The public prosecution department is looking into the abnormally high number of children who died at two institutions for the mentally handicapped during the early 1950s.

Between 1952 and 1954, 40 girls died at the Catholic Sint Anna home in Heel in Limburg. All the girls were under 18 and most of them under 12.
In the same period, there were 34 boys under 18 who died at the Sint Joseph home in the same town.
The deaths were probably the result of neglect, according to a former nurse at Sint Joseph who spoke to the Telegraaf. ‘When a colleague cared for the boys, the death rate began to rise. The doctor warned the bishop and the colleague was sent to Belgium,’ he told the paper.
The information came to light during the enquiry currently being held by Wim Deetman into sexual and physical abuse of children by members of the Catholic church.