Evangelical Centre

Source: Evangelische Zentralstelle fr Weltanschauungsfragen (Evangelical Centre for World Contemplative Issues)

The Tvind-Humana business is a non-transparant, worldwide-active company, which should be considered as a commercial cult.    It operates under the cover-up of different organisations, firms and foundations which officially carry out prosperity- and development aid. Best known is the chain for second hand clothes Humana, of which the headquarters are located in Zimbabwe and which has a big number of  branches in Europe.

Investigations of governments as in England have shown, it's true that Humana keeps up some example projects in the Third World, but at the same time puts away millions of profit on its own bank accounts.  To the Imperium der Kleidersammler (Nordhausen/Billerbeck, Psycho-Sekten, Frankfurt a. M. 205 ff)  belong dozens of firms in tax-havens, plantations in Latin-America and Africa, and villas and apartments in Miami Beach.

Behind these accommodation addresses apparently is to be found the Danish reform-teacher Mogens Amdi Petersen (born 1939). After he finished his study Petersen worked as a teacher in the sixties. His name came up several times because of left-winged political activities in the Anti-Apartheid  and Anti-Nuclear Power Movement.    In 1969 he was arrested in Flensburg during demonstrations and condemned to six months imprisonment, because he had been throwing stones to policemen.

In the beginning ot the seventies Petersen founded the reform school Tvind. As a creature of the 68-Movement he seemed to be obliged to alternative teaching ideals, although the founder was a convinced Maoist and rejected every private property and relations between people of different classes. Petersen believed in the revolutionary potential of the Third World and gained many followers. Soon more than sixhundred teachers worked in the 42 Danish Tvind-schools, which had the name to be the Summerhill of Denmark. A remarkable charesteristic of the schools besides the the connection of adult education with commitment for the Third World was especially the authority of its leader, whom the Danish press called our little Fidel Castro.

The fundaments of the quick growing means of the schools were huge subsidies of the government, which Tvind got, up till 1996 when the Danish government shut down the schools because of deceit. Already in 1979 Petersen left all official positions and withdrew himself from public life, but according to inside-stories he kept hold of the leadership. As former members say, Petersen has big charisma. Proofs of loyalty up to  throwing under are said to be a daily routine, as financial misuse and sexual abuse. Some years ago two journalists founded a organisation against the Tvind-empire which cleared up further firm activities and questionable firm-connections (www.tvindalert.org.uk). Most of all however they want to warn young, naive people for getting trapped in the web of the charity-cover up and to be exploited. Although the connections between the Tvind-schools and the Humana-firms always have been denied, the facts prove different (Nordhausen/Billerbeck, 238).

In april 2001 the Danish police and prosecutor set out their biggest operation in history after the Second World War and took documents and computers out of the centre and seven other Tvind-properties. Leading company-employees were arrested out of precaution. According to the press already for months a case is being prepared against Petersen because of fraud and tax evasion which mount up to millions.

Michael Utsch