Abuse in the Catholic Church | DW Documentary

we've come to northern chile and the port city of Arica Mateus Koch from Germany is here for the first time he's on a special mission one of his former teachers a priest is said to live here Koch was abused by him as a child it's a bit of a remote location ugh and I hadn't expected that bothered mattias Koch was abused by two teachers while at the Canisius colleague at Jesuit High School in Berlin for legal reasons we can only identify his abusers as Peeta are and Wolfgang s over a period of decades the two priests abused many children their superiors ensured that everything was hushed up in 2010 Matias Koch finally blew the whistle on the perpetrators since then both men have been seen in Chile he asks if any Germans are living here a man pointed to a nearby street but the investigation stalled Matias Koch is taking matters into his own hands why does he feel he has to do this else is going to do it the church is doing nothing and I feel a certain sense of responsibility to warn people here in dastar to do no harm [Music] matías Koch's quest to track down his abusers began in January 2018 in Santiago de Chile at the time the city was full because Pope Francis was in town while crowds celebrated the head of the Catholic Church Matias Koch nursed his anger against the institution back in 2010 he was instrumental in uncovering abuse in Germany's Catholic Church by going public with what he had suffered his actions empowered dozens more abuse survivors to come forward but none of the cases was recent enough to prosecute the two priests in 2015 the German broadcaster wdr reported on pita art for the first time its research showed that the priests had abused a female student in recent years and the Diocese of Hilda's Heim in 2010 she reported the crime herself to the diocese but the bishop in charge simply sent her home he did not inform her family or report the case to the authorities petah our escaped punishment how could that happen [Music] the day after that report was broadcast here as hind Bishop's Hinds gun to Bogaerts and Norbit Ella gave a hastily scheduled press conference it was bond guards who had talked to the female student when she tried to report her case back in 2010 so why did he send her away this media after repeated questioning she said very clearly that he had given her a kiss on the cheek Emmett during previous visits he had given her hugs which she didn't like it was very clear to me in this situation that what was being described to me was not a sexual assault and therefore I couldn't classify it as sexual abuse and condition for me but by that time it was already known that this priest was at the center of the abuse scandal at the Canisius College didn't it sound alarm bells for you making you think there might be more to this signs of affection like a kiss on the cheek or that kind of biting are pretty normal among young today before long the government commissioner for the sexual abuse of children Johannes vilhelm Ehrlich took on the case he called on the diocese to appoint an independent expert to thoroughly investigate the case of petah our captain I have the impression that there is still a tendency to try to protect the institution by withholding information and not laying the facts on the table and that is preventing transparent saved as a trans pavan's for Hindus the diocese gave in and in the fall of 2017 the report was published by putting out a public appeal the investigation uncovered dozens more victims of PETA are from youth groups a kindergarten and even from far away Chinni but the expert in charge of the investigation Peter massa found all the cases had expired under the statute of limitations man confirm the file you know judging by the pattern we see here it's very probable that this is only the tip of the iceberg we can see a pattern in the church of looking the other way and being unwilling to recognize the full scale of the problem in snows most of our suleiman beautiful garden some hats i apologize with all my heart that I didn't recognize the perpetrators strategies back then and that I wasn't able to draw the right conclusions to protect the children he applied encanta bishop bomgaarts then tendered his resignation but it was rejected by his superiors so what next would he look for more victims of PR himself would he look into the links with Chile or seek to find out what pata r was doing today months pass without any action in the end it was another who felt obligated to take up the cause Matias Koch he was shocked to hear of the abuse cases in Chile and he had a good idea of where he might find them the fundación Christo VA is one of the largest charitable organizations in South America with projects in janay Peru and Bolivia [Music] Mattia Scotch himself spent a year working here as a volunteer when he was 18 he's returned frequently and knows lots of people here the fundación Christo Viva looks after children and provides them with an education many young people in Chile find it hard to get work or job training here they can find both they can train as painters bricklayers or office administrators but Matias Koch has come to see the woman behind it all sister Catalina she's a German missionary who has spent 50 years working in Chile she's won numerous awards for her work and has twice received the German Federal Cross of Merit over the past decade five million euros in private donations alone have flowed from Germany to sister Karolina and Chris de vivir Matias Koch first met her in Berlin when he was a high school student at the Canisius Koenig [Music] sister Kalina was 36 years old when she visited the school to appeal for support for her project today we know all too well what was going on at the school during this period the priest Panta r was one of the teachers he appears to have had few adult friends choosing to surround himself mainly with young boys he allowed them to call him by his first name and gave them gifts like record players or cameras and he spent time outside