It is very likely that hideous scenes once took place in the village of Baiern, south-east of Munich. Anyone who sees the evidence must assume that children and young people have been sexually abused there by individual home workers for years, or rather decades. There are people who credibly remember being raped. For them, the news must sound outrageous that the investigation into the Piusheim case has now been discontinued.
A little over two years after the police investigation began in spring 2020, prosecutors have dropped the case. Two years of research with no results for people who have suffered from trauma since childhood. In view of the experiences of those affected, this feels wrong.
But the case shows one thing above all: Research into suspected abuse from a long time ago – such as those in the former Piusheim facility for children with disabilities in the Ebersberg district – is extremely difficult. This is especially true for those affected, who are supposed to remember experiences that they would like to erase from memory. The memory is often still there, but for understandable reasons, most people find it very difficult to talk about it with officials or journalists.
And yet there are those affected who speak out. Franz Mayer, who actually has a different name, contacted the SZ after the first public reports. It seemed liberating for him to share the memories. They haven’t been wiped out, but Mayer explained that he no longer has to carry them around alone.
At least his memories helped the police to question him. He brought up other homes where similarly serious crimes are said to have occurred. Apparently, however, he did not advance the investigations into the former boys’ home in Bavaria. That too might have reasons. Like many people affected by sexual violence, he can remember the crimes in detail, but not the perpetrators, their faces and names. He deliberately suppressed them, also and above all for self-protection.
The case shows what will be important in comparable investigations, whether in Piusheim or elsewhere: that as many victims as possible come forward to help find the perpetrators.