Verdingkinder, "contract children",[1] or "indentured child laborers"[2] were children in Switzerland who were taken from their parents, often due to poverty or moral reasons (e.g. the mother being unmarried, very poor, of Yenish origin, etc.), and sent to live with new families, often poor farmers who needed cheap labour. In the early 2000s, many of these children, by then adults, publicly stated that they had been severely mistreated by their new families, suffering neglect, beatings and other physical and psychological abuse. The Verdingkinder scheme was common in Switzerland until the 1960s.[1][3]
The practice of Verdingkinder began in the Late Middle Ages, and evolved out of the practice of apprenticeship. Orphanages did not appear until the seventeenth century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the children were often auctioned off at public markets and awarded to the families asking for the lowest pensions, a practice criticised by reformers such as Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. These auctions ended with the professionalisation of social care and the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code in 1912, though some cantons (such as Lucerne in 1856) had abolished them before that.[4]
Investigations by historian Marco Leuenberger brought to light that in 1930 there were some 35,000 Verdingkinder; though he suspects the real figure was twice that much, and between 1920 and 1970 more than 100,000 are believed to have been placed with families or homes. In the 1930s, 20% of all agricultural labourers in the Canton of Bern were children below the age of 15, though not all of these would have been Verdingkinder.[5]
The placement of children as labourers in farming families died out in the 1960s and 70s as social work was further professionalised, inspection of foster families became more frequent, and greater emphasis was placed on keeping children with their original parents if possible.[6]
The petition Wiedergutmachungsinitiative for a "restitution package of about 500 million Swiss Francs (£327m) for the 10,000 Verdingkinder estimated to be alive" was launched in April 2014 and acquired the 100,000 signatures necessary to become a national referendum.[7]
An official apology was made on April 11, 2013, by the Swiss government.[2]
In 2008, Roland Begert,[8] a Verdingkinder himself, published his autobiographical novel Lange Jahre fremd,[9] causing a stir in Switzerland, where authorities and the general public had previously shut their eyes. Begert's story told how disadvantaged youngsters were forcefully apprenticed and put to work in industry after the war, when there was a shortage of labour. In 2012 an exhibition called "Verdingkinder Reden" ('Contract Children Speak') toured Switzerland, drawing attention to the fate of these children. In the same year, Der Verdingbub ('The Foster Boy'),[10] a feature film, was released, reaching number one at the Swiss box office.[2]