work with them too he and the children spent many hours in this outbuilding of the school dubbed the castle during his group exercises the boys would struggle with their feelings afterwards they would spend the night at the castle with the priest he showed them pornographic magazines later they would get typed questionnaires asking them how the photos had affected them they had to go into his room one by one to discuss the results he asked them about their dreams and urged them to masturbate while there in his room it was at this time that sister Corina came to Germany she talked about her projects in faraway Chile the boys were fascinated Mateus Koch included she developed a friendship with petah our and he began supporting her and her foundation he offered grants to enable young people from Chile to come to Germany and live at his house numerous young people from sister Cao Elena's foundation spent time living with petah are in Germany what does she think about that now knowing what she does and is there still a link between the priest and her organization you can decide what Peter I know Peter very well he came to Chile to visit us one time had many foster I could never have imagined that things like that could have happened to him he certainly tried to be a good person through his efforts to help many many people I witnessed that myself he even used his own pension to pay for a child to be able to study thorium for a young person a man a woman people who just went to him with their needs advised us there in that sphere I know from the time that I was at school that he would give gifts to the boys that he was after Shane Keough Mata so obviously when I hear that he's been trying to be generous here it immediately arouses my suspicions that his generosity was all aimed at being able to pursue his own lusts knocking so good I thought I couldn't say that none of the young people that I know and I knew them all none of them could say that they became a victim of all those who were there from the north or south some from Bolivia to no one said anything I don't know of a single one funny ones I see he's still sending money he sends money here yes for two or three young women that he got to know here and made an effort to help Thomas he still sends money for them and they write to him my heart goes out to more and more of the people who have suffered most that is our top priority that's actually smears that doesn't make sense to me to be honest this is exactly the problem if you're too close to the perpetrator it's incredibly difficult to distance yourself from them and make a clean break to come down entirely on the side of the victims I hope for Thursday it won't be his last conversation with sister Karolina but first he wants to find the people who went from here to stay with petah are in Germany two of them were mentioned in the report on the Hilda's home diocese from now on Matthias Koch wants us to film with a hidden camera in an outlying district of Santiago he begins to ask around hola [Music] so what exactly did pay to our do after leaving Canisius colleague he was forced to leave the school in 1981 after his students wrote a complaint they said his youth work was merely a facade and that in reality he was trying to control and influence their sexuality but instead of going to the police his superiors in the church simply transferred him first to the city of good again they informed no one there about what he'd been doing and so once again beta r was working with children he abused a nine year old an eleven year old and a fourteen year old the church dealt with the matter internally and transferred him again this time to Hilda's Haim it was now 1989 here beta R was appointed priest at a local church where he helped provide meals to the needy it was during this time that he began inviting young people from Chile to stay with him a number of girls spent several months at his house helping with household duties in 1993 one mother from Hilda's Haim reported that she believed the priest was harassing them she said the girls had told her he kept touching their breasts finally four years later Pedro R was transferred to wolfburg two years after that he was moved from there to Hannover since 2003 he's been retired and living in Berlin [Music] mattias Koch is hoping to speak to some of the women from Chile who stayed with PETA our one young woman agrees to meet him she's a new contact her name was not mentioned in the German investigation she spent a whole year living with PETA are in Hannover her sister also stayed with him and he'll design she is mentioned in the hill design report but no one's been in contact with her the family is part of sister cow Elena's parish when I was 12 or 13 you know he came to Chile to visit Karolina and twice he took my sister to Carolina's house in the goal she said he had touched her breasts of law when he did it for a second time I witnessed it myself I remember how worried my sister was about visiting him in Germany she didn't want to go to Martin so when you went to Germany once your own sister worried yes she didn't want me to go to Hannover because she knew I'd be alone with him but I decided to go because I wanted to learn the language I didn't want to stay with him but I wanted to learn right from the start he took away the key to my room so I pushed the sofa in front of the door but I was still afraid because I was alone and I knew what he was like the whales and he rented an apartment in Berlin I didn't like going there because I had to sleep in the same room as him one time I woke up in the night and heard him making strange sounds in his bed he was masturbating I didn't want to go back to Berlin after that and when I did I put chairs and my suitcase around my bed so that I would hear him if he approached me in the night today the priest is 77 and still living in that Berlin apartment it was there that he abused the young girl from Hilda's room who reported her case to church authorities in 2010 that was the year the general public in