In 1893 there was a scandal of dimensions in Copenhagen.
The renown lady superintendent of the home for wayward or orphaned boys, KANA, i.
e.
Vilhelmine Møller, confessed to having murdered one of the orphans.
The unlucky boy was the 15 year old Volmer Sjøgren and her reasons to take his young life was that they had been lovers and that he unfortunately had learned her most well guarded secret, that is the fact that "she" was a he or perhaps a hermaphrodite.
Vilhelmine Møller's sexual organs had been deformed ever since birth.
However, when she was arrested and taken to prison she also underwent a medical examination and her sex was determined as masculine.
Even today the case is not quite clear, but as her (his) organs were more masculine than female she (he) now officially became a man and had the name of Vilmelmine Møller changed into Frederik Vilhelm Schmidt.
As to his crime it always was almost incomprehensible that he would harm any of the boys as he had been an outstanding and very considerate superintendent who also wrote articles about his advanced ideas for the education of these forlorn children.
Perhaps his good reputation as a dedicated person is the reason why his former assistant, Mrs Mackwitz, was seen as the one who had corrupted his morals, thus being the true criminal.
Blaming her did not change the fact that he was a murderer and he was sentenced to death.
This sentence was eventually changed into imprisonment for life.
However, as early as 1905 he was released and that same year he married.
It seems that from then on he has led a good and to all intents normal life with his wife.
In 1906 he published a short article about his life in a magazine, "Naturen og Mennesket" (: "Nature and the Human Being").
He died on Christmas Eve in 1936 at the ripe old age of 91.
One of the reasons this sad murder was such a scandal was that at that time these special children's homes were run by private donations.
All the people who were engaged in this work feared that they would lose the public support which the homes lived on, but that did not happen.
The public did not lose sympathy with these young outcasts or the people who tended and educated them.
On the contrary, they went on supporting them until 1905 when the homes became part of a special children's act and thus turned State wards.
Up till then they had lived at the mercy of the public.
The renown lady superintendent of the home for wayward or orphaned boys, KANA, i.
e.
Vilhelmine Møller, confessed to having murdered one of the orphans.
The unlucky boy was the 15 year old Volmer Sjøgren and her reasons to take his young life was that they had been lovers and that he unfortunately had learned her most well guarded secret, that is the fact that "she" was a he or perhaps a hermaphrodite.
Vilhelmine Møller's sexual organs had been deformed ever since birth.
However, when she was arrested and taken to prison she also underwent a medical examination and her sex was determined as masculine.
Even today the case is not quite clear, but as her (his) organs were more masculine than female she (he) now officially became a man and had the name of Vilmelmine Møller changed into Frederik Vilhelm Schmidt.
As to his crime it always was almost incomprehensible that he would harm any of the boys as he had been an outstanding and very considerate superintendent who also wrote articles about his advanced ideas for the education of these forlorn children.
Perhaps his good reputation as a dedicated person is the reason why his former assistant, Mrs Mackwitz, was seen as the one who had corrupted his morals, thus being the true criminal.
Blaming her did not change the fact that he was a murderer and he was sentenced to death.
This sentence was eventually changed into imprisonment for life.
However, as early as 1905 he was released and that same year he married.
It seems that from then on he has led a good and to all intents normal life with his wife.
In 1906 he published a short article about his life in a magazine, "Naturen og Mennesket" (: "Nature and the Human Being").
He died on Christmas Eve in 1936 at the ripe old age of 91.
One of the reasons this sad murder was such a scandal was that at that time these special children's homes were run by private donations.
All the people who were engaged in this work feared that they would lose the public support which the homes lived on, but that did not happen.
The public did not lose sympathy with these young outcasts or the people who tended and educated them.
On the contrary, they went on supporting them until 1905 when the homes became part of a special children's act and thus turned State wards.
Up till then they had lived at the mercy of the public.
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