Dutch Catholic Church Castrated Boys to 'Cure Homosexuality'

The Dutch Roman Catholic Church has been accused of castrating at least 10 teenagers and young men under the age of 21 "to get rid of homosexuality" in the 1950s.

Evidence of the castrations has been made public following a row that it had not been included in a report of an official investigation of sexual abuse within the Dutch church last year.

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad identified Henk Heithuis who said he was castrated by priests in 1956 when he was 20 after reporting child abuse at his Catholic-run boarding home in the eastern Gelderland province.

After he testified, Heithuis was taken to a Catholic psychiatric institution and "castrated because of his homosexual behaviour," the paper said.

Joep Dohmen, the investigative journalist who uncovered the Heithuis case, also found evidence of at least nine other castrations.

"These cases are anonymous and can no longer be traced," said Dohmen, reported in the Telegraph.

"There will be many more. But the question is whether those boys, now old men, will want to tell their story."

Heithuis died in a car crash in 1958, two years after being castrated.

Two clergymen were convicted following Heithuis' report to the police, but he was still transferred to a Catholic psychiatric hospital before being admitted to the St Joseph Hospital in Veghel later that year.

Court papers confirmed that it was here that he was castrated "at his own request" despite no written evidence of this.

Sources told Dohmen that the surgical removal of Heithuise's testicles was regarded as a treatment for homosexuality and a punishment for those who accused clergy of sexual abuse.

Minutes taken from meetings at Catholic-run psychiatric institutions in the 1950s have revealed government inspectors were aware that castrations were taking place.

The documents also revealed the Catholic staff did not believe that the parents of those who were castrated needed to be involved.

In 2011 an independent commission of former government minister Wim Deetman into sexual abuse at Catholic schools and orphanages since 1945 revealed that one in five Dutch children who spent time at Catholic institutions had been sexually abused.

The Heithuis case was not followed up because "there were few leads for further research".