Scandal over sexual abuse of students at Berlin's Canisius College draws wider circles. Germany's highest-ranking Jesuit, Father Stefan Dartmann, told reporters in Berlin on Monday that he is aware of 25 victims so far. Apart from the 20 affected at the Canisius College, there were 3 at Hamburg's St.-Ansgar School and 2 people at Jesuit High School in St. Blasien in the Black Forest.
The two alleged perpetrators Peter R. (69) and Wolfgang S. (65) would be accused of sexual assault and instruction in masturbation and indecent touching. The abuse of students occurred between 1975 and 1984, he said. Dartmann explained, Wolfgang S. Is also suspected of abuse outside of schools, he said. In the 1980s, for example, there was a complaint from a mother in the Gottingen area who accused him of assaulting her 14-year-old daughter. He had also stated, as part of his application for laicization, that he had committed assaults while living in Chile and Spain between 1985 and 1990. The Jesuit provincial said it raises "the probing question of why the incidents did not come to light at the time". Obviously, the superiors of the two suspects would not have seen any obligation to report at the time. "It would have been right to turn the cases over to a law enforcement agency," he stressed. This is also provided for in the guidelines for members of religious orders that have been in force since 2003. The rector of the Canisius College, Klaus Mertes, admitted that already in 1981 there had been "hidden indications" of the abuse cases in the Jesuit gymnasium. They would have found in a written criticism of former students of the concept of sex education. "I am ashamed that the school did nothing at the time," Mertes said verbatim. When asked, he said the order was open to financial claims for compensation from the victims. According to his impression, a complete clarification of the incidents is the most important reparation for them.
Acts? Dartmann announced that the Jesuit order would also examine the extent to which its leaders at the time had not fulfilled their duty of service. Before that, however, the report of the order's representative for victims of sexual abuse, attorney Ursula Raue, announced for mid-February, must be awaited. Raue said Monday she will now look at the files and wants to talk about "what structures have promoted it that it remained in the dark". It suspects the origin in Catholic sexual morality. "I know of two offenders with whom I also have contact".Meanwhile, the Berlin public prosecutor's office is checking whether the acts are now time-barred, as a spokesman said in response to a query. "Obviously that's the case," he added, explaining. "Then the ie is over for us as a law enforcement agency through."Even if there had been obstruction of justice in the early 1990s, the statute of limitations had long since expired.
