Historical Archive Notice
This content is from the original TvindAlert.com (2001-2022), preserved for historical and research purposes. Some images or documents may be unavailable.
Revised 2nd Dec 04
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The story of 'Tvind Alert'
by Michael Durham
This web site began as a result of a cry for help from an anonymous teenager from Britain in 1996.
The girl was spotted at a pavement cafe in Copenhagen, Denmark, by a passer-by. She was crying her eyes out. When the passer-by asked her what the matter was, the girl tearfully explained that she had travelled to Denmark from England to do 'volunteer work' at a Danish school. But ever since arriving she had been bullied, abused, exploited and left penniless, and now she had run away.
The passer-by was a journalist and he sent a fax to a British Sunday newspaper, The Observer.
I was the only available staff writer on duty at the Observer that morning and so it fell to me to investigate. I soon established that the school belonged to a large and rather weird organisation called, in Danish, 'Tvind', that seemed to have as many enemies as it had admirers - and that the girl's experience was far from unique.
I wrote a series of articles in the Observer about Tvind in Britain and abroad. I pointed out that a lot of young people from Britain were becoming drawn in to the 'Tvind' organisation, but many left feeling disenchanted and angry, and felt exploited. Tvind acted as if it was a humanitarian 'charity'. But was Tvind a cult, and was financial fraud going on?
As a direct result of my articles, the British Charity Commission sent a team to Zambia to investigate DAPP. They found 'serious financial impropriety'. The Tvind company Humana UK, which claimed to be sending money to DAPP in Zambia, was put into receivership. Two Tvind small schools in Britain were also closed down. It was the first time the Charity Commission had acted in this way Then everything went quiet.
A couple of years later, I left the Observer.
One day in late 1999, always on the lookout for a story, I decided to 'revisit' Tvind. To my surprise, I discovered that the organisation was bigger and more controversial than ever. In fact it was huge. In part this came to light because in the years 1996-9 a lot had been posted on the Internet (in Danish, mostly) both for and against Tvind.
I decided to create my own web site asking for information about Tvind. I called it 'Tvind Alert' - because as well as attracting information, I believed it would serve a useful purpose by advising people that there was more to this organisation than people were generally told. It would also be a website in English, rather than Danish.
The website was an immediate success. The full story has been told in an article in UK Press Gazette.
Hundreds of people contacted the new Tvind Alert. They were bubbling with indignation or anxious to get a chance to express themselves. Many people wrote (some in public, others confidentially or anonymously) describing - often critically - their own experiences inside and outside the organisation. Some were people who had been inside the central 'Teachers Group'.
In May 2000, I wrote a long article in The Times about Tvind in England. It was based on interviews with Danish 'defector' Steen Thomsen and British volunteers, and followed the story of Annelie, a young Swedish woman who believed she had been at a 'cult school' near Hull.
Emails, photographs, brown paper packages and offers of help continued to pour in from all over the world. Contacts were established with 'concerned' individuals in various countries - Holland, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, the USA as well as Scandinavia. Many strangers wrote asking for help to 'rescue' relatives, or leave the organisation themselves.
There continued to be many allegations of fraud, financial abuse and systematic tax evasion. Tvind Alert collected and published information about dozens of interlinked companies and gradually a pattern seemed to emerge, suggesting how proceeds from Tvind 'charities' might be 'laundered' through to Teachers Group offshore accounts.
Over the next three years, between May 2000 and March 2003, events unfolded at a breathtaking pace:
* In August, 2000, a television programme made the first detailed and substantiated allegations of fraud in the Tvind charity The Humanitarian Fund.
* In April, 2001, Danish police, inland revenue agents and the Special Branch raided eight Tvind addresses and confiscated paperwork and computers.
* In October, 2001, newspaper journalists found the secret hideaway of Tvind founder Amdi Petersen, in a luxury apartment near Miami. He had been living there undercover for ten years. But Petersen was no longer there.
* In February, 2002, the FBI arrested Amdi Petersen changing planes at Los Angeles international airport.
* In August, 2002, Petersen was extradited from the USA to Denmark to face charges of fraud and false accounting.
* In March, 2003, the trial began in Denmark of Petersen, his girlfriend Kirsten Larsen and six other Tvind leaders for fraud.
During all that time, Tvind Alert chronicled and kept up with events as they unfolded - attracting hundreds (sometimes thousands) of visitors a week. It was the only web site that made available a dossier of news, articles, facts and information.
