Denmark’s prime minister Frederiksen apologised in person to six surviving victims of a “social experiment” that took place in the 1950s: 22 Greenlandic children aged between 4 and 9 were taken from their families and sent to Denmark, then the colonial power, to be re-educated as “little Danes” and integrated into Danish society. The Inuit children were supposed to be part of a new Danish-speaking elite in Greenland that would help modernise the local population. Denmark was trying to convince the United Nations that Greenland was an integrated part of Denmark. The children were never sent back to their families, which were not aware of what they were agreeing to. Greenland remains a formal part of the Kingdom of Denmark but has since gained wide autonomy. “What you were exposed to was […] inhuman, it was unreasonable and it was heartless” Frederiksen said, “[…] Denmark today says the only word that is right to say: Sorry!”. “This is part of our common history […] a truth which hurts to look back on” Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede said.
Read more: CNA.com