Hanne Ginge-Nielsen on Robert Dam

TRANSCRIPT:

My name is Hanne Ginge-Nielsen. And I was involved in starting the Kildeskolen in 1985.

At some point, around the year 2000, I got Robert Dam’s daughter in my class, which was first grade at that time. It went well. She was a sweet schoolgirl who did the things she was supposed to do and learned what she was supposed to learn.

We had some really good outings, parties and class events. There was nothing at all amiss. It was fine. She was part of the group just like everyone else was. Everyone was happy and so were the parents.

At some point, I believe when she was in third or fourth grade, we had a parent-teacher consultation, as it was called back then. Now it’s called a school home conference. That’s when we talk to parents about how things are going.

And in the middle of that, Robert Dam was one of the last, but not the last. In the middle of that, he says, “I just have something private I need to talk to you about,” or something about “Scientology.” We waited until we finished the school-home conference because it’s not part of the school, it’s part of another context.

Afterward, he came in with a big stack of papers and began to talk about how he was very, very upset with Scientology. And everything had gone wrong for him and now he wanted to leave, and so on.

I said, “I’m not going to get into that. I don’t want anything to do with that. You have to deal with that on your own.” So I said, “Thanks, and take care,” and then I really haven’t seen Robert Dam since.

At some point, Robert Dam took his daughter out of school and he sent a very nice letter where he wrote and thanked us because we had had an incredibly good collaboration. And it had been a really nice school. And now, due to moving, they had to withdraw their daughter from the school.

It sounded perfectly reasonable. And that was fine. But there was no mention of anything about the school, they had done everything well. And he was happy about that, and I’m thankful for that. And then he moved on. I had no suspicions about anything else.

Then he wrote a letter to the country’s Minister of Education, where he accused the school of using Scientology at the school to recruit members. I don’t think, ever in my life, that any of the students at Kildeskolen have ever been involved.

At Kildeskolen, we have students and parents who represent so many different religions. And it’s really not a topic we go into whether people are Christian or Muslim or Scientologists or Jewish or anything.

We don’t care about any of that. Everyone is welcome from any religion. But that's not the goal of the school. But he writes that. And why does he write that? He must have an ulterior motive. That’s what he must have.

It’s very, very mean-spirited and very against what he originally stood for and said when he withdrew [his daughter from the school] and sent the letter because they had to move.

So that’s what I’ve heard about Robert Dam. And that’s the last I’ve seen or heard about him.