Thousands of victims of abuse in the Evangelical Church in Germany

On Thursday, the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) presented a study it commissioned in 2020 on sexual violence in the Evangelical Church and in diakonia.

Accordingly, there was abuse in the Evangelical Church of Germany to a greater extent than previously assumed. The study by a research team reports at least 2,225 people affected and 1,259 suspected perpetrators. But that is just the “tip of the iceberg”. There is knowledge of other cases, but these could not have been recorded in a structured manner due to a lack of information, according to the research team’s statement.

Almost 10,000 affected

According to the information, only disciplinary files were examined across the board. An extrapolation, which from the research team’s point of view must be viewed with “very great caution”, results in a total of 9,355 affected people out of an estimated 3,497 accused.

So far it was only known how many of those affected had contacted the responsible authorities in the regional churches in recent years. According to the Evangelical Church in Germany, there were 858.

The acting council chairwoman of the EKD, Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, said: “The overall picture shocked me deeply.” The Church accepts this study with humility. “As an institution, we have also been guilty of harming countless people. And I can only apologize from the bottom of my heart to those who were so hurt.”

This request for an apology can only be credible “if we act with determination and initiate further change measures. We wanted this study, we initiated it and we accept it with humility,” said Fehrs.

Criticism from those affected

When the study was presented, those affected called for the processing of cases and structures to be pushed forward even more, including with the help of the state. “We need the state to assume responsibility here. Because it has been shown again and again that the church is not a counterpart for those affected,” said Katharina Kracht, representative of those affected and member of the research association’s advisory board. External experts and complaints bodies are needed.

Processing is the supreme discipline, said Kracht. From their point of view, the regional churches lack competence and probably also interest in actually uncovering cases.

The scientists attached great importance not only to collecting figures from files, but also to talking a lot with those affected. Kracht, who, as she said, was abused by a married priest as a teenager, complained that the regional churches were hindering investigations. This meant that the perpetrators remained in the dark.

Hanover professor Martin Wazlawik, who coordinated the research team, advised the Evangelical Church in Germany to look honestly at itself and “stay less in the idealistic self-narrative.” For a long time, the church had been deluding itself into believing that there could be no major problem of abuse because it was participatory and democratic.

Wazlawik accused the church of “reactive processing” and said it almost never took action on its own initiative. The special position of Protestant pastors as authority figures and their rectory also encouraged abuse because the perpetrators could feel safe, said Martin Wazlawik.

With comparable studies

A comprehensive study on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, which was presented in 2018, is not comparable to that of the Evangelical Church of Germany, which was presented yesterday. In the study on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, all personnel files were presented, so the data basis is different.

The Catholic Church study only examined the actions of priests, deacons and male religious. The EKD study also looked at Diakonie employees and volunteers in the regional churches.

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