Decades-long abuse revealed at Catholic boys’ school in Germany

Trier,Feb 13 Germany (dpa/GNA) – Boys were regularly subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse for nearly four decades at a Catholic boarding school in Germany, according to an independent inquiry released on Friday.

The violence at the Albertinum school, in the western Eifel region, was inflicted on the pupils starting in 1946 and continued until the facility closed in 1983, lead investigators Claudia Bundschuh and Bettina Janssen said in the city of Trier.

Their report is based on the accounts of 54 former pupils of the boys’ boarding school. It found that sexual violence had been committed by all three directors of the school, who were priests, as well as a secular staff member.

The victims described canings, hair-pulling and being forced to keep eating until they were ill.

The reports of sexual violence included unwanted touching, including penetrative acts. The physical abuse took the form of intimidation, threats and confinement for long stretches of time.

Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier said he felt deep shame at what the children and young adults suffered. He asked them “for the pain inflicted on you in an institution of the diocese.”

It was “right and important” that this dark side of Albertinum was now public and that the perpetrators were named.

The investigation began in October 2019 and was conducted independently of the Church.

GNA