It was also the only English-language website that made it possible for people to write in and debate the issues for and against Tvind, in the much-visited Guest Book (which, sadly, had to be closed down in 2003 because of persistent spamming). An archive of the many amazing and from-the-heart guest book messages is available. The Guest Book has been replaced by the Forum.
Today, with the trial of Amdi Petersen under way, fewer people visit this website. That is not surprising, since many of the questions it raised seem to have been answered. And there is just not so much to say - as Petersen's trial inches along at a snail's pace, there is very little else 'happening'. All the excitement came with the hunt for Amdi and his eventual capture.
The website no longer serves much of a function as a 'newspaper' and, except in the case of any very major items - and reports of the Danish court case - it will stay pretty much as it is. At least it will provide newcomers to the Tvind story with some explanation and a dossier of the material that emerged during the 1990s.
From the beginning of 2004, I will no longer take an active part in Tvind Alert. I don't have the time for further investigations and additional work on the web site seems redundant, especially as major TV documentary makers and publishers all missed (or turned down) the Amdi Petersen story just as it was at its most interesting. It's too late now. (Although should any producer or publisher change their mind, I think I could still provide them a very good story).
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
The website was an immediate success. The full story has been told in an article in UK Press Gazette.
Hundreds of people contacted the new Tvind Alert. They were bubbling with indignation or anxious to get a chance to express themselves. Many people wrote (some in public, others confidentially or anonymously) describing - often critically - their own experiences inside and outside the organisation. Some were people who had been inside the central 'Teachers Group'.
In May 2000, I wrote a long article in The Times about Tvind in England. It was based on interviews with Danish 'defector' Steen Thomsen and British volunteers, and followed the story of Annelie, a young Swedish woman who believed she had been at a 'cult school' near Hull.
Emails, photographs, brown paper packages and offers of help continued to pour in from all over the world. Contacts were established with 'concerned' individuals in various countries - Holland, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy, the USA as well as Scandinavia. Many strangers wrote asking for help to 'rescue' relatives, or leave the organisation themselves.
There continued to be many allegations of fraud, financial abuse and systematic tax evasion. Tvind Alert collected and published information about dozens of interlinked companies and gradually a pattern seemed to emerge, suggesting how proceeds from Tvind 'charities' might be 'laundered' through to Teachers Group offshore accounts.
Over the next three years, between May 2000 and March 2003, events unfolded at a breathtaking pace:
* In August, 2000, a television programme made the first detailed and substantiated allegations of fraud in the Tvind charity The Humanitarian Fund.
* In April, 2001, Danish police, inland revenue agents and the Special Branch raided eight Tvind addresses and confiscated paperwork and computers.
* In October, 2001, newspaper journalists found the secret hideaway of Tvind founder Amdi Petersen, in a luxury apartment near Miami. He had been living there undercover for ten years. But Petersen was no longer there.
* In February, 2002, the FBI arrested Amdi Petersen changing planes at Los Angeles international airport.
* In August, 2002, Petersen was extradited from the USA to Denmark to face charges of fraud and false accounting.
* In March, 2003, the trial began in Denmark of Petersen, his girlfriend Kirsten Larsen and six other Tvind leaders for fraud.
During all that time, Tvind Alert chronicled and kept up with events as they unfolded - attracting hundreds (sometimes thousands) of visitors a week. It was the only web site that made available a dossier of news, articles, facts and information.
It was also the only English-language website that made it possible for people to write in and debate the issues for and against Tvind, in the much-visited Guest Book (which, sadly, had to be closed down in 2003 because of persistent spamming). An archive of the many amazing and from-the-heart guest book messages is available. The Guest Book has been replaced by the Forum.
Today, with the trial of Amdi Petersen under way, fewer people visit this website. That is not surprising, since many of the questions it raised seem to have been answered. And there is just not so much to say - as Petersen's trial inches along at a snail's pace, there is very little else 'happening'. All the excitement came with the hunt for Amdi and his eventual capture.
The website no longer serves much of a function as a 'newspaper' and, except in the case of any very major items - and reports of the Danish court case - it will stay pretty much as it is. At least it will provide newcomers to the Tvind story with some explanation and a dossier of the material that emerged during the 1990s.
From the beginning of 2004, I will no longer take an active part in Tvind Alert. I don't have the time for further investigations and additional work on the web site seems redundant, especially as major TV documentary makers and publishers all missed (or turned down) the Amdi Petersen story just as it was at its most interesting. It's too late now. (Although should any producer or publisher change their mind, I think I could still provide them a very good story).
