SOS Children's Villages Austria Attacks SOS Children's Villages International

Supervisory board chairman Friedrich Santner criticizes the umbrella organization's inadequate investigation of the alleged crimes of founder Hermann Gmeiner: "He was active worldwide"

Interview, FALTER 11/2026, 10.03.2026

Overnight, Hermann Gmeiner became a person who subjects minors to inappropriate treatment. The founder of SOS Children's Villages, nominated 103 times for the Nobel Peace Prize, subjected at least eight boys to inappropriate treatment. The child protection organization made this public in October, after Falter had reported on inappropriate treatment in the SOS Children's Villages Moosburg and Imst. Now five new suspected cases are added.

Friedrich Santner, new supervisory board chairman and himself once a Children's Village child, on an organization in crisis — and on what it is like to live with the dark legacy of an alleged perpetrator of inappropriate conduct.

Falter: Mr. Santner, how many more suspected cases against Hermann Gmeiner will come to light?

Friedrich Santner: I would have expected more to come. We have called for all affected persons to come forward. We know that those affected by inappropriate treatment often feel shame and have difficulty talking about it. On average, it takes 25 years before they speak about it. More people will contact us. We have to live with this reality.

SOS Children's Villages has known about the inappropriate treatment of children by Hermann Gmeiner since at least 2012. Instead of investigating the cases, the organization continued to promote Gmeiner as a benefactor.

Santner: A mistake. The first cases should have been investigated immediately. That didn't happen. If further suspected cases come, we will do so.

You yourself grew up in an SOS Children's Villages and met Gmeiner personally. Were there already rumors about inappropriate treatment back then?

Santner: I wasn't aware of any. I met Gmeiner as a child at the Caldonazzo holiday camp. When I was 18, I worked at this holiday camp myself. Gmeiner invited me and another high school graduate to dinner. Later I offered to work abroad in a Children's Village. He wanted me to do military service first, but I wanted to do civilian service. Those are my memories of him.

Gmeiner was active in Children's Villages all over the world. According to our information, you recently called for a worldwide investigation at an online conference of the international umbrella organization. What specifically should be investigated?

Santner: From my perspective, we have taken the necessary steps in Austria. There are affected person protection offices and a reform commission. I would like to see this consequence at the international level. SOS Children's Villages International must call on the countries to collect and process reports. More must be done, and I have pointed this out.

All over the world, buildings, streets, and squares were named after Hermann Gmeiner. Many still exist today. Do all country associations even know about the allegations of inappropriate conduct?

Santner: The umbrella organization referred to the allegations when it suspended Austria from the federation. Whether this was done with the necessary consequence, I have my doubts.

Doesn't Austria also bear responsibility for fulfilling this duty of information?

Santner: Of course. Austria was the cradle of the Children's Villages. Today we are suspended. The tasks that we still have to fulfill abroad, we are doing properly.

Do you have the feeling that the umbrella organization takes your call to launch an international investigation seriously?

Santner: I can only judge that from a distance. There are countries like Norway that pushed ahead very early and investigated a lot. Actually, the umbrella organization should coordinate this and not the individual countries. SOS Children's Villages International should act significantly more consistently. That is my personal impression.

Austria was suspended by the umbrella organization in October. The chairman, Domenico Parisi, found harsh words. How is the relationship between the founding nation and the umbrella organization today?

Santner: We have made our position clear to the umbrella organization. In our opinion, the suspension is contrary to the statutes. There are conditions that were not met. We are in legal discussions with the umbrella organization. Domenico Parisi issued a statement on Hermann Gmeiner that was very clear. But issuing a five-liner is one thing. Doing the work is another.

We must ask you again: SOS Children's Villages promises transparency regarding Gmeiner. He opened Children's Villages all over the world; he was active in Asia and Africa. Are you aware of any form of investigation in other countries?

Santner: I can't say anything about that because I don't know. In my opinion, it would be very important to also investigate this cleanly at the international level.

Let's come to the second personality of SOS Children's Villages who has come under criticism: former president Helmut Kutin. SOS Children's Villages had the case of an Austrian major donor who subjected boys to inappropriate treatment in Asia investigated. After the Falter reporting, according to which Kutin was also involved, the case is being re-examined. Have you already gained an overview of the state of affairs?

