Switzerland: Stolen Childhoods
Kavita Puri goes to Switzerland to hear the extraordinary stories of survivors who lived as indentured child labourers.
Campaigners in Switzerland have launched a petition to pressure parliament to pay compensation to the thousands of children who were sent to work on farms as cheap forced labour. The practice was common up until the 1970s. Many of these verdingkinder, or βcontract childrenβ came from poor backgrounds and experienced years of physical and mental abuse.
For Assignment, Kavita Puri goes to Switzerland to hear the extraordinary stories of survivors who lived as indentured child labourers.
Produced by Smita Patel
(Image: Contract children working on farms in Switzerland in the early 1940s. Photograph courtesy of Paul Senn (1901-1953), Bernese Foundation of Photography, Film and Video Β© Gottfried Keller Foundation, Bern)
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
Broadcasts
- Thu 30 Oct 2014 02:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
- Thu 30 Oct 2014 16:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
- Thu 30 Oct 2014 20:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
- Sun 2 Nov 2014 10:05GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
Download this programme
Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes