Yes, yes, I know - but these were from a country that I don't
normally associate with the eugenics movement or other such mass
cruelties. However upon more reading, I have found that this was
largely organised by the Catholic Church and it was sanctioned by the
U.K. government because at the time it was easier to send a child
abroad than care for him at home. It seems that most of the children
were not really orphans and their parents were deliberately misled
into believing their children had been adopted elsewhere in Britain.
Instead they were shipped off to orphanages or work houses in Canada,
Australia or New Zealand where they were forced to work on farms or
construction of buildings. Most of the 150,000 children were not
disabled, merely from poor families.
Here's a BBC article with a few other links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series9/week_nine.shtml
However when I read that the Catholic Church was one of the main
organisers, I was not surprised due to their history of mistreating
girls in Ireland and of course the molestation of children by
pruests. That was truly one more episode in the long history of
abuses by the Church. I don't mean to offend any Catholics on the
list but I have to wonder how the Church could have gotten away with
so many abuses for such a long time.
I know we in this country have been known to treat our lesser-
priviledged citizens horribly but can you imagine the outcry such a
migration would cause in this country? There are times when I long
for the simpler times of my childhood but I must say that nowadays
people are not afraid to speak up against such things.
Kat
On 29 Dec 2006, at 13:05, Mike Collis wrote:
Kat, that doesn't surprise me. The U.S. sterilized pwd's and other
marginalized members of society in the 1920's and '30's. This was
indirectly responsible for the "Little Holocaust" of Nazi Germany in
which
more than 500,000 pwd's were killed before the big one of 6 million
Jews.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of
Kathleen Salkin
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 12:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Shocking Revelation
Now, some of you Aussies (or WWII history buffs) might have known of
this sort of thing:
http://www.answers.com/topic/f-gwynplaine-macintyre
But I must admit this is the first I have ever heard of such a thing
- child slave labor in Australia after the war! True, this poor
man's family took his name, his birthright and his freedom away from
him because he was disabled but this is sadly all too common in third
world countries. I cannot conceive of a forward-thinking country
like Australia utilising child slave labour, especially in the 20th
Century. I find it just as inconceivable that a British family
should allow such a thing to happen to their child when government
assistance was available. (Or was it back then, in 1954, Deri?)
Any comments on this from the Australians on this list?
The irony of the whole thing is, his family tried to reconcile with
him, only to have him find out that they only wanted a kidney for his
non-disabled fraternal twin brother. What selfish creatures!
Kat
-----------------------
To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
-----------------------
To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
-----------------------
To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
|
