Netherlands: Isolated family – father reported emigration
19.10.2019 – 15:38 o’clock
The case of the family on a farm northeast of Amsterdam in Ruinerwold, which has presumably been completely isolated since 2010, continues to pose a mystery.
Amsterdam. On a farm in the Netherlands, a family lived isolated for years. Nobody noticed anything. The case raises many questions.
A family of seven lived for nine years in an isolated room on a farm in the Netherlands. The father and an Austrian are in custody.
According to a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, the father reported his emigration to the authorities ten years ago. In 2009, he had himself removed from the Dutch residents’ registration list.
During the further search of the farm on Saturday a “money dog” was used, which can find hidden banknotes. “But no further money was found”, said spokesman Bart Olmer. Previously, a “substantial amount” had been found.
For nine years the family had lived in a lockable isolated room with several chambers. According to the police, the access to the room was hidden behind a cupboard. Only from time to time the children were in the garden, but they never left the premises.
According to police information, the children, who are now 18 to 25 years old, had never attended school, but they can read and write and would all speak Dutch. The family was discovered earlier this week after a 25-year-old son asked for help in a pub.
Isolated Family – Map shows place in Netherlands
The first suspect – a 58-year-old Austrian – is already in custody, according to the public prosecutor’s office on Twitter. “The judge of the District Court of the Northern Netherlands has just ordered the imprisonment of a 58-year-old man for a period of 14 days on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty,” the tweet says.
According to the police, he was a tenant of the farm and is said to have carried out regular repairs there, but did not live there. The family was not known to the residents’ registration office. The relationship between the Austrian and the family is still unclear.
The father of the children was also arrested. The man is accused of imprisonment, ill-treatment and money laundering. Investigators are now looking for the father’s motive. A police spokesman said that the man was approachable and that it was also possible to communicate with the children.
In this photo gallery you will get more impressions of the farm in the Netherlands:
In the Netherlands, a family has been held on a farm for nine years. Now there are photos of the family’s place of residence.
The affected family is said to have lived in seclusion on this farm in Ruinerwold in the Netherlands.
After the case became known, the Dutch authorities took over the investigation.
The yard was searched by the police. Because there were also animals there, animal protection was also used.
The case became known because a son of the family had asked for help in a pub in the village.
Police investigations in Ruinerwold’s case focus on the 67-year-old father of the family from the Netherlands and a 58-year-old Austrian.
The children had reacted violently to the arrest of their father, the deputy police chief in Drenthe, Janny Knol, said on Dutch television. The police and also psychologists would talk to them. “It is clear that they did not necessarily behave in the same way as we did.
Both men are suspected of having detained the family’s six now grown-up children against their will on the farm in the village of Ruinerwold. It is examined whether “a certain conviction of life or faith” has led to the life situation of the young people.
The Netherlands: An isolated family lives on a farm – What you have to know
- In the Netherlands, several people have lived isolated from the outside world for several years in a lockable room.
- A total of seven people lived on the small remote farm.
- 58-year-old Austrian suspected of deprivation of liberty
- The story recalls the case of Natascha Kampusch and Josef Fritzl
It’s “bewilderment and fainting.”
In the village of Ruinerwold with 4000 inhabitants there is “bewilderment and powerlessness”, said the mayor of the municipality of De Wolden, Roger de Groot, during the night to Friday. “Obviously, it’s possible for a family to stay under the radar for so long.
Three more children are supposed to belong to the family. They fled eight years ago, according to a statement by relatives published in the Dutch media. According to the media, the father had broken off contact with his family years ago.
Family lives isolated in the Netherlands: Was it a cult?
“We think that the six people did not live there of their own free will,” police spokeswoman Nathalie Schubart told the German Press Agency. The reasons remain unclear. But after the thorough search of the courtyard and interrogations, the police do not rule out that the background could be a kind of sect.
At least the father was a member of a cult. A spokesman for the so-called Unification Church of the self-proclaimed and deceased Korean “Messiah” Sun Myung Moon confirmed that the man had been a member years ago.
A spokeswoman said that the Unification Church had been deeply affected when the case had been heard. With regard to the father of the family, it says that “we can confirm that one of the victims (. ) was briefly a member of our movement in the mid-1980s, it is known that he suffered from psychological problems and left our organisation in 1987”. The alleged kidnapper had no known connections to the religious community.
The case has horrified the whole world. Meanwhile, the police have expanded their investigations. The investigation focuses on the question of the family’s relationship to the Austrian.
A special group of 25 officials is investigating the case, police in the province of Drenthe announced on Wednesday morning. Many questions remain unanswered. On a remote farm in the village of Ruinerwold, officials had discovered a family who had lived there in an isolated room since 2010.
Isolated family – police record all rooms
“We are recording all the rooms digitally so that we can get a complete overview,” the Drenthe Provincial Police said on Thursday. There are indications that both men belonged to a sect.
According to a former neighbour, the Austrian and the father of the family had been friends for more than 15 years. They also jointly owned a toy shop in nearby Zwartsluis. The shop, which has been closed since 2010, was searched by the police on Wednesday evening. Another of his father’s businesses had also been searched. At first, the police did not want to report the results of the searches.
The case of Natascha Kampusch
References to the family also come from the entries of a son in the social media. The 25-year-old had asked for help in the village pub on Monday and thus got the ball rolling. After a break of more than nine years, he was suddenly active on the Internet again. Judging by his entries, he had planned to leave the farm for a long time. According to him, the mother of the family died in 2004.
Netherlands: Confused 25-year-old asked for help in pub
“He said that his name was Jan, that he had run away and that he needed help,” the landlord of the restaurant said to “Bild”. According to Dutch media, the family could hardly speak properly, words sounded more like fantasy than real language.
The fact that one of the arrested persons is an Austrian is reminiscent of two cases which also had to be carried out in Austria.
There is the story of Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter imprisoned in a cellar for years and fathered seven children with her. And there is the story of Natascha Kampusch, who was kidnapped at the age of ten and imprisoned in a dungeon. Kampusch’s most recent book was his own book against bullying on the Internet. On “Markus Lanz” the woman told a few days ago that even today she is still met with disgust by many people.