In March 2019, the story of Sanne Terlingen, member of research collective Lost in Europe, came out, revealing that sixty Vietnamese children have disappeared from the protective shelter in the Netherlands over the course of five years. This research caused a lot of controversy, and it still does. On 18 January 2021 a documentary about the Vietnamese children will be broadcast on national television in Germany on ARD at 10.50pm. Subsequently on 23 January there is a radio broadcast from Argos with Sanne Terlingen in which new developments in the research are shared.
It is groundbreaking that a journalistic study, such as this one by Sanne Terlingen, can bring about so much. It is Lost in Europe’s biggest and most successful story, with a follow-up in the Netherlands as well as in Belgium, England and Germany. And now a documentary on German TV.
New developments
In this documentary, and the subsequent radio broadcast with Sanne Terlingen on the Dutch Radio 1, new developments are discussed. This concerns the lawsuits against the suspects who lured and traded the Vietnamese boys in the Netherlands from the protective shelters. The previous reports about this from Lost in Europe became world news. The case is closely followed in Vietnam, China, America and Europe.
Lost in Europe feature
The documentary was made by Adrian Bartocha and Jan Wiese from the RBB recherche, and also a member of Lost in Europe. Sanne Terlingen and Huub Jaspers are interviewed in the film. They explain, among other things, that Lost in Europe has discovered that two Vietnamese boys who disappeared from a Dutch shelter subsequently died in the Essex drama. In addition, talks were held with smugglers, investigation services and the children themselves.
In the future there will be a Dutch follow-up to the documentary made by Argos. Sanne Terlingen will discuss the German documentary and the Argos broadcast on Dutch TV in the ‘5 uur show’ on 25 January 2021 at 5.00pm, channel SBS6.
Watch the preview of the documentary: