1
[leaves rustling, water rushing]
HULTCRANTZ: [in English]
When I do the examination...
I tell the parents that,
"You are the ones who are suffering
because of her condition.
She is not suffering.
Your child is laying here like Snow White
because everything
is so terrible around her
that this is a way of protection.
She is just waiting
for the situation to be better.
And then she has a chance to wake up
and be a normal, lively person again."
[heavy breathing]
DARIA'S MOTHER: [in Foreign dialogue]
We don't know how this happened.
She was an athlete, went running,
was active at school.
We don't know how this happened.
[birds chirping]
[pumping blood pressure cuff]
[air releases]
[in Swedish] There, if you can just
put it on her stomach.
Let's take a look.
Put the whole thing there.
[pumping blood pressure cuff]
- [air releases]
- Yes.
No, this time the blood pressure
didn't change with ice on her stomach.
It did when I examined her last time.
So, she's a little more... unconscious.
That's usually how it is
after lying down for a long time.
Mm.
[breathing heavily]
[door closes and is locked]
VON KNORRING: [in English]
First it starts with... they don't talk.
They just lie down.
And then, they start to eat less and less.
Then, they stop eating at all,
and they stop drinking.
Most of the parents
don't know anything about this...
so they think that the child could die.
[birds chirping]
[vigorous rubbing]
[counting]
[in Foreign dialogue]
My partners and I
had a business,
providing internet service.
People from the government
security services came...
and asked me to shut down the internet.
So that people in the region
wouldn't have access to information,
so nobody would know
what was happening in the capital.
Yes.
The next year...
they started coming to us with threats.
They reminded us
that we had not listened to them before
and hadn't shut the internet down.
And...
we received threats
for nearly half a year.
[children playing in the distance]
DARIA'S MOTHER: [in Foreign dialogue]
They took him away, took his documents.
When I learned he was in the hospital,
I went to see him.
He was under surveillance, but it wasn't
hard to get into the hospital.
I just paid the guards to see him.
He had been severely beaten.
He had been tortured as well.
[siren wails in the distance]
Then we paid for a deal
that would let him escape.
He was hiding for a while at first.
Yes.
And then he fled to Sweden.
In the meantime,
I was shadowed and followed.
One day, after taking
the children to school,
I returned home,
and they were waiting for me at the door.
His partner's wife and I
were tortured and beaten.
They took me into the woods...
and then one of them raped me.
They said if our husbands
didn't show up in 20 days...
They would kill us all...
Our kids, our husbands, and us.
We escaped to Sweden.
[Daria breathing heavily]
[Daria's sister speaking Swedish]
'We have to look for the ghost, '
said Cesar.
'Can you see anyone?' asked Cesar.
Asta pressed her nose up
against the glass.
'No ghost, ' she said.
Asta went to help Cesar.
They tugged at his legs,
but the ground was holding him."
[speaking foreign dialogue]
[in Swedish] "Happy Birthday, Mo... Mona.
Daria, seven years old."
"Happy Birthday, Daria, seven years old.
Alessan..."
- DARIA'S MOTHER: Alessandro.
- "...dro."
ASCHER: [in English]
Some children are aware
that the asylum process is going on
and the future is uncertain.
And we know that a long period
of uncertainty after a trauma
is very harmful.
Security is really the basis
for rehabilitation after trauma.
[speaking foreign dialogue]
[singing]
[birds chirping]
DARIA'S FATHER: We applied
for refugee status in Sweden.
DARIA'S MOTHER: Refugee status, yes.
We waited a year and a half.
DARIA'S FATHER: Then we were notified
that a decision had been made,
and so we all went there.
DARIA'S MOTHER:
They started to announce the decision,
stating the reasons why we had to escape.
The whole story.
The children did not know all of this.
- We hadn't told them.
- We hadn't told them.
We were keeping this from them.
So, they wouldn't know.
The children started...
The younger one started crying right away.
They were able
to understand Swedish by then.
They understood
before it was translated for us.
[wind howling, leaves rustling]
DARIA'S FATHER:
Then the problems with Dasha began.
DARIA'S MOTHER:
Her teacher called me to come to school.
She said my daughter was crying,
saying she would be sent back and killed.
All the kids in school were crying.
The teacher didn't know what was going on.
DARIA'S FATHER:
Soon she was rejecting food,
and then she stopped responding
in general.
