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23 March 2012
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REN TV
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Abuse and castration in Dutch church |
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Also the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands abused many young boys and girls over the last decades. And also in the Netherlands a special commission is appointed to research the cases of abuse. Now it also becomes clear that besides the abuse, also boys have been castrated after the accusation of homosexuality. One case was reported to the commission by the Rogge brothers, but never ended up in the report. For over 50 years Cornelius and IJsbrand Rogge did their best to report the abuse and castration of Henk Heithuis, but nothing came out of it. The story finally gets attention when a Dutch journalist writes an article about the Heithuis case. The Rogge brothers met Heithuis in Japan after the castration. Henk was very sick and was send back to Amsterdam where the open minded Rogge mother helped him. He was send to a sexologist, got hormones, totally recovered and started to press charges against the church. Before a trial could start Henk Heithuis died in a suspicious car accident. A policeman took away all the evidence just before the Rogge brothers and in this way the case was swept under the carpet for over 50 years.
Activities: research, set-up, planning, book car, drive, accompany filming, translations.