted to the psychiatric clinic in Wil, her doctor concluded that “with her abnormal disposition” Bernadette was not capable of bringing up a child and recommended that the young woman not only undergo an abortion but also be sterilised. Her foster parents, GP and the director of the clinic put so much pressure on her that Bernadette finally agreed to the procedure. She later had two operations to try to reverse the sterilisation process – to no avail. Bernadette has since remained childless.

Rohner, Markus (2006): Im Namen des Anstands sterilisiert (NZZ vom 1. Oktober 2006).

Clément Wieilly was born in 1954 in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. At the age of three he was taken away from his parents and sent to the sanatorium in Pringy. He was then moved to the civic orphanage in Fribourg where for the next ten years he suffered the severest physical and psychological abuse on an almost daily basis. He often had to go without food and was regularly thrashed with a carpet beater. Furthermore, on several occasions his head was held under cold water or smothered with a cushion until he lost consciousness. From the age of eight Clément was forced to work for various farmers during the holidays. This meant that he was never able to undergo any proper vocational training. He first saw his mother again when she was 42 and on her deathbed. He was only able to start to come to terms with his past when the Canton of Fribourg released victims’ case files. Clément then found out that his mother had requested financial support for her children from the authorities without success. In addition to his brothers, he also learned that he had two older sisters, one of whom died young. From his records Clément also discovered that his parents lost custody in 1957 without any reason being given on file. Clément now lives in poverty and is still suffering from his traumatic experiences.

Murith, Vincent (2014): Sur les traces d’un passé douloureux (La Liberté vom 27. Januar 2014).

Hugo Zingg was born into a working-class family in the Mattequartier district of Bern in 1936. After spending his early childhood at the Kleindietwil children’s home in Oberaargau, in 1942 he was contracted out to a farm in the Gürbetal and forced to carry out heavy work in the farmhouse and farmyard. He was also at the mercy of the sadistic whims of the farmer’s wife. Owing to the huge amount of work he had to do, he was only able to attend school irregularly; his teachers were bribed with gifts and payments in kind. Hugo was later assigned to a master instructor in the Seeland where he was to train to become a tinsmith. Instead, he was again exploited. After having his apprenticeship terminated by the Apprentices’ Commission, Hugo was first sent to the Bächtelenheim children’s home in Wabern and then to La Neuville where he was subjected to further exploitation as a dairyman’s errand boy, also forced to work in his son’s market garden during his free time. His past as an indentured child labourer hindered Hugo’s career up into the 1970s. Only when he began omitting any mention of his past as a Verdingkind when applying for jobs did his situation start to improve.

Ehemalige Verdingkinder als Zeitzeugen einer bitteren Kindheit (Verein netzwerk-verdingt).

In 1960, shortly after his birth, Michel Mischler was taken away from his overburdened parents in Bern and sent to the Mariahilf children’s home in Laufen. He spent the next eleven years of his life there. The lack of attention shown him by the Catholic nuns meant that Michel’s underdevelopment went unnoticed when instead it should have been given special care. As a result, he failed to keep up at school. At the home he became the victim of severe physical and mental maltreatment. Michel was shut up in the attic for nights at a time, systematically beaten, dunked in a tub of water headfirst so that he nearly drowned and regularly humiliated with the words, “You have nothing, you are nothing and you’ll come to nothing.” After his childhood at the home, Michel was never able to lead an independent life.

Biographie von Willy Mischler: Falsche Gnade für Nonnen (Beobachter vom 8. Februar 2013).

In 1952 Rolf Horst Seiler contracted meningitis at the age of nine which left him restricted in his motor skills and concentration for the rest of his life. After finishing school, he was classed as “idle” and ordered to leave his parental home. As he failed to heed the official order, he spent two years at the labour institution for problem children in Dielsdorf. Without the right to return to his family home, Rolf spent decades without a fixed abode, camping out in perilous conditions in the forest, squatting in burrows and sewers and buying food with the deposit money he redeemed on the bottles he collected. Instead of recognising his individuality, the courts convicted him many times over as an “insubordinate vagabond”. Rolf spent about 15 years in institutions, prisons and penitentiaries. For years he had no official identity card. It wasn’t until 1987 that his meningitis and thus his inability to work were officially diagnosed. In 1979 a woman he was with became pregnant. When her family found out about Rolf’s past, he was again rejected. His daughter was born in 1980. He has never seen her. The authorities are still refusing to help him find his child.

Hostettler, Otto; Strebel, Dominique (2011): Verding­kind Rolf Horst Seiler lebte 40 Jahre draussen im Wald (Beobachter vom 12. Oktober 2011).

Rudolf Züger was born in 1942. He spent many years in various homes where he was frequently subjected to violence. At the poorhouse in Altendorf SZ, Rudolf was regularly shut in a pigsty. As he wet the bed, at the St. Josefsheim in Bremgarten AG he was often held upside down in a bath of ice-cold water until he could no longer breathe. At the St. Iddazell children’s home in Fischingen Rudolf was repeatedly beaten. Rudolf is still scared of cold water, has nightmares, panic attacks and choking fits.

Überforderte Ingenbohler Schwestern quälten Zöglinge (Leserkommentar in der Südostschweiz vom 23. Januar 2013)
Schwierige Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Bayern 2 vom 10. Dezember 2013).

On January 14, 2015, just one day after submission of the reparations initiative, the Federal Council had an indirect counter-proposal drawn up. In it, it recognised the initiative’s key demand and for the first time also recommended that compensation be paid to former Verdingkinder and victims of compulsory social measures prior to 1981. It proposed setting up a fund amounting to 300 million Swiss francs.

On June 24, 2015, the Federal Council opened the consultation procedure regarding the draft Federal Act on Compulsory Social Measures and Placements prior to 1981. In doing so, the Federal Council recognised that the victims had suffered a severe injustice. It thus proposed setting up a fund amounting to 300 million Swiss francs, among various other measures. This solidarity fund met one of the key demands made by the reparations initiative. The consultation procedure and parliamentary discussions served to confirm the suggested solution and showed that there was a genuine desire to launch a full investigation into this matter.

Federal Council draft legislation, June 24, 2015

Federal Council explanatory report, June 24, 2015

Federal Council media release, June 24, 2015

A majority from all parties and associations welcomed the indirect counter-proposal made by the Federal Council.

In the final vote on September 30, 2016, Swiss parliament voted to accept the counter-proposal issued by the Federal Council with respect to the reparations initiative. As the planned counter-proposal covered the key demands and provided more immediate help for the elderly victims, the initiative committee withdrew the reparations initiative.

Parliament page on the reparations initiative

By April 3, 2018, over 8,000 victims had submitted an application for a solidarity contribution. Those affected have thus received official recognition for the injustices they have suffered. For the initiators, the end of the application period marks the beginning of the reconciliation process. The Guido Fluri Foundation continues to provide victim groups with support and has committed to the follow-up Erzählbistro (communal café) project that aims to provide those affected with a suitable setting where they talk through their experiences together.