Dutch Hospital Reopens 1960s Maternity Wing So Unwed Mothers Can Finally Hold Their Daughters
A Dutch hospital reopens a 1960s maternity wing, inviting elderly women who were once forced to give up their newborns to come back and hold them for the first time.
ROTTERDAM — The Maasstad Hospital has reopened its 1960s maternity wing, complete with original linoleum floors, iron cribs, and a staff of retired nurses in period uniforms, so that women who were once barred from seeing their newborns can now return and hold them for the first time. The first guest, 81-year-old Tjitske Kramer of Rockanje, arrived Tuesday and was escorted to a delivery room where a nurse placed a doll wrapped in a hospital blanket into her arms.
«We cannot bring back the actual babies, but we can bring back the moment,» said hospital director Henk van der Meer, standing beside a vintage scale that still bears the scratches of 1963. «These women were told to keep their mouths shut and their hands off. Now we have booked the room for the entire month, and every hour is theirs.»
Kramer, who was 17 when she gave birth to a daughter named Yvonne and was never allowed to see her, spent forty minutes rocking the doll before asking for a second one. «The doctor said, 'Mouth shut, whore!' and I obeyed for sixty years,» she said. «Now I am holding the baby, and the doctor is not here to stop me.»
The hospital has since expanded the program, converting the former nursery into a permanent visitation suite where women can come daily, bring their own photographs, and even name the dolls after the children they never held. A retired obstetrician, now 92, has been hired to stand in the corner and say nothing, as a reminder of what was once forbidden.
«We have a waiting list of 300 women,» van der Meer added. «The oldest is 94, and she has requested a triple crib.»
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