Germany heard about pay to our because Matias Koch and more than 40 other former Canisius students went public the church responded saying all the cases had expired under the statute of limitations and it neglected to mention the young woman who had reported her case that same year nevertheless the abuse scandal made international news and reached Chile to ah but I said suddenly Peter was in the newspaper and I read that he had abused many children I told my brothers and sisters about it although not my parents as they knew nothing of what had happened I was employed and then right at that time when the news came out he suddenly turned up here at our house didn't tell my parents anything about the scandal he just said he'd come for a holiday the ways then my brothers and sisters came and we demanded a meeting with Karolina to force him to leave my house and to tell my parents what was happening he just said the media reports all kinds of things and acted like he'd done nothing wrong at all and sister Karolina defended him then my brother told him to leave our house super sister Karolina took him with her babies get calling you since when is the last time Christmas you lost the prisoners yes me they say I keep telling myself he should pay with a life sentence for what he's done no one should suffer the way people suffered under him he should be sent to prison to pay you soon because I guess he knows what he's done what I don't understand is that he talked about God and being a Catholic but then did such evil things yes they did people now he needs to pay what I think about that's time this order at the end the young woman shows us a photo of her with good friends of PETA are in here at a time because no one stopped the priest the young girl next to her was also abused by him that was the student who reported her case to the Hildesheim bishops in 2010 mr. Gunson said Kim from my back tears the whole type in the hills cozy season it's about this dish it was the right thing to do what I did was right painful to talk about it but there comes a point when you have to lay everything out on the table and then it's enough good yeah I'm focus on it from morning till night but you just need to have it all out once and say this is what happened he's responsible and they look the other way or cooperated or later covered it up yeah uncommon and then you can slowly start to close the box and say that's it and then you can get on with your life and don't come over live during our previous conversation sister Karolina claimed she knew nothing of any abuse cases in Chile now we've heard a different story evidently sister Cao Alina even took the priest into her home in 2010 at the height of the abuse scandal so what's the truth Mandi I'm told if they had said anything that our daughters had problems I would have confronted Peter and sent him home but you didn't do that in 2010 you didn't send him home who gives my house I couldn't because I didn't know anything they said nothing but you knew from the press not from the girls but in general from the press from the press but I can't condemn someone based on accusations in the press I knew Peter like to have hugs and kisses and gave out kisses himself which was a bit unusual but a kiss here and kiss their own Christian man I can't tell you anything I didn't see anything or know anything credit could there be more abuse survivors who haven't said anything I think my when I asked various ones I got no answer skip T you infer on the or some young women who if someone touches them in the wrong way they give them a slap if they touch their breasts when they try to kiss them boom we might see of course sometimes it's problematic oh because sometimes you can start to cooperate and go along with it we admit working that I thought and swishing middle and investment system then later I think hmm he crossed a boundary angular and then they start to feel partly guilty that they let it happen on 20 I see that they allow the other person to do what he did and far didn't communicate they gave myself I understand that two girls had a terrible time in Germany it's that snitched on me it image yes wasn't that partly their own responsibility shouldn't one sister warn the other and say don't do it it was terrible for me so it's the family's responsibility actually that's the horse sense the family's responsibility they don't understand how our outsider is supposed to know and then the man pays for your studies afterward and you carry on accepting the money you like that though maybe they were afraid it wasn't paid I paid the money through us babies they basically I've got their money here in the office Oh own death and that's probably doubly difficult did you accuse the man who is at the same time sending your money I'm glad so as soon as I get the chance I won't talk to the two of them and I won't come with any accusation I'll just say how sorry I am they didn't have enough trust to say something back then it would have helped me a great deal they had said something maybe I could have helped Pater I really think if I'd have known I could have intervened couldn't you have helped the girls too yes of course as far as you can help done as Donald I wouldn't know how to help the families the word chameleon I really wouldn't miss death nisht does this worry your song yeah thank him no but it hurts me that they didn't trust me enough to say anything don't be this that's just Nick there's mothers Patroni because this was a gift they could have given me me to trust me they knew me drop steam nevertheless in life we live for words I want to include others and to move on to evict so gain one and it would really be my desire for the two of them that they can get free of this really and I'm ready to talk to them with all the love that I'm capable of God's help so that's my hope for both of them that's that we would be able to talk [Music] the most egala she wants to believe and i can understand that that her colleagues and friends are innocent of these things Alison so she'd