Travel,Social IssuesMAR 16, 2022

30 Dark Facts About These Countries That Not Many People Know Of

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No country is without sin. And nobody has a clean slate. There are a lot of unpalatable secrets lurking in any country’s history and present. Even though it might be uncomfortable dragging them into the spotlight, acknowledging these less-than-savory facts is the first step to solving the issues in the first place.

The redditors living in Europe opened up about the dark facts about their home countries in a brutally honest thread over on r/AskEurope. These facts might not be for everyone, so fair warning, some of the things you might read are darker than dark.

If you’d like to share some lesser-known dark secrets about your home country, Pandas, you can do so in the comment section once you’re done reading this list.

#1

30 Dark Facts About These Countries That Not Many People Know Of

Spain.

During the Francoist regime, many single mothers were told their newborn children were dead. They weren’t allowed to see the corpse, and the baby, which wasn’t dead, was given to a married couple. Many years later, the graves of many of these supposedly dead babies were found to be empty. This was done with the absolute cooperation of the Catholic church.

alexblmz, Kat J

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354points

#2

England. I don’t know how unknown this is but Alan Turing who helped to break Nazis’ enigma code was arrested for being gay and was chemically castrated by the government he helped years ago. He was banned from GCHQ and the US which greatly effected his career. He killed himself in 1954.

psychoghost847, unknown

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308points

#3

In Italy a r*pist could marry his victim to avoid any legal persecution (this practice was called "matrimonio riparatore"). The women were pressed to accept the marriage to avoid social shame. Franca Viola, in 1948, was the first woman to refuse to marry her r*pist, but this practice was abolished by law only in 1981.

leady57, Sandy Millar

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292points

User u/AkruX explained that they were inspired to create the thread on r/AskEurope after learning that their home country, the Czech Republic (aka Czechia), was at one point ranked the third-worst slavery haven in the entirety of Europe. They were completely shocked by this.

Very recently, Bored Panda spoke to Brooke Burris, who chairs the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force in the Charleston area in South Carolina. She went into detail with us about human trafficking. It’s a deep-seated problem that is global, not located in just any one or two countries.

According to Brooke, people care about fighting against human trafficking more when they realize that it’s a local problem.

#4

Sweden used to treat Sami natives in northen Sweden as second class citizens for the longest time and we barely learn about it in school. As late as the 70s Sami children were still forcefully taken from their Sami parents and adopted by Swedish parents to ”make them Swedish”

Swedishboy360, Linus Mimietz

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270points

#5

Norway. How terrible we have suppressed the Sami people and how we forcefully assimilated them in order to “fit in” with the “Norwegian culture”. And how the racism against them still exist very much to this day. They are still treated horrible by Norwegians and we are barely learned anything about their history in our schools.

ClementineMandarin, Mikita Karasiou

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257points

#6

Poland is ranked as the most homophobic country in the EU

g_guacamole, Valentyn Chernetskyi

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246points

"The U.S. Dept. of State has recognized that trafficking is a global problem, solved on the local level through a multidisciplinary response. The more local one's focus on the nature and prevalence of the issue, the better and truer understanding one will have as to both (1) the scale of trafficking and (2) how they specifically can take ownership of the problem and become a part of the solution,” she explained.

The expert noted that human trafficking is a far broader and more complex problem than it’s presented in movies.

"Kidnapping and using physical force/coercion is only one means by which a trafficker can control a victim," she said.

#7

NOBODY answered from the USA!? SO MANY...but I've always thought that how the land was taken from the original inhabitants one of the worst things this 'land of the free' has done.
The massacres, the forced relocations, the infecting with smallpox, the loss of their identity as independent peoples...the list just goes on.
Continued up until taking Hawaii away from the ruling monarchy in the 1800's.

243points

#8

Australia. Basically everything to do with the First Nations/Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Mostly the stolen generations but there was a whole lot more f*cked up sh*t.

superweevil, Joey Csunyo

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230points

#9

Turkey. There is overwhelming violence against women in Turkey. And the first thing [anyone] asks: well, what was she wearing?, what is she doing there this late?

