Apology to Those Placed in Special Care: AAU-Historian Helps Pave the Way

By Charlotte Tybjerg Sørensen, Department of Sociology and Social Work. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication. Photos: Løgstør Lokalarkiv and Hjortlund Medier

The 11th of September will be a very special day for the living former residents in special and mental health care and their relatives, as well as the relatives of those now deceased. They will receive an apology from the government for failures and abuses committed while they were forcibly placed in institutions around the country – including Livø and Sprogø, the two small isolated islands in the Limfjord and the Storebælt, respectively.

In 2020, the government set up a commission to investigate the consequences for children, adolescents and adults placed in care homes in the period 1933-1980.

The complete report (in Danish) can be found on the Danish Parliament's website and can be read here.

The work by the Special Care Commission has now led to those previously placed in care receiving an official apology from the government on behalf of the Danish state.

The experts in the commission examined what the state's supervisory duties and practices were in the care homes. A particular focus of the commission's work was to uncover physical and sexual abuse, psychological violence and serious deficiencies in medical, practical or emotional care.

Apology makes a difference to those previously placed in care

Poul Duedahl has done extensive research on the history of mental health care and has recently written a book about the placements on Livø.

- I took part in the investigation and found many examples of institutions with well-functioning departments, but also examples of departments characterized by what were considered even at the time to be failures, abuses and erroneous placements. Often these can be explained by a lack of supervision, overcrowding and understaffing. Whether an apology should be given based on this is purely a political decision. But there is no doubt that this is an acknowledgement and makes a difference to those previously placed in such institutions, Poul Duedahl says.

The apology to those previously placed in care will be given by the Minister for Social Affairs and Housing, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, at an event at Hotel Bygholm Park in Horsens.

- Those previously placed in special and mental health care have waited a long time for an apology which I am pleased to finally be able to offer on behalf of the government. These are fates and stories that have touched me deeply, and it is important that we listen to and learn from them. Therefore, the only right thing is to also give an apology from the state to the people who, in state custody, were subjected to horrible abuses that were also illegal at the time, says Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil in a press release from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and Senior Citizens.

What has made the biggest impression on you during your research on the history of mental health care?

- The big difference there often is between the official narrative about the institutions – that for many years was referred to in the media as progress in humanity – and by the employees who referred this to as a wonderful time in their working lives versus the reality of those placed in these institutions. The reality is, for example, that during its lifetime, Livø was the subject of over 400 escape attempts and 10 escape-related deaths, says Poul Duedahl.

Made TV series with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

Poul Duedahl authored the book Billeder fra en anden verden: De Kellerske Anstalters historie [Pictures from Another World: The History of the Kellers Institutions], and recently released the highly acclaimed book, Afvigernes ø [Island of Deviants], about Livø, that he wrote in collaboration with Vesthimmerland Museum curator, Maria Clement Hagstrup, with a postscript by former Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

All three are also part of a documentary series on DR where they follow the path of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen's father, who in his youth was placed on Livø for seven years – branded as morally deficient. The series is called Nyrup – søn af en udstødt [Nyrup – Son of an Outcast] and can be seen on dr.dk.

The event with the apology to those previously placed under the Special and Mental Health Service will be live-streamed from the ministry's website. See it here.