The council chairwoman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Annette Kurschus, has announced her resignation. The 60-year-old is also resigning from her position as President of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, as she explained to journalists in Bielefeld. This step is not easy for her, she said. It is a serious decision for her personally. She campaigned for both positions with passion and heart and soul – and with “honesty”, which she added, and she didn’t let anyone deny her. She is responding to allegations about the handling of an alleged case of sexual violence in her former church circle.
The Siegen public prosecutor’s office is investigating several suspected cases against a man who, like Kurschus, used to work in the Siegen church district. It’s about the question of what she knew and when. According to the current status of the investigation, it is unclear whether he committed criminally relevant behavior, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office told the German Press Agency. So far there is “no indication that physical violence or a threat to life and limb has occurred against a person.”
The case surrounding the highest representative of the Protestant Church and head of the Westphalian regional church had stirred many people. The EKD Council had met several times in the past few days with and without Kurschus. The Sexual Violence Participation Forum, in which those affected and church representatives sit, had demanded complete clarification.