an MA Thesis Chapter 1

 

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MA Thesis by Leiv Gunnar Lie                 Chapter 2

---

Chapter 1. From revolution to accountancy

In 1965, Mogens Amdi Petersen was a socialist. A young, long-haired and charismatic character, he was a controversial teacher even in the radical-minded Kroggaardsskolen in Odense, Denmark. Some 14 years later, then head of his own, international, multi-million Kroner school organisation - and facing allegations of exploitation and brainwashing - he decided to vanish from the public eye. (1)

Since then, according to former teachers, Mr Petersen has ruled the so-called "Tvind" empire from behind the scenes. (2) Based partly in the Caribbean, where much of the wealth is allegedly hoarded, he has been sighted by outsiders only once since 1979. Mr Petersen's only appearances have been at some of the regular "Teacher Group" meetings, of which ex-teachers tell he would make speeches for hours on end, enthralling the audience with his charisma and oratory skills. (3) Present-day teachers deny he even heads the organization.

Far from the small and idealistic private school it once was, Tvind has become an international conglomerate of educational, "humanitarian" and financial organisations. Apart from being part of the same organisation - a fact which Tvind spokespeople ardently deny -they all have one thing in common: Controversy. Young people put in danger by being sent into the world in knackered buses and half-wrecked ships - sometimes with death as the result. (4) "Third World relief money" ending up in Caribbean bank accounts (5). Students who had to escape from the schools at night, because even announcing one's quitting would be a matter for group discussion. Political asylum seekers who are set to work for Tvind, while the organisation gets large sums of money for taking care of them. Such allegations have followed it since the late Seventies. (6)

In the beginning, in the Sixties and early Seventies, Amdi Petersen's ideas were met with a flush of enthusiasm. He started his career in the state-run Kroggaardsskolen in 1962, as one of several young and idealistic teachers. They put new ideas into practice - like taking the pupils out into the world.

Henrik Sidenius, then Head Teacher, said: "We had the idea of going out to get the necessary culture shock - that is, to see a culture which was completely different. [The aim was] not exactly to study that culture in detail, but to realize what kind of people we were." But a few years later, Petersen clashed with the school board. The headmaster said his teaching qualities were unquestionable, but the board wanted him out because of "his strange and unorthodox appearance".

So the energetic and slightly hippie-like visionary established his own, private school organisation. In 1970, Denmark's first "Travelling High School", based in a run-down, old beach hotel, was a reality. A part of the independent school's curriculum was a six month trip to Turkey. Tvind's idealistic, practical and outward-looking base earned the school organisation status as a brave experiment - the new way forward in teaching.

The idea was that young people could learn something outside the classroom, by working together and visiting other cultures. In an interview on Danish television, Petersen said: "One gets some proper, racy piles hammered into one's personal foundation; a platform one can stand on and say: 'I've experienced this, I've seen it, I've discussed it with my comrades and this is our conclusion. When I have an opinion about things, it's because I had the possibility to learn in many other ways than just hiding my face in a book'."

Tvind's main beliefs were learning by practical work and helping the Third World. The first was put into action - students showed for themselves and the world that it was possible to build their own schools and make them work. The humanitarian side was not so apparent, as all their work was on Tvind projects - new school buildings, swimming pools and other facilities that helped forward the organisation. In 1975, over 100 people participated in building the world's biggest windmill at a farm called Tvind. The organisation took its name and even today the windmill is a symbol of Tvind.

Later, critics have asked - without getting much of an answer - why all this idealism, money and resources were used to build up the organisation itself, instead of doing something that would benefit the poor and needy they were supposedly fighting for. At the time, enthusiasm prevailed for the young people who held hands, singing in unison underneath the world's biggest windmill. No-one questioned that the power it generated eliminated a big electricity bill for Tvind, and that building a swimming pool in Denmark did little to help the Third World.

