Larger scale than expected

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For the past year, a research group has been investigating cases of abuse at the boys' convict in Bad Munstereifel. Now she has presented the first interim report. The extent is greater than previously amed, says project manager Bundschuh.

Interviewer: What results have you reached after one year?

Claudia Bundschuh (Scientific Director Project Collegium Josephinum): We have come to the conclusion that there is a majority of defendants after all. At the beginning of the project, the main focus was on a former employee of the convict who was under suspicion or. have been accused. In the meantime, we are at six professionals who are accused of having committed sexualized violence or sexualized assault. You can read that in the interim report. We also have nine defendants with regard to physical violence, physical abuse and psychological violence.
Interviewer: In what period of time did the acts take place??
Bundschuh: We have feedback so far on the period from the early 1950s to 1994. That is how far the reports of those who participated in the interviews or. have given feedback. With regard to the subject of violence, we can clearly see there was a peak at the end of the 1950s, in the 1960s until well into the 1970s, and so from the mid-1980s onwards we have no more reports of violence in any form at all.
Interviewer: So it goes back a long way. The acts are presumably barred by the statute of limitations. How is it that after such a long time people suddenly come forward?
Bundschuh: One must not forget that people lived in a time when talking about it was absolutely taboo. For the students who were at the boarding school at that time, it was very clear: If they disclosed everything, it would mean further impairment for them. They would be punished rather than positively supported. The educational concept was also different back then. Many parents were in favor of the strict hand and the sanctions, especially the physical punishment. And the topic of "sexualized violence" simply did not exist. Neither by professionals nor by parents, nor by representatives of the church.
Interviewer: That is, everything was hushed up. If everything is processed now, it is also a personal processing for the victims?
Bundschuh: For sure. That's what's important to hear: Someone believes me and I am taken seriously in my suffering. That is certainly a very central experience. Many have lived with the perception that it only happened to them. They thought it was their own fault. If they have changed their behavior, this has always been reflected back to them negatively. Now it is made clear to them that those who did this to them are guilty and responsible. That's an important point in terms of relief.
Interviewer: What, for example, has been reported back to you?
Bundschuh: With regard to sexual violence and sexual assault, erotically tinged touching all over the body was reported back, very long, tight holding, patting everything down with the hands. We also clearly have touching of the sexual organ with the boys, getting under the covers, reaching into the boys' pants, or even leading the boys to their own sexual organ with the attempt to get aroused by it. The physical violence started with slaps and pats on the back of the head and progressed to banging heads together, running kicks or hitting them with objects, wooden sticks for example.
Interviewer: How do you continue with your project now?
Bundschuh: It is very important to us that as many former students as possible hear about this project, so that they have the opportunity to disclose their experiences in the project, if they so wish. The project is one with and for those affected, i.e. what exactly happens, which building blocks we still develop – that depends centrally on what those affected want. For us it is always important: What helps them now?? We can't undo anything that happened in the past. But we experience again and again that it has been a long and stressful time for those affected, which still occupies them today. How do they now get the opportunity to find relief and to be able to process a little bit?.

The interview was conducted by Silvia Ochlast.

No more recognized refugees from the Maghreb states? © Daniel Karmann

The Greens in the Bundesrat are reluctant to classify the Maghreb states as safe countries of origin. The human rights situation there is controversial. Caritas and Misereor plead for a rejection of the bill.

How great is the risk of becoming a victim of state persecution in Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria?? This Friday, the Bundesrat will vote on classifying the three countries as "safe countries of origin" in order to significantly speed up asylum procedures. The Bundestag has already approved the amendment with the votes of the CDU/CSU and the SPD. But in the state chamber, the result depends on the Greens. For the required majority, at least three of the ten states they co-govern would have to support the bill. Several green country leaders have rejected this. Others are still undecided and demand concessions.

Caritas opposes bill

The Asylum Procedure Act speaks of safe countries of origin if there is no threat of political persecution or inhuman or degrading punishment there. Opponents, however, point to the dangers to which, for example, bloggers and journalists critical of the government, converts and homosexuals are said to be exposed in the Maghreb states. In addition to the Greens, Amnesty International and Pro Asyl have appealed to the Bundesrat to reject the bill. Caritas and Diakonie also opposed the bill. Proponents counter that in the first quarter of 2016, only 0.7 percent of asylum applications from North Africans were recognized.

