Children's gulag (Swedish: Barngulag; in German: Kindergulag) was a metaphorical expression coined by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 1983, for an alleged scandal regarding children who were taken from their families by the government on weak legal grounds in Sweden.
In August 1983 Der Spiegel published a long article titled "Kindergulag im Sozialstaat Schweden".[1]
In response to this accusation and to correct West Germans, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs called a press conference with over 150 journalists on 8 November 1983. It claimed that West German media had given a wrong view about the Swedish welfare state. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was then accused of trying to 'control' the reporting and trying to give them the "correct" picture of Sweden, and the meeting became chaotic. It emerged later that this was the result of a deliberate attempt by domestic lobby groups to use the international press for their purposes.[2]
Even a school superior, Åke Elmér, responded to the accusation and presented a comparison in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, proposing that the real problem was just in West Germany:[3]
↑ Elmér, Åke (1983-11-15). "Större andel barn samhällskontrolleras: "Kinder-Gulag" finns i Västtyskland!" [Larger percentage of children are socially controlled: "children's gulag" exists in West Germany!]. Dagens Nyheter.