The forgotten Children from Cighid (2) by UteBigSmile
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Description
This graphic is just a small update of my first graphic from 2012, https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/-the-forgotten-children-from-cighid-/2349735/
How the poor children are doing so far, I can only show you with the 2 two videos.
Background information
In 1966, the regime of Nicolae CeauΘescu decreed a ban on contraception and abortion with the aim of increasing Romania's population. At the age of three years the children were medically examined. Disabled and orphaned children were in huge numbers brought into homes like Cighid or psychiatric hospitals, where they lived under inhuman conditions[1].
The children's home Cighid, located in Ghiorac near the Hungarian border, was discovered in spring 1990 by western reporters. The pictures of sick and malnourished children were published in many newspapers and were shown on many TV stations around the world. Observers described the sight of Cighid with terms like "Child Gulags" or "the Romanian Euthanasia Program".
Charities from America and Western Europe contributed massively to an aid programme which saw Cighid improved. Many of the children being held at Cighid were adopted by Western European families.
The home gained worldwide attention during the process of coming to terms with the communist tyranny in Romania, when shortly after the fall of CeauΘescu in 1989, Western European journalists found neglected and neglected babies and children with physical and mental disabilities and developmental delays there.
This discrimination against people with disabilities also included euthanasia and palliative care. The case is also considered from the perspective of medical ethics and sociology of domination. Six kilometres away is the cemetery for the victims of Cighid with 137 graves.
Worldwide fame
The Cighid home near European Road 671 gained worldwide attention shortly after the fall of CeauΘescu: in 1989, Western European journalists found a card index listing the names of more than 240 children. In Cighid - as in other Romanian institutions (e.g. the Bradca Home[3]) - babies and children with physical and mental disabilities and developmental delays were found. The international media published pictures of the neglected and neglected children. The press described their living conditions as inhuman: the so-called isolator, for example, was a shed with nailed-up windows in which 17 small children were held prisoner. In the darkness of the room they had to recognise by the smell whether it was porridge, faeces or vomit. At that time they carried excrement out of the house by shovel.
In the spring of 1990, the paediatrician and later director of the home, Pavel Oarcea, was commissioned to look after the Cighid home. Oarcea refused to blame the system alone for the conditions. He did not accept the statement of the helpers working there that the conditions were like this, that the blame lay with "those up there who give orders", because "Ceausescu did not work here"[4][5].
Donations
International donations were used to build four new houses. The old castle building was also renovated by volunteers. A thermal spring was discovered on the grounds of the home, which is used for the heating system and for a therapy pool. 137 children died in Cighid, the remaining orphans remained in the home [6].
Further development
The European Union initially refused to admit Romania to the EU, partly because the country did not care for its orphans. Bucharest has responded by improving the equipment of orphanages. However, capacity was overstretched as the number of Romanian children in care had risen to 150,000. After the end of the dictatorship in Romania, the former owner of the hunting lodge wanted the property returned.
As they reached adulthood, these children were threatened with admission to a psychiatric clinic, as there were no facilities for disabled adults in Romania. 112 children and young people survived Cighid. In Oradea, to whose catchment area Cighid belongs, an institution for disabled adults was set up (cf. assisted living). The 18 plus project was set up so that home children do not have to go to a Romanian psychiatric clinic later on. 7
In 2007, the first diagnostic and therapy centre for the disabled "Panduri" was opened in the capital Bucharest, after 16 years of construction. The project was financed heavily from Frankfurt, which is why it is also known in Bucharest as "Haus Frankfurt" [8] It is the first new hospital building in Romania since the end of communism. So far the country has concentrated on renovating its mostly run-down hospitals.
In the field of psychology, the children's homes in Romania have led to an increased investigation of the so-called survivor syndrome and also the loss of mothers [9].
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cighid
I thank you all for looking and I wish you all a great weekend!
PS. Please remember that such insane and inhuman "Children Homes" still exist worldwide!
Comments (19)
Tracesl
excellent
ontar1
Fantastic scene and characters!
aerodreams
Fantastic scene
miwi
Fantastic scene,excellent done, but the story made me sad!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nightwind
Bravo to you for doing an image to highlight the horror inflicted on these innocent children! Not a child in this world asked to be born. The measure of a society is determined on how it treats its weakest members.