The organisation has much to thank Danish governments and the constitution for. The Danish education system, has deep traditions on independent education, emphasizing the freedom to teach independently to a degree which is unique in the world. Tvind built its fortune on liberal laws which granted all "free schools" substantial subsidies.

The Danish Ministry of Education paid 85 per cent of the teachers' wages. A collectivist pooling of these resources further enabled Tvind's "Teacher Group" to build up substantial funds. From 1972, 85 per cent of every teacher's net income was pooled in the "Saving Association", a kittv which was exempted from taxation by law. After food and "pocket money" for the teachers was deducted, the rest was invested into more schools. In 1985, Danish journalists estimated the Saving Association funds at 60 billion DKr (5.5bn).

Success surrounded Tvind in the beginning, and it attracted students and teachers by the score. The government money that went into more schools accelerated this growth. The number of students doubled several times, reaching a total of 800 in 1977. (7)

But by then, disturbing stories had begun to emerge in the Danish press. Students told they had been left alone in the middle of Africa without food and money while on abroad trips, and subjected to group tyranny and brainwashing while on the schools in Denmark. One of them, a girl who had been expelled from a Tvind school in Bustrup, was interviewed by the Information newspaper in February 1979. She described a regime where no-one were entitled to privacy or personal opinion. "One is expected to learn to shut up in the right moments. [...] It happened in every group meeting. We were being told: 'You had damn well better agree with us'." (8)

Tvind's relations with the surrounding world became more strained. Mogens Amdi Petersen decided to "retire" and Poul Jorgensen, one of his comrades from the very beginning, took over as front man. With the official title of "Spokesman-director", Jorgensen has since been answering for all of the schools' activities. He is also the spokesperson for several related organisations - charities and business corporations - which he has claimed have little or nothing to do with Tvind but which are mostly led by members of the Teacher Group. (9)

The word "empire" was soon to be connected with Tvind, as the organisation saw a huge commercial expansion led by Tvind bigwigs. Money collected from the increasing number of teachers was channelled into a string of new enterprises. Visible to the public eye, the charities known as DAPP, UFF and Humana were always connected with the Tvind schools. More covert were commercial companies such as Tropical Farming in the Cayman Islands, Farm One in Belize and Talata on Jersey, all of which were founded and managed by members of the Teacher Group. (10)

The most important has undoubtedly been Faelleseje, a corporation established in 1977, whose purpose was "to own and lease property". Faelleseje borrowed money from the Saving Association - these transactions were controlled by the central Teacher Group (led by Amdi Petersen) -and used the money to buy property suitable for new schools.

As soon as a new Tvind school was established, Faelleseje would lease the property to that school's Teacher Group. This created big profits, not only because of state subsidies and the pooling of teachers' wages, but also because Faelleseje was a part of the "ideal" Tvind organisation and therefore was exempt from paying tax as a "charitable foundation". Money went back into the Saving Association by the million. (11)

Their commercial interests soon crossed the Danish border. Both Faelleseje and Estate, another Tvind-funded company, started buying property in the West Indies and the USA. A third company, Thomas Brocklebank, went into shipping. Another earner, and an increasingly important one, was Development Aid from People to People (DAPP), or UFF as it was called in Scandinavia. With yet another alter ego in the UK and on the Continent - Humana - these registered charities started collecting and selling clothes to raise money "for the Third World".