Misereor takes a critical view of the project

"Germany would be the first EU country to declare all three states safe," Martin Brockelmann-Simon, executive director of the Catholic relief organization Misereor in Aachen, points out. It points to reports of arbitrary torture in Maghreb police stations and prisons and of prison sentences for human rights activists who denounce such abuses, even in relatively democratic Tunisia. In Morocco, critical articles about the monarchy or Islam would very quickly put their authors behind bars. "Reporters Without Borders" ranks the country just 131st among 180 countries for press freedom. "All in all, doubts remain about the extent to which all Maghreb states meet all the requirements for a safe country of origin," says Brockelmann-Simon.

Missionary sees human rights Not at risk across the board

But even in the ecclesiastical sphere there are dissenting voices. "I don't see North Africa as a blanket danger zone for human rights," says missionary and Islamic scholar Hans Vocking in Brussels in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA). As a member of the Missionary Order of the White Fathers, he lived for eight years in Algeria. He considers the repeatedly cited risk for homosexuals in particular to be exaggerated. Homosexuality is widespread in the Maghreb, they say. "As long as it is not lived out demonstratively or leads to political demands, gays and lesbians remain unchallenged. There is no systematic persecution."This also applies to criticism of the government or conversion from Islam to Christianity. "The Greens transfer the Western culture of freedom sweepingly to Islamic societies. It does not make sense."

Impression of a sham debate

Those who can prove that they are in danger in their home country should be entitled to asylum even after a positive decision by the Federal Council. Critics fear, however, that the 14-day fast-track procedures that will then take effect will hardly guarantee the legal protection needed to make one's voice heard by the authorities. Nevertheless, the impression of a sham debate suggests itself. Hardly anyone seriously doubts that the vast majority of mostly young, male North Africans flock to Europe out of a lack of economic prospects – and that this will remain the case. "That is why, above all, the EU's cooperation with North Africa should be expanded, for example through educational partnerships," pleads Brockelmann-Simon.

Instead, rejected Maghreb asylum seekers disappear into illegality or are not readmitted by their countries. He sees this as the reason for the disproportionately high crime rate among North Africans, for example in the Dusseldorf train station district or on New Year's Eve in Cologne. This may ultimately have provided the impetus for the controversial draft amendment, but for the Misereor managing director it "does not yet justify symbolic politics".

Former Poznan Archbishop Juliusz Paetz has been buried in a family tomb instead of the western Polish city's cathedral. Because of allegations of abuse, there had been appeals not to bury Paetz in the cathedral.

Burial in the house of worship would mean "desecration of the memory of the churchmen who rest there," clergy and faithful argued in a petition to current Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki.

Gadecki now told journalists on Monday that Paetz would be buried in a family grave in the cemetery of a Poznan parish. "I am convinced that the situation we find ourselves in today serves to purge the Poznan Church," he said after the funeral Mass in the cathedral. He pointed out that Pope John Paul II. (1978-2005) confirmed after Paetz's resignation in 2002 that he was no longer allowed to celebrate public masses.

Headlines after resignation

The archbishop emeritus had died on Friday at 84 years of age. The archdiocese had announced the funeral Mass in "close private form", but initially gave no details about the place of burial. Paetz was accused of sexual assaults on seminarians and priests; he always denied the accusations.

In 2002, Pope John Paul II. (1978-2005) accepted the resignation of the then 67-year-old without giving further reasons. The Congregation of Bishops at the time imposed restrictions on Paetz's priestly activities as well as on public masses. After his resignation in 2002, he made headlines several times for wanting to attend meetings of the bishops' conference and public masses.

Conditions for priestly activity

In 2016, the then-Vatican ambassador to Poland, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, noted in writing that it was "hard to imagine" Paetz defying the requirements and attending a Mass with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin in Poznan and World Youth Day with Pope Francis in Krakow.

Paetz was elected bishop on 2. February 1935 born in Poznan. In 1959, he was ordained a priest in his hometown. John Paul II. Appointed him bishop of Lomza in northeastern Poland in 1982 and archbishop of Poznan in 1996.

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