Santner: The investigation is being done by the reform commission. The supervisory board primarily deals with the organization. We have separated that. What was 30 years ago we cannot change, only investigate. The reform commission is doing that, and we are making sure that we create good framework conditions for the 1,800 children who are in our stationary care and for the approximately 2,000 employees.

Helmut Kutin is alleged to have allowed a major donor with inappropriate interest in minors access to SOS Children's Villages. What did you think when you heard that?

Santner: I felt the same way as probably everyone. One is shocked and thinks: How can something like this exist? I don't want to defend Kutin, nor do I want to accuse him. But this case is unbearable. When I myself was a Children's Village child, the donors came to our house and watched us do homework. Then they stroked my head and told me that they had donated money for me. It was a humiliation. Thank God that was ended. In this respect, it is incomprehensible to me that a major donor was granted access to an SOS Children's Villages.

Even back then, it was forbidden for major donors to sleep in Children's Villages. It happened anyway. Can you rule out today that other donors subjected children to inappropriate treatment?

Santner: I can only speak for Austria. I am not aware of any further case. If something like this existed in the present, management would intervene immediately.

Has SOS Children's Villages now further tightened the rules for donors?

Santner: You can make rules as many as you want. The stricter the rules, the more cleverly they are circumvented. You can never completely rule out certain things. But we can do our best to ensure that they don't happen. Today, people with high pedagogical expertise sit on the supervisory board. There is a lot of attention and sensitivity.

Was it a mistake that SOS Children's Villages courted the donors so much?

Santner: You have to see it in context. Gmeiner and the other founders depended on donations. In marketing terms, that was a great achievement. At some point, that naturally fell out of time. There are many things that we do differently today than the founders did back then.

The former managing director Nora Deinhammer was responsible for donations. At the same time, she was appointed crisis manager for the major donor case in November 2022. Don't you think she was conflicted?

Santner: The wisdom of hindsight is the greatest wisdom. We learn a lot from banks because their compliance rules are the strictest. Pedagogy is one area. Compliance and child protection should be anchored in the organization independently of it. So that pedagogy doesn't oversee itself. That will be done in the new organization. If you are in contact with a major donor for years, you build a personal relationship. If there is a report of inappropriate treatment against the donor, you find yourself in a dilemma. They lived in this dilemma back then.

Does the protection concept of SOS Children's Villages need to be completely revised?

Santner: Since the founding of SOS Children's Villages, we have cared for 15,000 children. The children are often brought by the ambulance service and the police. There is a judicial decision for out-of-home placement. They were removed from their family system for good reason. First and foremost, it is about these children being well cared for. In a huge number of cases, this has succeeded. The employees have done great work. As in any organization, there are of course also black sheep here. That's what we make child protection concepts for. But actually, it is sad that we have to think about how to protect children from those who care for them.

As supervisory board chairman, do you also hold discussions with politicians?

Santner: So far I have spoken with State Councilor Peter Reichmann in Carinthia and the Tyrolean State Councilor Eva Pawlata.

One would assume that federal politics would also be interested in child protection.

Santner: You raise an important point. Child protection and inappropriate treatment are not an exclusive topic of SOS Children's Villages. Up to seven percent of all children in Austria experience inappropriate treatment. We are now making efforts at SOS Children's Villages to get the topic well under control. I would wish that politics becomes significantly more active and focuses on the topic.

How is an organization doing whose most important founding person is suddenly no longer a hero but a person who subjects minors to inappropriate treatment?

Santner: Mr. Director Gmeiner, who arrived with a Mercedes and chauffeur, was someone we children were proud of. He was a projection surface. That a myth arises from this is understandable. Of course, that was extremely unhealthy. Maria Hofer was also a founder of SOS Children's Villages. She gave up her inheritance to buy the first piece of land. She separated from Gmeiner because he was too patriarchal for her and pushed himself too much into the center. It would have done the organization good to see the entire founding team and not just Gmeiner. With us, there will be no more shining figure.

Friedrich Santner (*1960) has been chairman of the supervisory board of SOS Children's Villages since November. Santner himself spent his childhood in SOS Children's Villages in Carinthia and Styria. He studied psychology and pedagogy in Graz, then made a career as a manager in the private sector