rather focus on and believe everything that appears to speak for them than to just believe the simple statements of the victims he's Implanon relative Isis plays down six excuses or explanations obviously it's a bitter experience for me it's nothing new in fact it's a recurring pattern obviously I now have my doubts as regards the safety of the children and young people here today and I hope very much that this bitter realization which is bitter also for all the friends of sister Karolina and her work that it will provoke a response that says how can we prevent this kind of suffering from occurring again in the institutions and initiatives of this foundation and how can we distance ourselves clearly from these perpetrators forgotten high distance here the abusive priests Peter are had access to children and young people for more than 40 years he was unwilling to speak to us on camera but back in 2015 he did agree to be interviewed at his Berlin apartment he said he only asked the Canisius students to masturbate in his room so that he wouldn't have to report them to the school director as for the girls he said he never gave them anything more than a kiss on the cheek from his point of view he is no criminal meanwhile Matias Koch's mission is not over yet now he's arrived in arica in northern Chile PTR has been here before - he visited the other implicated priest from Germany Wolfgang s he said to be living in arica today [Music] the two of them first met as high school students in the 1950s then in the 70s they worked as teachers at the Berlin Canisius College it was here that they met sister Karolina but there's something else that Peter our and Wolfgang asks have in common a large group of former students say they were abused by both teachers while at the Canisius College and Matias Koch is one of them Lufkin s stripped the children naked and beat them for hours after his deeds came to light he too was transferred first of all to Hamburg then to the zonked Blasi and Jesuit High School in South West Germany he underwent therapy and spent his summer vacation in Chile after abusing children at his new school - he was transferred at his own request to the Church of Santa Cruz in arica that was in 1985 in 1991 Wolfgang s applied to leave the priesthood and confessed his crimes to the church he spoke of terrible beating orgies he added that he had more opportunities to commit abuse in chile than ever as for the church his superiors kept everything to themselves they didn't warn anyone in Chile about him the church kept silent about all the crimes for which the statute of limitations had not yet expired Wolfgang s later listed them all himself [Music] Wolfgang as continued to work for the catholic pulping association in chile until he retired in 2009 he also set up a sports club in arica called throttle mundos or globetrotters throttle Munoz is one of the most successful sports clubs in Chile athletes from here have even made it to the Olympics gido Nunez is now the coach at the club he heard about the 2010 scandal surrounding volcanoes in Germany so how does the coach see the club founder today in Romania silly in Germany there were accusations against him but all I can say is the only thing he left it behind here in Eureka was a great sense of gratitude there are many people here who to this day continue to speak about him with affection nothing like that happened that that autumn undisclosed know he didn't do anything like that and we didn't see anything else he worked and that was it my question is if these documents exist in all these accusations weisstein prison porque esta prison but Matias Koch speaks with a woman on the phone who has a very different view allo allo Mateus she met both vodka s and Peter are at throttle mundos they were known as positive or fee and padre pedro she went to stay with Peter are in Hilda's life but is she willing to talk to Matias Koch about it yeah perfect a las seis and was at six o'clock here good that's good very good by evening our contact had changed her mind she didn't want to speak in a public place but rather at home in her own apartment she too has heard nothing from his design she's received no compensation or offer of counseling the boys can you tell us how you got to know the total paid $11 fee I pay the row above him when I was little I went and saw some wonders together with my family because it was linked to the church familia saying your be Sita then Buffy came to visit us and we really trusted him we felt very privileged to be close to a priest to know Sarah we got to know Pedro while he was here on holiday he offered my sister and me the opportunity to come to Germany for learning purposes he felt that we were intelligent somehow and that we could achieve more and have greater opportunities and had you experienced anything with Volpe at that time all of you c'mere a minor illness there was a very disturbing situation with my sister first he lifted up her skirt yes and then he hit her more than once on her and she felt terrible she says she's never been able to wear a skirt again to this day it's simple smacking was something he always did to the boys at the club not the girls that was very rare come on flip [ __ ] look in Luca how come you've never spoken about this in all these years because it's shameful but there was something else she struggled with to inhale this time there were appeals for donations to sister Kadena and Cristo VV Pater are used photos of his young guests from Chile to raise funds for the foundation Aliya Mustafina visa photo it was terrible to see the photos of myself wearing dirty ragged things because it obviously provoked an emotional response causing people to want to help and that's tough for a child United it wasn't the Pedro we knew from Chile where we thought he's helping us out whether that means voluntarily I got pizookie you said that when you first got to know page of ethers something happened that should never have happened or the video helped us all yeah yeah there was something that immediately