Child abductor, sadist and murderer Georgia Tann

Looking into the face of this lady, you are unlikely to think that in front of you is a child abductor, a sadist and a murderer. But this is exactly the case. It's all about her, about Georgia Tann. She stole about 5,000 children and earned millions of dollars from their adoption (and in fact — sale). At least thirty million, to be exact.

How many children she killed cannot be counted at all, since it is not possible to trace the fate of all, and even more so to prove the involvement of Tann. However, one would be enough to put her behind bars for the rest of her life, or even fry her in the electric chair. But fate decreed otherwise — the criminal died of cancer before the man could take justice into his own hands.

Georgia Tann

Joan Crawford with her son, daughter and adopted twin girls

Dick Powell and June Ellison with adopted daughter Pamela

At a time when Tann's business was booming (which is about thirty years), infant mortality in Memphis was at the highest level in the country. Georgia Tann earned money by charging adoption fees, but not only. She sold children into slavery — for agricultural work or in illegal sewing workshops. Some children were sold to rapists and pedophiles. Many even ended up in other countries. Tann had an established channel for transporting children to England. And only the "lucky ones" could end up in foster families, many of whom, in turn, did not realize that they were participating in an illegal enterprise.

Georgia Tann in 1942

Children's home in Memphis. The building was later demolished

One of the first mothers to suffer from Tann's actions was Rose Harvey. The diabetic woman was divorced, and she had a strained relationship with her ex-husband. Tann took advantage of this circumstance and received legal permission from her father, as a result of which the mother was recognized as unable to raise her two-year-old son and he had to be sent to an orphanage. On a spring morning in 1922, Georgia picked up the child right from the yard behind the house where he was playing, took him to the orphanage and quickly arranged for his adoption by a foster family with whom she had a preliminary agreement. Rose turned to a lawyer, but her son could not be returned. Encouraged by the success, Tann realized that things could be done with great success in the future.

The Western State Mental Hospital, the children of the women held there were one of Georgia Tann's sources. According to rumors, children were taken from women, and young patients were raped and forced to have sex with each other, with security guards and local residents for money. All the children born there were sent to Georgia Tann

At the same time, Georgia met her partner, who became her lover, Ann Atwood Hollinsworth. Hollinsworth's task was to find babies for Tann — the further away from their biological parents, the better.By the early thirties, Tann, who put the abduction of children on stream, charged wealthy clients for their "services" up to 100 thousand dollars in the modern equivalent. Tann and her henchmen acted by a variety of methods and constantly improved their criminal craft, using not only deception, but also sometimes outright theft of children. Parents could come to the nursery for their child and find out that their son or daughter had been taken away by representatives of the social service. Searches, as a rule, did not yield results — children disappeared without a trace.

One of the typical Georgia Tann ads, 1935. ""Yours on request!“George wants to play, but a full team needs a dad. "Catch that ball, Dad!“ Would you like to play with this five-year-old? His name is George, you can contact the children's editor at Press-Scimitar. In collaboration with Georgia Tann from the Tennessee Orphanage, Press-Scimitar will offer 25 children for adoption by Christmas"

Garment factory workers or dishwashers turned into "doctor's daughter" and "medical student" after Tann's manipulations with documents, who refused a son or daughter. Tann preferred the biography of a human commodity to be prestigious—her fascination with eugenics affected her. She never stole black children, believing that she would earn much more on the blond and blue-eyed, who were preferred by wealthy clients.

It happened that some newly-minted parents refused adopted children. One such "parent", who adopted a girl with the help of Tann, said that he was disappointed: "I paid $ 500. For less money, I could buy a good hunting dog." By the way, this girl was "lucky" — she at least found out that she was stolen from a loving family in 1925. She was later able to reunite with her family. But such finals came only for 10% of the affected children.

Among the charges that could be brought against Georgia Tann, abuse, bullying and even murder. According to the testimony of survivors, a special room was equipped in the basement of her institution-a torture chamber, where bound children were hung on hooks and left in this position for several days with short breaks.

Tann's work as a publicist, educator and philanthropist looks particularly cynical. It's amazing how she managed to fool an entire country. Although, it would seem, even the headline of an ad published in a local newspaper on Christmas itself looked rather strange: "Do you want a real live Christmas gift?"

She wrote articles and gave lectures: "We live in a selection process. We choose a child, and we choose his house." She was praised in the national press. Eleanor Roosevelt consulted her on issues of "child policy", and President Truman invited her to his own inauguration.

The Memphis house where Georgia Tann died

Everything was going to a high-profile trial. The governor of Tennessee was quick to call Tann an "Angel of Death" at a press conference, but he said it three days before her death. Georgia Tann died of cancer on September 15, 1950, thus avoiding just retribution. On this day, many people breathed a sigh of relief: mayors, senators, judges and lawyers, doctors and nurses, social workers — all those who collaborated with Tann on the black market of child trafficking.

As already mentioned, only 10% of the victims, parents and children, were able to reunite and restore their rights. Surprisingly, some people needed their whole lives for this. There are cases when people found their lost relatives until 1995.

Of course, Georgia Tann's story had other consequences. It was she who influenced the tightening of legislation in the field of adoption and the creation of social services and the strengthening of control over the stay of children in public and private institutions.