[speaking foreign dialogue]
[rain pattering]
ASCHER: [in English] The children
with Resignation Syndrome,
they started to turn up
around 2003, '04, '05.
We were very surprised,
because this really didn't look
like anything
we had experienced before that.
TAMAS: [in English]
There were rumors at the time...
Children are faking.
They are just pretending to be sick,
or parents were poisoning the children.
And these were rumors
repeated by politicians.
But it turned out that these rumors were
what we would call "fake news" today,
propaganda from far-right activists.
Every single test showed the same result.
There was no
outside manipulation whatsoever.
We're talking about children
who are really sick in a serious way.
[water running]
KAREN'S MOTHER: [in Foreign dialogue]
He was a good student,
very good at mathematics.
Even the teachers
at his school in Sweden told us
that Karen was very good at mathematics.
He liked school very much.
[announcer speaks, buzzer sounds]
[applause]
[cheering]
[man speaking foreign dialogue]
[cheering and applause continue]
[Karen's mother speaking
in foreign dialogue]
[hair dryerturns on]
[speaking in foreign dialogue]
KAREN'S FATHER:
I was working in a restaurant,
and on that day we had a lot of customers.
Some of them were talking to each other,
and I overheard them saying...
that they had killed some people.
Then we understood
that murders had been committed
and that these were the people
who had been ordered to kill.
On my way home,
I had to pick up my son, Karen.
I was with my friend,
who was taking us home in his car.
On the way, we were stopped.
They cut our car off and stopped us.
When my friend got out of the car,
they shot him.
I got out of the car
and managed to drag my son out,
and we ran away.
By the time we got to Sweden,
my son was under
a tremendous amount of stress.
He was very upset and scared,
constantly looking outside
and seeing things.
[tea kettle whistles]
[Karen's mother speaking foreign dialogue]
HATEM: [in English]
The children have seen a lot.
And they come to Sweden,
they go to school, they get friends,
they speak Swedish perfectly,
and all of a sudden...
you need to go back?
And I don't think children
can manage that.
[bird cawing]
[birds chirping]
[in Swedish] You want to see him swallow.
Watch until he swallows.
Don't hold him hard.
- KAREN'S MOTHER: Mm-hmm.
- Just a finger, gently.
He hasn't swallowed yet.
Now he swallowed.
Now you can take the next piece.
Let's keep going.
Ice cream may not be the healthiest,
but it's something he can eat.
Let's try again.
Open his mouth. In goes the ice cream.
There you go, close his mouth.
It didn't end up behind his teeth.
I don't think... There.
No, too far forward.
Let's see what he does.
We'll wait and see.
- There we go. Now he swallowed.
- KAREN'S MOTHER: Mm-hmm.
You have to do this.
You have to...
This is what you have to do.
Hello! He's almost looking at me.
Talk to your mom.
[speaking in foreign dialogue]
[Hultcrantz speaking in Swedish]
HULTCRANTZ: Hi there.
That's good.
Not too much, not too long.
[sighs]
HULTCRANTZ: It'll be okay.
[in Swedish] It's so hard.
HULTCRANTZ: Yes, it's hard,
but you see it's working.
You can tell it's working.
Try.
Hello.
Hi there. Say it every day.
Try to squeeze my hand, Karen.
You speak to him.
Try to squeeze my hand.
[speaking in foreign dialogue]
Karen, my sweet child. My darling.
My handsome boy.
[speaking foreign dialogue]
SALLIN: [in English] The immigrants
that develop the condition
seem to come
from certain parts of the world.
They come from the Balkans,
and they come from former Soviet Republics
on the southern border of Russia,
or belong to certain ethnic minorities,
which is rather difficult to explain.
These children and their families have
almost exclusively been subject to trauma.
Psychologically or physically, or both.
And also, they are facing
the trauma of deportation.
[speaking foreign dialogue]
HULTCRANTZ: [in English]
This family, they are Yazidis.
And the Yazidis have been
second-class citizens
in most countries where they live.
They came from a small village
with about 30 households.
This village had one well,
which was common for them all.
So, every day,
the mother went to get water.
One day when the mother
went to fetch water,
four men came,
and she was raped by all four of them.
The mother's own father came
and very loudly said
that he had to kill his daughter
because she had made his namedishonored.
LEYLA'S FATHER: [in Foreign dialogue]
Our children have not seen a good life.
They go to school, but we do not know
how to survive in this country.
It's all fear. The fear is in our bodies.
