Danish orphanage children used in a secret investigation supported by the CIA

This is the first time that research experiments with placed children have been documented in Denmark, assesses historians who call experiments "shocking".

Correction: It previously appeared that Fini Schulsinger was a psychologist, but he was not. Fini Schulsinger was a psychiatrist.

He remembers all the investigations. Especially the one where he gets put in a chair while getting electrodes put on his arms, legs and on the chest around the heart. Then he gets some headphones on and has to listen to some loud, shrill sounds.

- It was very uncomfortable, says DR documentary filmmaker Per Wennick, who as a child participated in the experiments.

The research experiments have come to light in connection with a new one DR documentary series, 'The hunt for myself', which premieres today. Here, director Per Wennick digs into the mysterious tests he participated in as a child without knowing the background to them.

- It's not just my story, it's the story of many children, he says.

The studies involved 311 Danish children. They began in the early 1960s and were to investigate the link between heredity and environment in the development of schizophrenia.

However, the children were not told what research they were involved in. Not even after the experiment ended.

It's not just my story, it's the story of many children. We participated without having any idea what we were participating in.

PER WENNICK

The examinations took place in a basement at the Municipal Hospital in Copenhagen. Many were adopted or placed in an orphanage, just like Per, who lived in the Godthåb orphanage from the age of three to fourteen.

According to historian, Ph.D. and museum inspector at the Danish Welfare Museum, Jacob Knage Rasmussen, this is the first time it is documented that placed children have been used for regular research experiments in Denmark.

- I do not know of similar attempts. Neither in Denmark nor in Scandinavia. It is appalling information that contradicts the Nuremberg Code of 1947, which after World War II was to set some ethical restrictions for experiments on humans. Among other things, informed was introduced consent , which today is central to the world of research.

THE HUNT FOR MYSELF

You can watch more about Per Wennick's story in 'The Hunt for Myself' in two episodes on DRTV .

On DR1, the first episode will be broadcast on 27 December at 20.00 and the second episode on 3 January 2022 at 20.00.

Electrodes on the body

Per Wennick grows up at the Godthåb orphanage. It is an institution for boys aged 3-15 years. Here, the foster mother controls the course of the day with a hard hand.

- I grew up with God and whipping, he says.

When Per Wennick as an 11-year-old is asked if he wants to try something "fun" at the Municipal Hospital, which is about how children feel, he says yes. He thinks it's a diversion from the boring everyday life at the orphanage, and then he even gets 16 kroner for it.

Here he then reviews a series of tests on a regular basis. In the test that evokes the strongest memories in Per Wennick, he has to sit on a chair with headphones on and listen to loud noises, screams and sentences that are supposed to scare him. Through electrodes placed on his body by him, his heart rate is measured, as are his body temperature and sweat level. The test should reveal if he has psychopathic traits.

- Every time there was a sound, I went together. I was really scared, and it actually turns out that I was meant to be, says Per Wennick.

According to Jacob Knage Rasmussen, there is nothing new in the fact that placed children have been subjected to psychological and psychiatric tests in orphanages. But he is shocked to hear about the experiments at the Municipal Hospital:

It is particularly problematic to have used placed children, as they are a vulnerable group in the custody of the state, who do not immediately have anyone speaking their case.

HISTORIAN, PH.D. AND MUSEUM INSPECTOR AT THE DANISH WELFARE MUSEUM, JACOB KNAGE RASMUSSEN

- I have had access to a lot of orphanage records, and I have not come across anything that is just reminiscent of this. I have never heard of children having electrodes on their bodies.

- It is particularly problematic that placed children have been used, as they are a vulnerable group in the state's custody who do not immediately have someone to speak their case, he explains.

At the Welfare Museum, they have received many inquiries from former Danish orphanage children who have been placed in the period 1945-1980, who believe that they have been subjected to medical experiments or have been forcibly medicated.

But this is the first time that it has now been proven that children in orphanages in Denmark have been used for research.

Per Wennick lived at the Godthåb orphanage for eleven years. Photo from the documentary series 'The hunt for myself' (Photo: Sofie Barfoed)

Schizophrenic mothers

The idea for the research project comes from the American psychologist Zarnoff A. Mednick, who was then a professor at the University of Michigan. Mednick is interested in what distinguishes schizophrenic patients from patients with other disorders and healthy people.

But he can not find a suitable study group in the US, as you do not have a population register as in Denmark. Through the population register, it is possible to follow subjects through life, even if, for example, they change residence.

That is why the American seeks out a Danish professor at the Municipal Hospital named Fini Schulsinger. Together, they establish a decades-long Danish-American research collaboration on Danish soil.

The research involves, among other things, studying children who could potentially develop schizophrenia. Therefore, children of schizophrenic mothers who are at high risk of developing the disease are examined. To have something to compare with, a group of control children who do not have schizophrenia in the family also participate. Per Wennick is one of those children.

Some alarm bells started ringing in me and I immediately came to think of the studies I participated in in my childhood.

PER WENNICK

Supervised as an adult

In 1973, as a 24-year-old, Per Wennick participates in what he believes is the latest attempt. He again asks what the research is about. But do not get an answer. It turns out, however, that the research continues without hisconsent .

Ten years later, he discovers that scientists are still using him. He is in the hospital for a skin condition, but discovers during the visit that it is reported to the psychological department every time he is in contact withhealth care .

- I think this is a violation of my rights as a citizen in this society. I find it so strange that some people should know more about me than I myself have been aware of. Because they must have found out infinitely much about me, says Per Wennick.

Still, it is only three years ago that he decides to find out what it was he participated in as a child.

