I didn鈥檛 know I was part of an experiment
When Greenlander Helene Thiesen was just seven, two Danish men came to take her away.
When Greenlander Helene Thiesen was just seven, two Danish men came to take her away.
In 1951, Greenland native Helene Thiesen was just seven years old when two Danish men knocked at the family home. That moment would shape the rest of her life. These men, acting at the invitation of the Danish colonial government were rounding up the brightest Inuit children and sending them to live in Denmark to be re-educated as model Danish citizens or 鈥榣ittle Danes鈥�. Helene suffered terribly from being separated from her mother and siblings and it would take her many decades to discover the horrible truth behind it all: she was part of an experiment. Of the 22 children that were taken, Helene is now one of the few survivors.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Edgar Maddicott
Translator: Alette Rye Scales
Voice: Julia Holden
Podcast
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Lives Less Ordinary
Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary personal stories
