Trigger warning: This article deals with physical and sexual violence against children, abuse and systematic cover-up. The content may be disturbing.
The 1960s are considered a time of upheaval in Germany. While society was discussing new freedoms, scenes were playing out behind the closed doors of German children’s homes that continue to have an impact today. Around 800,000 children grew up in homes after the Second World War – and their stories were kept secret for decades.
What really happened in German educational homes, health resorts and so-called relocation homes only came to light systematically after 2010. The truth is harsher than most can imagine.
1. Systematic torture was the pedagogical norm
Extreme disciplinary measures were commonplace in German homes in the 1960s. Children were not only beaten – they were tortured. The methods were perfidious and systematic:
- Forced to eat everything, including their own vomit
- Tied to beds and immobilized for hours
- Doused with scalding hot or ice-cold water as an “educational measure”
- Solitary confinement in dark rooms or cellars
A documented case shows the brutality: A seven-year-old boy named Arne was dragged into a laundry room, where sisters scattered washing powder in a semicircle around his bare feet and left him standing in the dark all night.
Bedwetters had their blankets torn away at night. If they had wet the bed, they had to spend the rest of the night sitting on a chest in the hallway – often in wet clothes.
2. Staff with a Nazi past shaped the “education”
The continuity of personnel between the Nazi era and post-war Germany did not stop at children’s homes. Some of the staff came directly from former Nazi institutions. The pedagogical methods hardly differed from those of the notorious educational institutions from the Nazi era.
The so-called “Landverschickungen” (relocations to the countryside) were a direct legacy of the Hitler era. When Hitler had children evacuated to the countryside en masse, a camp education was established that was preserved in the health resorts well into the 1970s.
This continuity explains why an atmosphere of terror prevailed in many homes, going far beyond normal “strict upbringing.” It was a system designed to break children – not to educate them.
3. Sexual abuse under the eyes of the carers
Children were defenselessly exposed to older adolescents and adults. Supervision was inadequate or deliberately ignored. In some cases, the carers themselves were the perpetrators.
Documented cases show the extent:
- Nine-year-old children were put in rooms with 18-year-old adolescents
- Female educators came into the beds of older boys at night as “lovers”
- Children were woken up at night by sisters and taken to the cellar
A particularly serious case from 1975: A four-year-old is said to have been the victim of sexual violence in the Sankt Johann health resort in Niendorf. The order concerned denies the allegations to this day and speaks only of “very strict upbringing.”
4. Institutional cover-up at all levels
The cover-up began as soon as the children were admitted. “Avoid farewell scenes if possible, just turn around and walk away. And absolutely no phone calls, ‘that just awakens homesickness'” – that was the instruction to parents.
This isolation was systematic:
- Parents were systematically kept away
- Children’s complaints were ignored or punished
- Church sponsors categorically rejected accusations
- Some children were sent back for “treatment” despite reports of abuse
The institutions concerned, in particular church sponsors, spoke for decades only of “strict educational measures” that should be “seen in the context of the 50s and 60s.” An apology or reappraisal did not take place.
5. The silence of society
Perhaps most shocking: For a long time, there was practically no literature, no investigation, simply nothing on the subject. Society was collectively silent about what was happening in its homes.
The numbers are frightening:
- Up to two million children spent weeks or months in relocation homes until the 1970s
- In the approximately 500 homes in Baden-Württemberg alone, “everything from violence typical of the time to pure sadism” could be found
- There is no doubt that coercion and violence were endemic
It was not until 2012 that the nationwide unique project “Archival research and historical reappraisal of home education between 1949 and 1975 in Baden-Württemberg” was launched. Over 60 years after the events.
Why these truths are important today
Coming to terms with the home scandal of the 1960s is more than just writing history. It is about justice for the survivors and about understanding how institutional violence can arise and remain hidden for decades.
These stories show how quickly “education” becomes systematic violence – and how institutions, society and family can look the other way. These are lessons that are more relevant today than ever.
The parallels to other cases of institutional violence are unmistakable. Anyone who wants to understand how abuse works and why victims remain silent will find frighteningly clear answers in the history of German homes in the 1960s.
More on coming to terms with abuse and violence can be found at In the Abyss – authentic stories without embellishment.
Trigger warning: All content deals with serious topics such as abuse, violence and trauma.
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Sources: Historical reappraisal of home education in Baden-Württemberg, reports from contemporary witnesses and survivors, scientific studies on home education 1949-1975