Setting up containers and second-hand clothes shops in several European countries, Humana/UFF/DAP earn millions of pounds. But because few countries require charities to submit accounts to the public, and the charities are of such a secretive nature, it is impossible to determine how much actually goes to charitable projects in Africa. What we do know, is that Humana UK donations constituted eight per cent of its turnover in 1991, (12) and UFF's grants in Sweden were cut after a government report concluded only two per cent of turnover left the organisation. (13) UFF lost Norwegian government funding as early as 1981, (14) and The European Community stopped their support in 1985.(15)

Some money has undoubtedly gone into "development projects", mostly in Africa. These projects are staffed partly by Tvind students going on their abroad trips. But Jorgensen, both Tvind spokesman and chairman of UFF in Sweden and Norway and chairman of Humana in the UK and on the Continent, has always claimed they are completely separate organisations with only "a contract of cooperation "tying them together. (16)

But the top men and women in all the above-mentioned "charities" and businesses are Tvind bigwigs, and the same people tend to figure in various boards and sign their names on official documents of several of the "non-related" organisations. (17)

This has been only one of a number of controversial issues following the Tvind-directed organisations. Although the number of Tvind schools rose dramatically in the Eighties, now totalling 45 in Denmark alone, the projects that students were sent on have been subject of harsh criticism. Anne Ellingsen, a young Norwegian woman who fell ill while on a bus trip to India, said she received no help from the Tvind teachers who led the operation. On the contrary, one of them said she was a "weakling" and she was left feverish in the back of the bus for four days.

Finally, a close friend of hers (who was in another bus) discovered what had happened and took her to hospital. It turned out she had three tropical diseases, among them typhus. (18) Ms Ellingsen and her mother now head the Norwegian anti-Tvind organisation.

The UFF aid projects have not escaped criticism, either. Hanne Reichelt, a Danish girl who was supposed to spend six months in Zimbabwe, went home after four, disappointed with amateurish and disorganized projects. When an attempt to teach 15 Zimbabweans to drill wells failed because of faulty equipment and bad planning, the UFF leaders told them to beg the white people in Zimbabwe for money. (19) She decided to quit and go home.

But the wrecking of the schooner "Activ" in 1981 was perhaps -the biggest scandal. Not only did Tvind leaders order the crew of eight students out to sea in a boat that was later described as a 'floating coffin" by the Danish Sailor's Association. (20) They also refused to pay the cost for sending the body of Kristin Skagemo, one of the dead, and sent the freight bill to her Norwegian parents. (21)

Individuals have not been alone in their condemnation. Norwegian authorities cut its 2 million NKr (200,000) yearly grant to the Travelling High School at Hornsjo near

Lillehammer in 1983. (22) The school, which is in a mountain hotel, has also been prohibited from using the premises as a place of "coherent education" by the Norwegian education department. Ironically, Denmark - where the intensity and longevity of the Tvind debate has been the greatest - has done little to clip its wings. Last year, Danish government support amounted to some 30 million DKr (about 3m). (23)

There is no ban on recruiting students from Upper Secondary schools or Job Centres, although anti-Tvind groups are putting pressure on all Scandinavian governments to introduce such measures. Local councils keep paying Tvind schools to take care of difficult children and juvenile offenders. This practice has been under scrutiny in Britain and Norway as well as Denmark but, in many instances, it is the easiest or only option for social security offices under pressure. (24)

Leading newspapers like Jyllandsposten, Politiken and Ekstra Bladet have continually exposed scandals in the organisation and, in the general public, the word "Tvind" has long since lost its positive connotations. But the only serious blow a Danish government has dealt them, was a l986 law which drastically lowered the ceiling for tax-free donations. It introduced a rate of 15 per cent of one's personal income as a maximum tax-deductible gift.

This was not likely to cause anybody a headache except loyal Tvind workers, who formerly donated 85 per cent-of their income to the good cause. "Lex Tvind", as the law is colloquially termed, severely restricted the flow of state subsidy into the Teacher Group kitty. (25)

However, Amdi Petersen's empire is still prosperous, and it is difficult for politicians to stop an organisation which is protected by a central principle in the education system.

Even so, there seems to be little political will to effectively stop Tvind and UFF. Bent Jonannesen, the leader of the Danish anti-Tvind movement, says: "Denmark has gotten used to Tvind. Nobody likes them, but they have been around for so long, they have been accepted as something we just have to live with." (26)

Meanwhile, the windmill at Tvind goes round and around and around.

