Verdingkinder

In the early 2000s, many of these children, by then adults, publicly stated that they had been severely mistreated by their foster families, suffering neglect, beatings and other physical and psychological abuse.

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.

[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.

[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.

[2] In 2008, Roland Begert,[8] a Verdingkind 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.