[Leyla's mother speaking Swedish]
- [in Swedish] Yes, let's try this.
- LEYLA'S MOTHER: Mm-hmm.
Let's see here.
Her blood pressure is normal.
Her pulse is a little fast right now.
I don't know if that's normal for her.
I'll put this on her tummy
to make it cold.
Then we can see if her blood pressure
and pulse respond.
One-hundred and nine over 68, pulse is 96.
I'm going to note this.
Let's check.
Let's remeasure it.
[blood pressure monitor starts]
I think if I put it on your belly,
your blood pressure would just spike.
[speaking foreign dialogue]
- [in Swedish] Is her heart beating fast?
- Sorry?
Is it beating fast?
Yes, it's beating fast.
But it's not so unusual.
- LEYLA'S FATHER: It's not good, right?
- HULTCRANTZ: Yes, it's good,
because it means she's reacting
a little bit to what we're doing.
Her pulse isn't high all the time.
I think it's becauseI'm here.
- LEYLA'S FATHER: Is it a problem?
- HULTCRANTZ: No. Don't be worried.
And this is unchanged.
So she was actually
not reacting to this at all.
She wasn't affected by it.
There you go.
[range burner turns on]
[in Swedish] I want my sister to get well.
I have these toy gods.
I always wake up and talk to the toy gods.
I wake up and say,
"Please make my sister better
so we can go to school together
like before."
[dishes clattering]
[breathing heavily]
LEYLA'S FATHER: [in Foreign dialogue]
My children are used to living here.
Sweden is a great country for them.
I just want my children to survive here.
BILLING: [in Engish] We don't have
any good explanation
why there are more children
with this kind of reaction in Sweden
compared to other countries.
We know of similar cases
in other countries,
but not so many.
So far we don't have any good explanation
about why that's the case.
SALLIN: [in English] Cultural factors
that are perhaps exclusive to Sweden
may be important
in developing this condition.
And one such factor may be the insecurity
that these families are subjected to
as they are going through
the asylum process.
There are very many under-researched areas
pertaining to this condition.
[birds chirping]
[electric toothbrush whirring]
[coloring]
[in Foreign dialogue]
Last week they called us,
identified themselves, and said
that a decision had been made in our case.
They said we'd been granted
residency in Sweden.
A few days later,
we received a letter in the mail.
- In the mail.
- In the mail...
- Confirming that we really did get it.
- That we got it.
VON KNORRING: [in English] Recovery comes
mostly after the family feels secure.
It doesn't come immediately.
Usually, it takes several months
before you can see
that it's getting better.
We read the decision to Dasha,
told her everything was going to be good.
That everything will be okay,
and that no one would kick us out now.
[parents making sounds
to encourage eating]
ASCHER: [in English] The recovery
of these children is dependent
on rebuilding hope.
And it seems that the parents
are the persons
that are transmitting this hope.
So it must be
some kind of communication...
the tone,
the touch,
the atmosphere in the room...
where the children can feel
that their parents are more hopeful.
[in foreign dialogue] Such long hair.
Like Rapunzel's, beautiful.
All the way down your back.
[wind blowing, leaves rustling]
[Karen's mother
speaking in foreign dialogue]
- [laughing]
- [speaking in foreign dialogue]
[screams]
[laughing]
KAREN'S DAD: [in Foreign dialogue]
I'm now working full-time.
I'm very happy about that,
and I want to continue working.
[breathing heavily]
[birds chirping]
HULTCRANTZ: [in English] The condition
of the young Yazidi girl remains the same.
But now, her older sister is also
showing signs of Resignation Syndrome.
[dog barking in the distance]
I visited the family
on the mother's birthday.
She told me that on her last birthday,
a year ago,
both her daughters
gave her flowers and kissed her.
[exhales]
And now, neither of them can do that.
[children playing in the distance]
[speaking in foreign dialogue]
[microwave beeping]
DARIA'S MOTHER: [in Foreign language]
Daria keeps getting better.
She's back at school.
She doesn't remember what happened to her.
When she asks, "Mom, was I sleeping?"
I tell her, "Yes, you were
a sleeping princess.
But now you are awake,
and everything will be fine."
[ship horn sounds]
TAMAS: [in English] It's important to say
that Sweden has admitted
large numbers of refugees
for many years.
We come from a society
that opens its doors.
[ship horn sounds]
[ship horn sounds]
[ship horn sounds]