He is sitting at a film festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) and watching the American documentary 'Three Identical Strangers'. A film that reveals a secret research experiment in which triplets were separated at birth and adopted to families in different social strata to examine the relationship between heredity and environment in relation to the development of mental disorders.

- Some alarm bells started ringing in me and I immediately came to think of the studies I participated in in my childhood. I finally got the courage to really dive into my story to get a better idea of ??what the experiments were about and why I was selected, he says.

It has become the documentary 'The hunt for myself' which can now be seen on DRTV.

Supported by the CIA

Through access to documents and old registers , Per Wennick finds out that the research is about schizophrenia - and that it draws threads to the American intelligence .

Through the National Archives, he finds some old newspaper articles describing that the research project has been financed by the American healthcare . In the first year alone, the project is supported with DKK 3-400,000, corresponding to approximately DKK 4.6 million today.

Even more interesting is that an American fund called 'The Human Ecology Fund' contributes a total of 21,000 dollars, equivalent to a value of approximately 1.2 million Danish kroner today. WikiLeaks has revealed that in the 1960s the fund operated on behalf of the US intelligence service ,CIA .

Per Wennick has tried to contact CIA to find out their interests in the research, but they have never returned. He also discovers that the purpose of the research has been deliberately kept hidden from the children.

In 1977, it became a doctoral dissertation by the Danish psychiatrist Fini Schulsinger with the title 'Some studies to shed light on the connection between heredity and environment in psychiatry'.

Normally, they must be defended in public - but the Ministry of Justice gave special permission that this did not happen with this dissertation.

The reason was for the children's anonymity and that they should not become acquainted with the background for their participation in the surveys.

THE EXAMINATIONS AT THE MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL

In the early 1960s, a Danish-American research project began on the development of, among other things, schizophrenia, where placed children were used. The research experiments, which involved 311 Danish children, took place in the basement of the Municipal Hospital in Copenhagen. 207 children had schizophrenic mothers and 104 children were control children. Just over a third of all children had at one time been placed in an orphanage.

The studies included various association and intelligence tests as well as tests of a physiological and psychological nature. In one of the many tests, the experimental children had to agree or disagree with about 600 different statements. A test originally designed to "screen" soldiers for fascist views around World War II.

The research project was supported with $ 21,000, equivalent to approximately 1.2 million Danish kroner today, by the American fund 'The Human Ecology Fund', which was a cover for the CIA.

Deleted documents

Per Wennick hopes to be able to learn more about his past by finding his own patient record that may provide a greater insight into the studies.

Even though the journal is decades old, he actually manages to locate it. In a former freezer room in the basement under Psychiatric Center Glostrup in their ward in Hvidovre. Here are 36 boxes of material about the research project.

But before Per Wennick has time to apply access to the boxes, which have been stored for more than 60 years, the center begins to shred the papers.

It happens after a professor with In connection with the investigations at the Municipal Hospital, which Per Wennick interviews in the documentary, the center management informs about Per's interest in the research material.

Per Wennick therefore receives the following written was on his access to documents from Center Manager at Psychiatric Center Glostrup, Mette Bertelsen Fredsgaard:

"In connection with your inquiry to Professor Emeritus Josef Parnas, I have become aware of the presence of the research material in question. As we may not store research material after the end of the research project, the research material in question has been shredded. I therefore regret that I can not offer to help you."

The majority of the research material has thus been deleted right in front of Per's nose. And even after he has searched access to documents , the shredding of the material has continued.

- If there's one thing I'm angry about, it's that act. That at the moment I say now I would like to apply for access to the records, then they continue the shredding. That, I think, is completely reprehensible because, according to the law, I have the right to see what is written about me in various archives. It struck me quite a lot, says Per Wennick.

In the documentary series, the Center Manager further elaborates on the reasons for the shredding:

“ It is correct that in connection with DR´'s request for access to documents, we become aware that we have kept the documents in question longer than permitted. As soon as it dawns on us, we shred the material as soon as possible to comply with the law. As this is research material, it is our clear view that it is exempt from the right of access to documents. However, we regret that we did not take the time to make a thorough assessment of the request before shredding the material. ”

The center manager's explanation does not hold up in court, if you ask Kent Kristensen, associate professor of Health Law at the University of Southern Denmark. He believes that the continued shredding of the material that happened after Per Wennick applied access to documents , is contrary to the law.

- It is highly criticisable that the material has been shredded. A practice where one continues to shred is completely subversive to the possibility of getting access to documents because it is impossible to reconstruct the information that the person in question is seeking access to documents , he says.

Historian Jacob Knage Rasmussen is also critical of the shredding.

- I think it's a huge failure compared to the former orphanage children who are interested in the pieces of their own childhood to get a total story made about their own lives. That possibility is deprived of them if you shred the research material, he says.

Center manager Mette Bertelsen Fredsgaard takes note of the criticism and will in future be more thorough with the administration of any shreds of sensitive research material.

- I assume that the shredding has been completed, but I am sorry that I do not investigate it. Another time, I want to make sure that the shredding I may want to start will be completed within the foreseeable future, she says.

Per Wennick has chosen to complain the Danish Data Protection Agency , which is expected to make a decision at the beginning of the new year.

Although Per never finds out what has been written about him in the papers from the examinations at the Municipal Hospital, he is happy that the story of the experiments now comes to light:

- It had been good for me to go through this personal process in connection with the documentary series. I think other former inmates should know that there may be records kept where something can be written about someone who can help solve part of the riddle of one's own life. And that it can provide some kind of redemption to read.

In the documentary series 'The hunt for myself', DR director Per Wennick tries to dive into his own life story, which offers a hard upbringing in an orphanage and participation in mysterious research experiments in a basement at the Municipal Hospital. The series can be streamed on DRTV and premieres on December 27 at 20 on DR1

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