11 dark facts about these countries that few people know about

There is no country without sin. And no one has a clean slate. In the history and present of any country, there are many unpleasant secrets. While it can be uncomfortable to drag them into the spotlight, acknowledging these unattractive facts is the first step to solving problems in the first place.

11 PHOTOS

1. During the Francoist regime in Spain, many single mothers were told that their newborn babies were dead. They were not allowed to see the corpse, but the living baby 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.

2. Sweden has long treated the native Sámi in northern Sweden as second-class citizens, and we barely learn about it in school. Back in the 70s, Sami children were still forcibly taken from their Sami parents and adopted by Swedish parents to "make them Swedes".

3. France. Forced sterilization of mentally retarded people was common until the early 2000s. Since 2001, there has been a law requiring consent, but we wouldn't be surprised to learn that forced sterilization still applies.

4. Austria was a fascist dictatorship for 4 years before the Anschluss.

5. Spain ranks second after Cambodia in missing person cases that have never been solved.

6. Portugal has a huge problem with domestic violence (including the murder of women and child abuse). Strict Catholic patriarchy was the rule until 1974, so it still hangs around the older generations and trickles down to their descendants.

7. Regional languages in France have been gradually replaced by French since 1789. There are still only a few left (mostly those that are not understood by a native speaker of French, such as Breton, Basque, Corsican, Alsatian, Franco-Provençal, etc.), but apparently, more than 90% of the regional languages already are dead. You will only find them in regional accents.

8. Lithuania often ranks among the top countries in terms of suicide rates. It looks like ~1/4000 Lithuanians will kill themselves.

9. France. War against colonized Algeria. It's a really shameful thing about war crimes, torture... Many veterans won't talk about it because of how embarrassed they are.

10. Romania. A few years ago, there was a scandal with a pediatrician who performed extremely painful medical experiments on the children he was supposed to treat, such as attaching a metal rod to their backs and inserting screws into their spines to "fix" scoliosis or something similar. with bones that, in his opinion, did not grow properly. He mainly targeted poor families or families with children with strange conditions because he believed they would not or would not be able to question his methods.

11. Greece is the only country in the EU where Sharia law is still in effect.