Sadism in the Domspatzen: "Please, dear parents, I would like to go home so much"
Great privilege? Great suffering!
Theoretically, it was an incredibly great privilege to be there: at the Regensburger Domspatzen, one of the oldest and most renowned boys choirs in the world.
But the reality was very different: in 2010 it became known that the children in the choir and in the associated schools since 1945 were subjected to sadistic violence. The investigation report that has just been released assumes 500 victims of physical and 67 victims of sexual violence. The report also published this homeschool letter from a preschooler:
"I'm waiting in my room," writes an apparently very desperate and frightened little boy to his parents. But even homesickness was at the Regensburger Domspatzen a rule violation, which was punishable according to the investigation report with physical violence. Partially homesick children were beaten in front of the other students to make an example.
Prison, hell, concentration camp
Especially the preschool described the victims as? Jail ?,? Hell? or? concentration camp ?. Many children described their time with the Domspatzen as the worst of their lives, which was characterized by violence, fear and helplessness. Misconduct, poor performance or simple "being a child"? was sanctioned in the form of draconian punishments.
Brutal it was and always with the fear on the neck. We were small children, separated from home, taken in the cold.
Responsible for the violence were in many cases the director of the preschool and his prefect, who were the dominant figures of the institution for decades - but also involved in the violence many employees. The worst offenses experienced the children in the 60s and 70s, with by 1992 is reported consistently by physical violence.
It was hell. The hell a priest and his assistant pushed open. "
However, many students also suffered psychological violence in the form of humiliation, threats or witnessing violence to classmates. The children lived in a tormenting climate of fear.
"Two years at the age of nine -11 years characterized by constant panic fear of worst acts of violence because of minor incidents, left unprotected, helplessly alone, a school and musical prison and penal camp of the worst kind.
Nuts, blows, humiliation in body care, forced eating, tearing of the earlobes, sexual assault by the "caregivers"? the list of sadistic crimes committed against the children entrusted by their parents to the prestigious Catholic institution is long.
And today? The Regensburger lawyer Ulrich Weber, who was used as an independent investigator, assesses the current situation in the Domspatzen in his report as harmless: Life here is characterized by a "contemporary pedagogy".