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
* In April, 2001, Danish police, inland revenue agents and the Special Branch raided eight Tvind addresses and confiscated paperwork and computers.
* In October, 2001, newspaper journalists found the secret hideaway of Tvind founder Amdi Petersen, in a luxury apartment near Miami. He had been living there undercover for ten years. But Petersen was no longer there.
* In February, 2002, the FBI arrested Amdi Petersen changing planes at Los Angeles international airport.
* In August, 2002, Petersen was extradited from the USA to Denmark to face charges of fraud and false accounting.
* In March, 2003, the trial began in Denmark of Petersen, his girlfriend Kirsten Larsen and six other Tvind leaders for fraud.
During all that time, Tvind Alert chronicled and kept up with events as they unfolded - attracting hundreds (sometimes thousands) of visitors a week. It was the only web site that made available a dossier of news, articles, facts and information.
It was also the only English-language website that made it possible for people to write in and debate the issues for and against Tvind, in the much-visited Guest Book (which, sadly, had to be closed down in 2003 because of persistent spamming). An archive of the many amazing and from-the-heart guest book messages is available. The Guest Book has been replaced by the Forum.
Today, with the trial of Amdi Petersen under way, fewer people visit this website. That is not surprising, since many of the questions it raised seem to have been answered. And there is just not so much to say - as Petersen's trial inches along at a snail's pace, there is very little else 'happening'. All the excitement came with the hunt for Amdi and his eventual capture.
The website no longer serves much of a function as a 'newspaper' and, except in the case of any very major items - and reports of the Danish court case - it will stay pretty much as it is. At least it will provide newcomers to the Tvind story with some explanation and a dossier of the material that emerged during the 1990s.
From the beginning of 2004, I will no longer take an active part in Tvind Alert. I don't have the time for further investigations and additional work on the web site seems redundant, especially as major TV documentary makers and publishers all missed (or turned down) the Amdi Petersen story just as it was at its most interesting. It's too late now. (Although should any producer or publisher change their mind, I think I could still provide them a very good story).
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
Today, with the trial of Amdi Petersen under way, fewer people visit this website. That is not surprising, since many of the questions it raised seem to have been answered. And there is just not so much to say - as Petersen's trial inches along at a snail's pace, there is very little else 'happening'. All the excitement came with the hunt for Amdi and his eventual capture.
The website no longer serves much of a function as a 'newspaper' and, except in the case of any very major items - and reports of the Danish court case - it will stay pretty much as it is. At least it will provide newcomers to the Tvind story with some explanation and a dossier of the material that emerged during the 1990s.
From the beginning of 2004, I will no longer take an active part in Tvind Alert. I don't have the time for further investigations and additional work on the web site seems redundant, especially as major TV documentary makers and publishers all missed (or turned down) the Amdi Petersen story just as it was at its most interesting. It's too late now. (Although should any producer or publisher change their mind, I think I could still provide them a very good story).
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
From the beginning of 2004, I will no longer take an active part in Tvind Alert. I don't have the time for further investigations and additional work on the web site seems redundant, especially as major TV documentary makers and publishers all missed (or turned down) the Amdi Petersen story just as it was at its most interesting. It's too late now. (Although should any producer or publisher change their mind, I think I could still provide them a very good story).
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
If anyone else wants to take over administration of this web site, they are welcome to make an application. But otherwise, I am afraid I will not be able to answer emails or enter into correspondence directly. All that will be handled by someone else.
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
What an interesting website it's been to run - and a long journey from a fax received from Copenhagen in 1996. At 100,000 'clicks', I think the time has come to call it a day. Thanks very much to everyone who helped me along the way. And I wonder where that young British volunteer woman is now?
2nd January 2004
2nd January 2004
A note to publishers, film and TV documentary makers:
The Utopia Plot - the full story of Amdi Petersen's astonishing career - based on information gathered in this website - is now available for publication. For a synopsis and sample chapter contact:
utopia@
tvindalert.com
Copyright
2002, 2003 Tvind Alert, All Rights Reserved
Permission
is granted to reproduce the materials posted here provided that they are
credited as "Source: Tvind Alert (http://www.tvindalert.com)"
Archive Info
Recovered from:
Wayback snapshot 2026-03-13
Versions found: 4
Content: 25,398 chars
Links: 36