Racism forces family away from Stevns

Well-educated, resourceful family of children, who got involved locally, have got a discriminating fuckfinger and give up.

Stevns : Imagine this thought experiment:

Scenario 1: You walk down Algade in the town hall town of Store Heddinge, with a stroller and minor children, and out of the blue a man comes by and gives you a fuckfinger.

Scenario 2: You have picked up your children in the day care institution, are on their way home, and a man on a bicycle is passing by, while he shouts something about the Ku Klux Klan probably taking care of you.

Fantasy? No, rather a nightmare for a young child who moved to Stevns in September 2020, but who has now put his home and wish house up for sale, and is fleeing racist abuse.

Wild nature and community

It is Simon Winkler who tells about the atrocities to which he and his family have been exposed.

He is 33 years old, a trained teacher and has a leading position in social pedagogical work. His wife is 30 years old, a trained nurse in psychiatry, and one of those that local communities demand. Their children are 2 and 5 years old, respectively.

Well, yes, and then Simon Winkler's wife is an adopted child from India, but from the age of one grew up in Odense, and speaks the Funen dialect. He is a blond young man from Brøndby.

For many years they have lived in Østerbro in Copenhagen, but chose Stevns as the municipality they would most like to have a future in.

- We would like to be closer to nature, have a house where the children could run out into the garden, says Simon Winkler, and adds:

- We had a common goal of being able to contribute socially and support the local cultural life. Stevns is also not that far from our network in Copenhagen, and is a great area. We started looking for houses in May-June last year and found that Store Heddinge was a pretty cool old market town. Here was a super potential, he says.

Not room for everyone?

Simon Winkler pauses for a moment, and is clearly not entirely sure about the situation.

It is of course border crossing to tell the story of the assaults on his wife and children, simply because they have a darker glow than the majority of Danes.

It also turns out that he and his wife have been in seven minds about telling the public about their experiences.

- We do it now because it can not fit that there should not be room for a family like us at Stevns, says Simon Winkler and takes another break.

- I quickly got a job working with vulnerable young people, and my wife became a nurse in a neighboring municipality. A colleague and his wife had also bought a townhouse in Store Heddinge, and had an idea to start a Folklore Museum, which could tell about Stevns myths and legends. We went into that work and we founded an association, which realized the project, he explains, who became deputy chairman of the museum's board.

It seemed natural to both Simon Winkler and his wife to contribute to the voluntary local association life, as they had also done in Copenhagen, where he participated in theater and cultural events for children and young people, and where his wife supported social gatherings through the Youth Red Cross.

"Paki, paki, paki"

So everything drew light; the children got a place in day care institutions, he launched gift collections from the city's shoppers in Christmas 2020 to the drop-in center Café Stevnen, and both were happy to meet people through the committed association life.

But there were snakes in paradise: discrimination, harassment and racism.

- It started in earnest in the spring, when some young people on the street shouted "paki, paki, paki" after my wife. Since then, there have been several episodes, such as a lady stopping her outside a store and angrily and accusingly asking if she should go home and shave her mustache. Completely unmotivated. That episode tricked me, and when I later identified a man shouting monkey noises after her and the children, I contacted several stores to hear if they had camera surveillance, and I met a friendly and positive backing from the shoppers, says Simon Winkler.

Too many sad experiences

The small family has also met a lot of friendliness from the staff at the children's institution, who are very affected by the negative incidents.

But the persistent racism-related insults have worn down the desire to stay at Stevns.

- It's not working anymore. I have many times seen my wife come home, lie down in the fetal position and cry. Curled completely together in body and mind. She eventually dared not pick up the kids and only go into town when I was with. We sat in the dream house, but it became a prison for my wife. The assaults never happened when I was with her. And it hurts and makes me furious when I see how it breaks down my wife, it comes in abrupt sentences from Simon Winkler who does not understand why their resources are rejected.

- I have talked to i.a. Syrian families at Stevns about this. They have also experienced "scrub-off-like" insults. Some have had mailboxes blown off; have received anti-Islamic greetings even though they are in fact Christian refugees. When I have spoken it out to convention residents who have lived here for generations, they know very well that there are some who live here with distorted ideals of being 'real' Danish. My only tool has been to say it, say it out loud, he emphasizes, as an explanation of why he has now approached Stevnsbladet with the sad experiences.

A bittersweet farewell

Simon Winkler has reported the assaults to the Central and West Zealand Police, but this has not stopped the exclusive attacks.

- We have tried to give something to the community at Stevns, but it is not our job to clean up people's negative attitudes. It has had too great a consequence for us as a family. We are so lucky that we have the opportunity to regret and move before the children have to start school, says Simon Winkler.

The family has now put the house in Store Heddinge up for sale, and has been given an apartment in Copenhagen, where they will try to heal the wounds from the Stevns "adventure".

The Folklore Museum has lost an active deputy chairman, who had a vision to strengthen the Stevns cultural heritage of elven people and the king of the cliffs, but instead found an ugly troll in a box.

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