Helvedet i Klarup

Hell in Klarup

I remember from my childhood the stories of the Brems from Klarup, who adopted a total of nine children from abroad. Some of them were children of German women and African-American men who had been posted as soldiers in Germany. Ole Brems, who was a psychiatrist, and Lise Brems, was first a sunbeam story that appeared in the local newspaper and in the weekly magazines - think that so many children with such an uncertain fate could be saved by two Danish community backers. And I remember a TV interview with a lady named Tytte Botfeldt (that name was so remarkable in itself that I didn't forget it). She was dying, but could still tell of her efforts to found the Danish branch of Terre des Hommes. This interview also emerged as a sunbeam story.

A few years later, the Brems couple reappeared in the media. Three of the nine children in Klarup had died because of the systematic cruelty of the adoptive parents. What happened next to the other six kids, I don't know. But because these were children in North Jutland at my own age, it started many thoughts.

There is an interesting article in Information on Adoption and how the countries that have previously delivered many adoptive children to Europe and North America are no longer so willing to do so. A much-talked-about TV show about the fate of two Ethiopian adoptive children focused on adoptions from abroad for some time. And earlier this year came the book Child Import, which unveils how adoptions from abroad began. It is a book I want to read - the whole story of the cruel married couple in Klarup I have thought about occasionally.

It was Tytte Botfeldt who had helped to place adoptive children with the Brems family. According to Jyllands-Posten, when she was dying (maybe it was in the TV interview?) She should have stated that

Danish:

Jeg husker fra min barndom historierne om ægteparret Brems fra Klarup, der adopterede i alt ni børn fra udlandet. Nogle af dem var børn af tyske kvinder og afrikansk-amerikanske mænd, der havde været udstationeret som soldater i Tyskland. Ole Brems, der var psykiater, og Lise Brems, var først en solstrålehistorie, der kom i den lokale avis og i ugebladene – tænk, at så mange børn med en så uvis skæbne kunne blive reddet af to danske samfundsstøtter. Og jeg husker et tv-interview med en dame, der hed Tytte Botfeldt (dét navn var i sig selv så bemærkelsesværdigt, at jeg ikke glemte det). Hun var døende, men kunne endnu fortælle om sin indsats for at stifte den danske afdeling af Terre des Hommes. Også dette interview fremstod som en solstrålehistorie.

Få år senere kom ægteparret Brems igen i medierne. Tre af de ni børn i Klarup var døde på grund af adoptivforældrenes systematiske grusomhed mod dem. Hvad der siden skete med de andre seks børn, ved jeg ikke. Men fordi det var børn i Nordjylland på min egen alder, satte det mange tanker i gang.

Der er en interessant artikel i Information om adoption og om hvordan de lande, der tidligere har leveret mange adoptivbørn til Europa og Nordamerika, nu ikke længere er så villige til det. En meget omtalt tv-udsendelse om to etiopiske adoptivbørns skæbne satte i hvert fald for en tid fokus på adoptioner fra udlandet. Og tidligere i år kom bogen Børneimporten, der afdækker hvordan adoptioner fra udlandet begyndte. Det er en bog, jeg vil have læst – hele historien om det grusomme ægtepar i Klarup har jeg tænkt på af og til.

Det var Tytte Botfeldt, der havde været med til at anbringe adoptivbørn hos familien Brems. Ifølge Jyllands-Posten skulle hun, da hun var døende (måske var det i tv-interviewet?) have udtalt at

én af dem, jeg glæder mig til at møde på den anden side, det er Lise Brems

Og jeg tror ikke, at Tytte Botfeldt regnede med at komme i helvede. Adoptivbørnene i Klarup havde allerede været der.

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