IAmNoSherlock, Satria SP

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227points

"In fact, according to a report of prosecuted sex trafficking cases in the U.S., 59% of coercive tactics used by traffickers were non-physical, compared to 41% of tactics involving physical coercion. Further, transportation is merely one type of action used by a trafficker,” Brooke told us.

Though it’s unlikely that human trafficking will be fully rooted out globally or in any particular country, it is vital to limit its scope.

“Until the Lord comes, I think evil will always exist in our world. Therefore, if I'm honest, I don't think we will be able to eradicate human trafficking entirely," Brooke said that it’s important to keep fighting injustice, but it’s equally vital to be realistic about the scope of the problem.

#10

Spain is only second to Cambodia for missing persons cases that were never resolved.

There is a government run online search tool for finding mass graves.

iwishiwasapuppy, Sam Williams

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205points

#11

France. Forced sterilization of intellectually disabled people was a very common thing until the early 2000s. There's now a law requiring consent since 2001, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn forced sterilization still happens.

80sBabyGirl, Paul Gaudriault

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201points

#12

Portugal has massive problem with domestic violence (including femicide and child abuse). Strict catholic patriarchy was THE rule until 1974, so it's still hanging around in older generations and trickling down on their descendants. And most offenders get off with a slap on the wrist because we still have courts full of old ass judges.

SerChonk, Milada Vigerova

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198points

#13

I think many people, that don't live in german-speaking countries, don't know that Austria was a fascist dictatorship for 4 years before the Anschluss

RapAddictedAustrian, Dimitry Anikin

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196points

#14

Huge collaboration of Dutch people during WW2 , snitching where people were hiding. Supporting the Nazis, joining the forces.

The Dutch railway company (NS) transported Jews, Sinti and Roma to Germany.

Royal Dutch Shell reported their jewish employees to the Nazis to be deported.

ZapSpar, Bundesarchiv

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186points

#15

Netherlands. In 1620, the Dutch East India Company committed genocide on the people on the Indonesian Banda Islands, under the flag of the Dutch fleet. Murdered 95% of the population as punishment. Their crime? Selling nutmeg to the Portuguese and the English.

I don't even like nutmeg that much. Their population still isn't at the level it was before the genocide.

Slobberinho

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179points

#16

In Ireland we were under such control of the Catholic church until 2000s. Our constitution was drawn up with their approval and still says that women have a role in the home. Anyway the control of the church meant that the church got away with shielding and transferring paedophile priests ( well known). The not so well known was the following three things outside Ireland are:

Mother and baby homes - This was where unwed mothers were brought. They were a shamed, has their children taken away. The children either died or were adopted illegally to Irish and American families. They also burned their records and one in Tuam Co Galway dumped the bodies of many children who died in a septic tank (tank where sewage is stored from houses not connected to the main sewage system).

Magdalene Laundries - this was where runways and some troubles were brought. They were slaves in a laundry and received nothing and were treated terribly and the religious orders made money off the backs of this slavery. The last one wasn't closed till the 90s which is messed up.

Also corporal punishment in schools until the late 60s early 70s especially in industrial schools (some of which were for troubled boys and the abuse there was messed up.

So yes we have a dark past. Now it makes sense why there are few young Catholics in Ireland. We don't mention it much but we know and it makes me ashamed and I'm 25.

diffles2, Alejandro Luengo

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167points

#17

Germany. Female genital mutilation in Germany. It makes me incredibly angry as it is an more or less unpunished crime for decades now and nothing is done really.

Every few years, when sombody decides to report about it measures are announced, but nothing will be really done.

Schnauze-Lutscher, Zohre Nemati

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161points

#18

Russia. Most Russians actually support their government and especially Putin

Looz-Ashae, Kremlin.ru

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129points

#19

The regional languages in France were progressively replaced by French from 1789. Only a few are still remaining (mostly those who aren't understandable by a French speaker, like Breton, Basque, Corsican, Alsatian, Francoprovençal etc.) but apparently more than 90% of our regional languages are now dead. You only find them in regional accents.

MapsCharts, anthony Choren

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126points

#20

Georgia. State of LGBT rights. They are non-existent, you can easily get killed by religious people and nobody will give a sh*t.

Gioware, daniel james

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125points

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