bothered me see and that was his hugs it severed a source he never saw him he would hug me under the arms and he'd put his hands yeah he'd put his hands on mine me on my breast in me bit has this affected your life see yes yo cuando siento que when I sense that someone is attracted to me sexually I just freeze completely it's like something that's beyond my control Michael healing my body feels unlivable and I seem to go into a state of shock look at me it's really difficult to get psychological help here in Chile it's complicated because it's very expensive to non-real or number eight your name was mentioned in the Hilda Time Report along with a number of others but to this day no one's trying to contact you as part of the investigation yep Alison a unionist aristocracy on someone like somos La Migra Latinos where South Americans what does it matter if it's one child more or less from here yeah when I heard about it I thought of course the others are German children people are more likely to listen to them Z the ones from here are maybe not so important here it's the parents responsibility they're the ones who sent us their little muck okay and then suddenly an earthquake puts an end to our conversation earthquake [Music] matías Koch is not yet finished in Arica he now knows that both his former teachers were responsible for bringing young people from here to Germany but what he doesn't yet know for sure is whether Wolfgang s who is now 73 years old is still living here today and if so what he's doing he goes to the Santa Cruz Church where the former Jesuit priest used to be in charge he wants to meet with his successor and warn him he wants to speak to me alone the two of them talk for three hours Matias Koch tells the priest about his own experience and how both Gong s used to strip him naked and beat him for hours he talks about his other classmates and how the scandal came out in 2010 he speaks about the abuse survivors here in arica - the priest said he had no idea of the scale of the problem he says he'll appeal for others in his parish to come forward with what they know and he gives Matias Koch Wolfgang as his current address it seems to be the case here in a Rica that everyone who heard about the abuse scandal in 2010 really believes it was just slander and that nothing actually happened Vasia boozin mentioned just some bad people in germany who came up with an idea to harm their padre Wolfie and so they just dismissed it but they say he's still here and still in contact with the church members that are involved in the running club good mind the myth Lee Dundee our buddies are love pervy Hong Kong [ __ ] it'sand the Slover although he said to live quite a secluded life leave it as yet toy cats who no longer makes public appearances in a way that he used to when he first showed up the other man funky muttered that's a that's a hear of guitars I thought about going to see him Yannick adductor yes I've thought about it but to be honest I don't want that kind of confrontation the whole thing would take a psychological turn then other people always want that kind of things some kind of reconciliation of whatever but that's not me I don't think that's important we talk far too much about the perpetrators and not enough about the victims meaningful enough in September 2018 the German Bishops Conference published a new study on child abuse in the Catholic Church in Germany it found at least 3,600 children fell victim to abuse between 1946 and 2014 Cardinal Einhard marks apologized to those who suffered abuse English album I feel ashamed when I see how so many just looked the other way who didn't want to accept what was happening and played it down who didn't want to see or hear and I include myself in that we didn't listen enough to the victims all this cannot remain without consequences those who have suffered have a right to justice the Vatican itself has since held its first summit aimed at tackling the global problem of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy but what about the Diocese of Hilda's home auxiliary bishop Heinz good to bomgaarts wasn't willing to speak on camera he wrote to us that despite what he called intensive research by the Vatican Embassy in Chile it had not been possible to make contact with any abuse survivors there but he said the Hilda's Heim cases would be included in an internal church tribunal looking into the case against Pater are the maximum punishment would be dismissal from the priesthood [Music] our time in Chile is coming to an end it's our final evening in Arica Mattia Scott has managed to find the young women named in the hill design report and by talking to their sisters he's identified two more previously unknown victims of Peter our he will now pass on their names to the hill design diocese in the hope that they can receive compensation and professional health it felt like the mission was over but then early the next morning Matias Koch had a change of heart about visiting both young es [Music] I think it 64-66 the red one and then you know this must be it we're looking for a German man his house is back there I don't really need to go there I've seen it now I know where it is and that's enough I just wanted to know where he is and that's okay it's not about him oh good I feel good not relieved exactly about you're lighter than before nice - nice tire after Matthias Koch left we tried to speak to both Gong s ourselves but he didn't answer the door [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 836,944

Keywords: Catholic Church, child abuse, Pope, Christianity, Chile, DW, DW deutsche welle, DW documentary, deutsche welle documentary, DW deutsche welle documentary, documentary 2019, dw 2019, deutsche welle 2019, church, catholic, sex abuse, victims, survivor, Matthias Katsch, crime, Peter R., Wolfgang S., Eva Müller, Bishops’, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Canisius-Kolleg, Squared Table, Canisius College

Id: qae2UTsAKBc

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 02 2019