‘Culture of Silence’ Abetted Abuse of at Least 547 Choir Boys, Inquiry Finds
BERLIN
— For decades, a “culture of silence” pervaded a Catholic music school
where the brother of a future pope directed a renowned boys’ choir,
contributing to an environment in which at least 547 children were
abused, a lawyer who carried out an investigation of the mistreatment said on Tuesday.
The estimate of the number of children abused was far greater than a previous figure, 231, that the lawyer gave last year.
The choir — the Regensburg Domspatzen,
literally the Cathedral Sparrows — dates to the 10th century and
continues to perform at Sunday Mass in Regensburg’s 16th-century Gothic
cathedral. The choir’s music director from 1964 to 1994 was the Rev.
Georg Ratzinger, whose younger brother, Joseph Ratzinger, reigned as Pope Benedict XVI from 2005 to 2013.
Father Ratzinger, now 93, has apologized for slapping boys
during his tenure, and said he stopped administering corporal
punishment when the church banned it in 1980. He has denied awareness of
sexual abuse taking place, and the new investigation does not implicate
him in the abuse.
The
abuse came to light in 2010, but only after intense pressure from the
victims did the diocese call upon an outside lawyer, Ulrich Weber, to
conduct an independent inquiry.
Over the past two years, Mr. Weber and a team of colleagues conducted interviews with victims, other former pupils and scanned archives from the years 1945 to 1992.
Over
all, Mr. Weber evaluated 616 reports of abuse; he deemed fewer than a
dozen not at all plausible; others he determined to be questionable,
meaning that the abuse could not be ruled out.
In
the remaining cases, 547 in total, the reports of abuse were deemed
plausible, based on interviews or other corroborating evidence. Of those
cases, 67 are believed to have involved sexual abuse. The others
involved various forms of corporal punishment, including ear-twisting
and beatings with a cane.
As
in other institutions in which longstanding patterns of abuse have come
to light, a combination of shame, secrecy and impunity contributed to
the abuses at the music school in Regensburg, which is about 70 miles
northeast of Munich, in southeastern Germany.
The abuse remained taboo, discussed only among some of the victims, who felt ostracized by their fellow alumni.
The
most severe abuse took place among primary-school students in the 1960s
and ’70s, mostly boys 9 to 11, living away from home.
“In
the three areas of school, choir, musical education and boarding
school, many people actively took part in the abuse,” Mr. Weber said.
In
the report, dozens of former students described their primary-school
years as a “prison,” “hell” or “concentration camp,” he said.
“Many described this time as the darkest period of their lives, dominated by violence, fear and helplessness,” Mr. Weber said.
Survivors
expressed relief at the release of the report, but one of them, Udo
Kaiser, said it could not restore their stolen childhoods.
“It
has been documented,” Mr. Kaiser said in a telephone interview from his
home in Munich.
“Everything I have been saying for the past 30 years,
when no one believed me, everything I have been fighting for the past
seven years is now public.”
The
440-page report did not focus on Father Ratzinger or the question of
whether the priest might have turned a blind eye to the abuse, though it
does contain a section focused on victims’ recollections of the choir
director.
For
some, he embodied a musical perfectionist who sought success above all
else, while others recalled him as being quick with a slap, and having
no compunction against throwing a chair or music stand into the choir.
Many
recalled him picking favorites, which meant the best singers had no
problems with him, while others were beaten or slapped for singing a
wrong note.
When
Mr. Weber started his investigation, Father Ratzinger was critical,
calling it “insanity” to try to investigate how many slaps had been
“doled out” in the institution associated with the choir. He did not
have any immediate comment on the latest findings.
The
sexual abuse took the form of “leering looks or verbal abuse, to the
forced consummation of pornography, unwanted sexual touching to forced
sex,” the report said.
Along
with the physical and sexual abuse, many victims suffered psychological
abuse and bullying from classmates who mirrored the hierarchy and from
the school’s strict educational style.
“There
was a feeling of permanent control, ranging from regular checks of
their clothes closets, to making sure that underpants were being worn
beneath their pajamas,” the report said. “The children were under
pressure, regarding their academic as well as their musical
achievements, in addition to fearing punishment.”
Nevertheless,
some victims said that not every former student had been abused, and
others had fond memories of their time at the school and their
participation in the choir.
This
was, the report found, in line with the culture of keeping the abuse
behind closed doors, which meant that anyone who was not a victim had a
hard time conceiving how it could have been carried out.
Over
the years, the report found, this “split reality” led to
misunderstandings and rifts among the alumni, some of whom could not
fathom what had happened when the revelations began to emerge.
The
Regensburg diocese has paid 450,000 euros to victims through a fund
established after the attention surrounding the abuse came to light.
The
school has also moved to change its culture and instituted steps to
prevent and report abuse in recent years, as well as expanding the
emphasis to include not only music, but also the children’s well-being,
said Roland Büchner, who now directs the choir.
“I sharply condemn this,” Mr. Büchner said on Tuesday. “It must never happen again.”
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