Chapter 2

---

Chapter 1. From revolution to accountancy

In 1965, Mogens Amdi Petersen was a socialist. A young, long-haired and charismatic character, he was a controversial teacher even in the radical-minded Kroggaardsskolen in Odense, Denmark. Some 14 years later, then head of his own, international, multi-million Kroner school organisation - and facing allegations of exploitation and brainwashing - he decided to vanish from the public eye. (1)

Since then, according to former teachers, Mr Petersen has ruled the so-called "Tvind" empire from behind the scenes. (2) Based partly in the Caribbean, where much of the wealth is allegedly hoarded, he has been sighted by outsiders only once since 1979. Mr Petersen's only appearances have been at some of the regular "Teacher Group" meetings, of which ex-teachers tell he would make speeches for hours on end, enthralling the audience with his charisma and oratory skills. (3) Present-day teachers deny he even heads the organization.

Far from the small and idealistic private school it once was, Tvind has become an international conglomerate of educational, "humanitarian" and financial organisations. Apart from being part of the same organisation - a fact which Tvind spokespeople ardently deny -they all have one thing in common: Controversy. Young people put in danger by being sent into the world in knackered buses and half-wrecked ships - sometimes with death as the result. (4) "Third World relief money" ending up in Caribbean bank accounts (5). Students who had to escape from the schools at night, because even announcing one's quitting would be a matter for group discussion. Political asylum seekers who are set to work for Tvind, while the organisation gets large sums of money for taking care of them. Such allegations have followed it since the late Seventies. (6)

In the beginning, in the Sixties and early Seventies, Amdi Petersen's ideas were met with a flush of enthusiasm. He started his career in the state-run Kroggaardsskolen in 1962, as one of several young and idealistic teachers. They put new ideas into practice - like taking the pupils out into the world.

Henrik Sidenius, then Head Teacher, said: "We had the idea of going out to get the necessary culture shock - that is, to see a culture which was completely different. [The aim was] not exactly to study that culture in detail, but to realize what kind of people we were." But a few years later, Petersen clashed with the school board. The headmaster said his teaching qualities were unquestionable, but the board wanted him out because of "his strange and unorthodox appearance".

So the energetic and slightly hippie-like visionary established his own, private school organisation. In 1970, Denmark's first "Travelling High School", based in a run-down, old beach hotel, was a reality. A part of the independent school's curriculum was a six month trip to Turkey. Tvind's idealistic, practical and outward-looking base earned the school organisation status as a brave experiment - the new way forward in teaching.

The idea was that young people could learn something outside the classroom, by working together and visiting other cultures. In an interview on Danish television, Petersen said: "One gets some proper, racy piles hammered into one's personal foundation; a platform one can stand on and say: 'I've experienced this, I've seen it, I've discussed it with my comrades and this is our conclusion. When I have an opinion about things, it's because I had the possibility to learn in many other ways than just hiding my face in a book'."

Tvind's main beliefs were learning by practical work and helping the Third World. The first was put into action - students showed for themselves and the world that it was possible to build their own schools and make them work. The humanitarian side was not so apparent, as all their work was on Tvind projects - new school buildings, swimming pools and other facilities that helped forward the organisation. In 1975, over 100 people participated in building the world's biggest windmill at a farm called Tvind. The organisation took its name and even today the windmill is a symbol of Tvind.

Later, critics have asked - without getting much of an answer - why all this idealism, money and resources were used to build up the organisation itself, instead of doing something that would benefit the poor and needy they were supposedly fighting for. At the time, enthusiasm prevailed for the young people who held hands, singing in unison underneath the world's biggest windmill. No-one questioned that the power it generated eliminated a big electricity bill for Tvind, and that building a swimming pool in Denmark did little to help the Third World.

The organisation has much to thank Danish governments and the constitution for. The Danish education system, has deep traditions on independent education, emphasizing the freedom to teach independently to a degree which is unique in the world. Tvind built its fortune on liberal laws which granted all "free schools" substantial subsidies.

