Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe abuse remained taboo, discussed only among some of the victims, who felt ostracized by their fellow alumni.<\/p>\n
The most severe abuse took place among primary-school students in the 1960s and \u201970s, mostly boys 9 to 11 living away from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the three areas of school, choir, musical education and boarding school, many people actively took part in the abuse,\u201d Mr. Weber said.<\/p>\n
The inquiry found the abuse was perpetrated by 49 people, most of them priests, who served as teachers and administrators and performed other jobs in the school.<\/p>\n
In the report, dozens of former students described their primary-school years as a \u201cprison,\u201d \u201chell\u201d or \u201cconcentration camp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany described this time as the darkest period of their lives, dominated by violence, fear and helplessness,\u201d Mr. Weber said.<\/p>\n
Survivors expressed relief at the release of the report, but one of them, Udo Kaiser, said it could not restore their stolen childhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been documented,\u201d Mr. Kaiser said in a telephone interview from his home in Munich. \u201cEverything 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019 recollections of him.<\/p>\n
For some, Father Ratzinger 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
When Mr. Weber started his investigation, Father Ratzinger was critical, calling it \u201cinsanity\u201d to try to investigate how many slaps had been \u201cdoled out\u201d in the institution associated with the choir. He did not have any immediate comment on the latest findings.<\/p>\n
The sexual abuse ranged from \u201cleering looks or verbal abuse, to the forced consummation of pornography, unwanted sexual touching to forced sex,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
Along with the physical and sexual abuse, many victims suffered psychological abuse and bullying from classmates who mirrored the hierarchy and from the school\u2019s strict educational style.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere 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,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe children were under pressure, regarding their academic as well as their musical achievements, in addition to fearing punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the report found, this \u201csplit reality\u201d led to misunderstandings and rifts among the alumni, some of whom could not fathom what had happened when the revelations began to emerge.<\/p>\n
The Regensburg diocese has paid 450,000 euros to victims through a fund established after the abuse came to light.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s well-being, said Roland B\u00fcchner, who now directs the choir.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sharply condemn this,\u201d Mr. B\u00fcchner said on Tuesday. \u201cIt must never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Melissa Eddy, July 19, 2017 BERLIN \u2014 For decades, a \u201cculture of silence\u201d pervaded a Catholic music school where the brother of a future pope directed a renowned boys\u2019 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1822,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1821\/revisions\/1822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}