Starvation Deaths in ‘40s of Retarded Swedes Reported

STOCKHOLM —  More than 200 severely retarded patients apparently starved to death in the 1940s at a state institution, where its director described them as “lower than many animal species,” a newspaper reported Saturday.

The report is the latest in a wave of media investigations that have challenged Sweden’s self-image as a caring and ethical welfare state.

The Dagens Nyheter based its report of the deaths on an examination of records uncovered by private TV4.

The newspaper did not report direct evidence of deliberate starvation and noted that during the period in question, 1941-43, the now-closed Vipeholm facility near Lund, cut rations because of wartime shortages.