The Danish Ministry of Education paid 85 per cent of the teachers' wages. A collectivist pooling of these resources further enabled Tvind's "Teacher Group" to build up substantial funds. From 1972, 85 per cent of every teacher's net income was pooled in the "Saving Association", a kittv which was exempted from taxation by law. After food and "pocket money" for the teachers was deducted, the rest was invested into more schools. In 1985, Danish journalists estimated the Saving Association funds at 60 billion DKr (5.5bn).

Success surrounded Tvind in the beginning, and it attracted students and teachers by the score. The government money that went into more schools accelerated this growth. The number of students doubled several times, reaching a total of 800 in 1977. (7)

But by then, disturbing stories had begun to emerge in the Danish press. Students told they had been left alone in the middle of Africa without food and money while on abroad trips, and subjected to group tyranny and brainwashing while on the schools in Denmark. One of them, a girl who had been expelled from a Tvind school in Bustrup, was interviewed by the Information newspaper in February 1979. She described a regime where no-one were entitled to privacy or personal opinion. "One is expected to learn to shut up in the right moments. [...] It happened in every group meeting. We were being told: 'You had damn well better agree with us'." (8)

Tvind's relations with the surrounding world became more strained. Mogens Amdi Petersen decided to "retire" and Poul Jorgensen, one of his comrades from the very beginning, took over as front man. With the official title of "Spokesman-director", Jorgensen has since been answering for all of the schools' activities. He is also the spokesperson for several related organisations - charities and business corporations - which he has claimed have little or nothing to do with Tvind but which are mostly led by members of the Teacher Group. (9)

The word "empire" was soon to be connected with Tvind, as the organisation saw a huge commercial expansion led by Tvind bigwigs. Money collected from the increasing number of teachers was channelled into a string of new enterprises. Visible to the public eye, the charities known as DAPP, UFF and Humana were always connected with the Tvind schools. More covert were commercial companies such as Tropical Farming in the Cayman Islands, Farm One in Belize and Talata on Jersey, all of which were founded and managed by members of the Teacher Group. (10)

The most important has undoubtedly been Faelleseje, a corporation established in 1977, whose purpose was "to own and lease property". Faelleseje borrowed money from the Saving Association - these transactions were controlled by the central Teacher Group (led by Amdi Petersen) -and used the money to buy property suitable for new schools.

As soon as a new Tvind school was established, Faelleseje would lease the property to that school's Teacher Group. This created big profits, not only because of state subsidies and the pooling of teachers' wages, but also because Faelleseje was a part of the "ideal" Tvind organisation and therefore was exempt from paying tax as a "charitable foundation". Money went back into the Saving Association by the million. (11)

Their commercial interests soon crossed the Danish border. Both Faelleseje and Estate, another Tvind-funded company, started buying property in the West Indies and the USA. A third company, Thomas Brocklebank, went into shipping. Another earner, and an increasingly important one, was Development Aid from People to People (DAPP), or UFF as it was called in Scandinavia. With yet another alter ego in the UK and on the Continent - Humana - these registered charities started collecting and selling clothes to raise money "for the Third World".

Setting up containers and second-hand clothes shops in several European countries, Humana/UFF/DAP earn millions of pounds. But because few countries require charities to submit accounts to the public, and the charities are of such a secretive nature, it is impossible to determine how much actually goes to charitable projects in Africa. What we do know, is that Humana UK donations constituted eight per cent of its turnover in 1991, (12) and UFF's grants in Sweden were cut after a government report concluded only two per cent of turnover left the organisation. (13) UFF lost Norwegian government funding as early as 1981, (14) and The European Community stopped their support in 1985.(15)

