Catholic Church In Dutch castrated 10 boys in the 1950s in effort to purge homosexuality

The story of the abuse of Henk Heithuis is heartbreaking one.

Henk was born in 1935 out of wedlock, he grew up in orphanages and boarding schools managed by Roman Catholic monks. After he spoke up about his abuse, he was confined to a psychiatric hospital before being physically castrated to purge the homosexuality in him. This was done to him when he was still a child.

He pressed charges as an adult, but tragically died in a car accident not long after.

Report From One Of The Men Who Saw Henk's genital mutilation.

Cornelius Rogge, a well-known Dutch artist was one of the men who saw the physical evidence of the castration of Henk Heithuis. He saw his genital mutilation and according to him "all was gone".

'We once asked Henk to drop his pants when the women were gone. He did that. He was maimed totally. It was a huge shock,' he said to The Telegraph in an interview.

According to Joep Dohmen, an investigative journalist who researched the Heithuis case, witnesses told him that the surgical removal of testicles was both a cure for homosexuality and a punishment for people who accused clerics of sexual abuse.

Mr. Heithuis was castrated at the age of 20 in 1956 after accusing Catholic clergy of sexually abusing him .

During the period, children in institutional care in the Netherlands, regardless of religious affiliation, were at a high risk of being mistreated; the molestation rate was 20%, which was double what was obtainable elsewhere.

Despite the fact that the monks were convicted of the acts, Mr Heithuis was still sent to a Catholic psychiatric hospital and surgically castrated.

Court documents reveal he was castrated "at his own request," but there is no written consent from him.

Mr Heithuis died in a vehicle accident two years after the castration, but Mr Rogge felt forced to disclose the castration to an official investigation into abuse inside the Catholic Church.

The investigation, led by former Dutch minister Wim Deetman, collected 1,800 accusations of sexual abuse by clergy or volunteers inside Dutch Catholic dioceses since 1945.

Mr Rogge's report was received by the Deetman committee, but because 'there were few leads for additional research,' it opted not to investigate.

Over a 40-year period, 800 Catholic clergy and church personnel were found to have abused minors, according to the investigation.

The newspaper investigation also found that government inspectors were aware that young males in Catholic-run psychiatric hospitals were being castrated.

Minutes from 1950s meetings show that inspectors were present while castrations were considered, and that the Catholic staff did not believe parents should be engaged, even if the patients were minors.

There are also suspicions that Vic Marijnen, the Dutch Prime Minister from 1963 to 1965, was involved in the case.

He was not only a rising political figure in his party, but he was also the vice-chairman of the Dutch Catholic child protection organization.

Most notably, he was the chairman of the Gelderland children's home in 1956, where Mr Heithuis and other children were abused.

He intervened to have prison terms of several priests convicted of child abuse reduced.

The commission said it did not report on the actions of Vic Marijnen because 'the case was unmistakeably tied to circumstances which could be traced back to an individual person.'

When asked about his results, Mr. Dohmen stated that the cases could 'no longer be traced.'

'Many more will follow. But the question is whether those males, will want to tell their experience,' he continued.

This is pure evil, a report of man's inhumanity.