UteBigSmile
Thank you, actually I wanted to make the scene more scary, but then I would have had to show the kids half-naked in the dirt and that's against the rules of Renderosity, so I made it so that the home was renovated from donations, the kids got clothes and were also given up for adoption, it's nice to know that even severely disabled children were adopted by childless parents.
adrie
Great work on this wonderful image dear Ute, love how you put all those characters in this scene Ute.
UteBigSmile
Dit zijn allemaal K4's en ze nemen niet zoveel opslagruimte in beslag als een V4 of M4, maar het was veel werk omdat ik eerst de achtergrond van een set van Oliver (3-dc) en de rest met de DAZ-Studio heb gemaakt en daar geplakt (daarom zie je nergens een schaduw), ik was bang dat als ik alles samen zou doen, de DAZ-Studio zou instorten.
JoeJarrah
excellent illustration of an important story.
UteBigSmile
Hi Joe, nice to see you back my friend, hope you had a good time!
bakapo
Heartbreaking. A story that should not be forgotten. Your image shows the pain and sadness from the past and the present.... good job!
marcPoser
I was aware, after the fall of the communism regime in Romania that there were abandoned children in orphanages and that some of them were adopted later and many of them had very serious development problems, because of neglect. I however lost track of that story, since so many critical international events were happening, non-stop. These video gave me an answer about what happens to these children; this is heartbreaking.
I reached the conclusion that any civilization that does not prioritize the notion of the nuclear family is doomed to abandon their children into "institutions." This is especially true for communist regimes. As this video shows, nobody in Romania is able to take responsibility; this is also true in China.
This is what I am observing, more and more in our western countries, where the bureaucracy is becoming so big that they are in charge of the childrenβs education (the school system), I would call it : children indoctrination. This is what is happening in China, this is what will happen to us. We are slowly becoming communists, or addicted to socialist systems, without realizing it. Children care and education are the duty of parents, not of the government, nor of the bureaucrats. Teaching skills (mental like language and math, and physical) to children is another matter; this may be done by government institutions, like in schools and universities.
Thank you for sharing these eye-opening videos.
Your illustration tells so much!
UteBigSmile
Thank you for your fantastic comment dear Marc! If mankind has no balls in its pants and prefers to stay on the sofa to defend itself against dictatorship (see Belarus or Hong-Kong), sooner or later we all will be just a gang of cowardly slaves of the Rich! What we are missing is a 2 wave from the Storm on the Bastille!
kelchris3
Beautiful image and heartbreaking.
starship64
Thank you for this sobering reminder of a genuine atrocity. This is a very moving picture.
artdreamer
Het was daar een vreselijke trieste omgeving waar de kinderen moesten verblijven, gelukkig is alles verbeterd nu. Mooi weergegeven door jou Ute.
Saby55
Wonderful image and excellent as always!πππββοΈBuona serata ππ
DennisReed
excellent
UteBigSmile
Thank you Dennis, I hope you and yours are fine and in good health!?!
daggerwilldo
You have a wonderful heart to stand up for those whose voices go unheard. In every country it seems we hide the cruel and inhumane conditions we subject the most vulnerable among us to. There is a special place in Hell for those that just look the other way and make no effort to make the tragic situation better. Well done my Friend !!!
UteBigSmile
You are a really good observer, thank you for your comment, I think that's great, because not many bother to take a closer look at a graphic, even the enclosed text is not of interest for them!
RodS
There has to be a special corner of hell for those who would treat children this way - or any innocents for that matter. It paints a really depressing picture that we as a species have not learned anything from the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Same crap, different day.
Well done art and commentary, Ute.
UteBigSmile
Thanks for your great comment dear Rod, we will meet us at FB!
misumu
Such a hear breaking tale, I remembered it vaguely as I started reading your write up, and the nausea I felt the first time came flooding back. Sadly there are those in the world have not learned the lessons of Cighid and actively repeat the crimes. It will be the United States eternal shame, that it has long history of such places like Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys where hundred of boys were tortured and killed. Worse still children are housed like animals at the southern border.
Your image is a stark reminder without delving too far into the actual horrors, which the site understandably would not permit. Sadly the people who should see these images are the ones who already turn a blind eye to that inhumanity,
DukeNukem2005
Very beautiful πΊ π π πββοΈ π π
VEDES
I am very sad to see all these children to be without parents!!!!Bravo for this dedication!!!!!!! I lost my parents when I was 20 years old and yet remember how tragic was and I am thinking how more tragic to be 5-12 years old and to have lost your parents!!!!