Some money has undoubtedly gone into "development projects", mostly in Africa. These projects are staffed partly by Tvind students going on their abroad trips. But Jorgensen, both Tvind spokesman and chairman of UFF in Sweden and Norway and chairman of Humana in the UK and on the Continent, has always claimed they are completely separate organisations with only "a contract of cooperation "tying them together. (16)

But the top men and women in all the above-mentioned "charities" and businesses are Tvind bigwigs, and the same people tend to figure in various boards and sign their names on official documents of several of the "non-related" organisations. (17)

This has been only one of a number of controversial issues following the Tvind-directed organisations. Although the number of Tvind schools rose dramatically in the Eighties, now totalling 45 in Denmark alone, the projects that students were sent on have been subject of harsh criticism. Anne Ellingsen, a young Norwegian woman who fell ill while on a bus trip to India, said she received no help from the Tvind teachers who led the operation. On the contrary, one of them said she was a "weakling" and she was left feverish in the back of the bus for four days.

Finally, a close friend of hers (who was in another bus) discovered what had happened and took her to hospital. It turned out she had three tropical diseases, among them typhus. (18) Ms Ellingsen and her mother now head the Norwegian anti-Tvind organisation.

The UFF aid projects have not escaped criticism, either. Hanne Reichelt, a Danish girl who was supposed to spend six months in Zimbabwe, went home after four, disappointed with amateurish and disorganized projects. When an attempt to teach 15 Zimbabweans to drill wells failed because of faulty equipment and bad planning, the UFF leaders told them to beg the white people in Zimbabwe for money. (19) She decided to quit and go home.

But the wrecking of the schooner "Activ" in 1981 was perhaps -the biggest scandal. Not only did Tvind leaders order the crew of eight students out to sea in a boat that was later described as a 'floating coffin" by the Danish Sailor's Association. (20) They also refused to pay the cost for sending the body of Kristin Skagemo, one of the dead, and sent the freight bill to her Norwegian parents. (21)

Individuals have not been alone in their condemnation. Norwegian authorities cut its 2 million NKr (200,000) yearly grant to the Travelling High School at Hornsjo near

Lillehammer in 1983. (22) The school, which is in a mountain hotel, has also been prohibited from using the premises as a place of "coherent education" by the Norwegian education department. Ironically, Denmark - where the intensity and longevity of the Tvind debate has been the greatest - has done little to clip its wings. Last year, Danish government support amounted to some 30 million DKr (about 3m). (23)

There is no ban on recruiting students from Upper Secondary schools or Job Centres, although anti-Tvind groups are putting pressure on all Scandinavian governments to introduce such measures. Local councils keep paying Tvind schools to take care of difficult children and juvenile offenders. This practice has been under scrutiny in Britain and Norway as well as Denmark but, in many instances, it is the easiest or only option for social security offices under pressure. (24)

Leading newspapers like Jyllandsposten, Politiken and Ekstra Bladet have continually exposed scandals in the organisation and, in the general public, the word "Tvind" has long since lost its positive connotations. But the only serious blow a Danish government has dealt them, was a l986 law which drastically lowered the ceiling for tax-free donations. It introduced a rate of 15 per cent of one's personal income as a maximum tax-deductible gift.

This was not likely to cause anybody a headache except loyal Tvind workers, who formerly donated 85 per cent-of their income to the good cause. "Lex Tvind", as the law is colloquially termed, severely restricted the flow of state subsidy into the Teacher Group kitty. (25)

However, Amdi Petersen's empire is still prosperous, and it is difficult for politicians to stop an organisation which is protected by a central principle in the education system.

Even so, there seems to be little political will to effectively stop Tvind and UFF. Bent Jonannesen, the leader of the Danish anti-Tvind movement, says: "Denmark has gotten used to Tvind. Nobody likes them, but they have been around for so long, they have been accepted as something we just have to live with." (26)

Meanwhile, the windmill at Tvind goes round and around and around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
  

Copyright 1994 Leif Gunnar Lie, 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)"