Catholic Church: Archdiocese of Freiburg deep swamp of abuse

A report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Freiburg has been postponed by six months due to legal concerns. Many victims criticize that. After research by Report Mainz the diocese is deeper in the swamp of abuse than previously known.

He cried when he was awarded honorary citizenship in 1991. Franz B. was a pastor in Oberharmersbach in Baden-Württemberg for 24 years. But during this time he sexually abused many children and young people. Former acolytes like Raphael Hildebrandt (51) and Robert Maier (55) are still angry about this recognition today. Both victims have still not processed the consequences of the attacks. With the publication of the Freiburg abuse report, they actually wanted to end the dark side of their past.

But that hope was taken away from them for the time being by the postponement of the abuse report. The Freiburg Vicar General Christoph Neubrand explains the delay at the request of Report Mainz With legal reasons: “It is important for us that the report comes to light in full, that the systemic components that were probably there in the background, that everything is named precisely, that those responsible are named, responsibilities are named. And there time must simply be of secondary importance in this case.”

In an interview with Report Mainz Hildebrandt said: One has the feeling that the archdiocese is fighting “every minute, every hour, every day” so that the abuse scandal does not come to light. Robert Maier is surprised that the work on the abuse report has been going on for several years. He doesn’t know “what else needs to be clarified in order to publish it”.

New revelations from Report Mainz on the abuse scandal in Oberharmersbach now give a very comprehensive picture of how it was covered up there. That ARD-Politikmagazin also spoke to victims and priests who answered questions from the working group for the abuse report during months of research.

“This man destroyed lives”

In 1995 Pastor Franz B. took his own life. That was shortly after Hildebrandt reported him to the police for sexual abuse. “This man destroyed lives, he destroyed families, he destroyed children and has done so to this day. And I’m still glad to this day that I went down this path,” says Hildebrandt. With his suicide, Franz B. decided that all of this would remain hidden and that he might also be covering up other accomplices.”

There were accomplices. For example Robert Zollitsch, former chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, at that time HR officer of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. As early as 1992 he knew about the sexual assaults of Franz B. Shortly after his suicide he wanted to close the case quickly and quietly. This is confirmed by a letter from Zollitsch, who Report Mainz is: “In our opinion, it is now a matter of limiting the damage as much as possible (…) Pastor B. is dead and no longer has the opportunity to take a stand or to defend himself. He should be left alone.”

That’s how it happened. The public prosecutor stopped their investigations against Franz B. The community was not informed of the sexual abuse. So Hildebrandt became a victim again. He also told the working group that created the Freiburg abuse report. Many in Oberharmersbach see him as a murderer because he reported the pastor: “I testified to the commission that I had opposition and that I was also told that I had killed the pastor.” He was no longer served in some shops that were on the pastor’s side.

Priest colleague speaks of cover-up

Pastor Alfred Haas, who has since retired, was also interviewed for the abuse report. Haas comes from Oberharmersbach and was a colleague of Franz B. As early as 1991, in a private conversation, Franz B. indicated that altar boys were being abused. That was four years before the criminal complaint that Raphael Hildebrandt filed.

“I was very affected. And my first reaction was to clean the record as soon as possible, or to change the location so that nothing happens here anymore. That was naive on my part,” said Haas exclusively in an interview Report Mainz. When asked if he wanted to cover up, he said: “Basically covering up too, on my part. I didn’t want a scandal.” A few months later he realized that he had made a big mistake. Because his nephew was also a victim of abuse by Franz B.

Haas then personally informed the HR officer at the time, Zollitsch, in early 1992. Zollitsch then asked him and the victim for a personal interview. At the time, Haas accused him of not having investigated the allegations intensively enough. “They wanted to protect the image,” he said in an interview twelve years ago when Report Mainz already reported about it.

Sent to a nursing home with strict conditions

Pastor Franz B. retired in 1991 and went to a nursing home in Titisee-Neustadt as a “house clergyman”, allegedly for health reasons. But with strict conditions. “Right from the start, we made it a requirement for retired pastor B. to avoid any contact with former parishioners, but under no circumstances to welcome or even invite children or young people. From what we can determine, there never were Children or adolescents of this age alone with him without the accompaniment of adults,” wrote Zollitisch in 1995.

He was strictly forbidden to have contact with altar boys. But he didn’t stick to that, says abuse victim Maier. He himself drove his younger brother to Franz B. in the nursing home and “picked him up again after two or three hours”. So his younger brother was alone with the abuse pastor. In doing so, Franz B. would have violated Robert Zollitsch’s conditions.

According to Pastor Haas, there was at least one other victim who abused Franz B. in the nursing home: the father of a boy confided in him on a walk. He took his son to Neustadt, where Franz B. did many things with him. He also learned that the boy had been abused. Pastor Haar explained in an interview with Report Mainz: The father did not know that Franz B. is a pedophile. Franz B. was known as a “caring pastor”. “That’s why he didn’t think anything of it.”

Church officials apologize

The long silence of the Catholic Church and the further postponement of the abuse report burden victims and relatives to this day. This is one of the reasons why Pastor Haas in Oberharmersbach apologized: “I said it was stupid and simple-minded of me, because I wanted to prevent the scandal in the community, in our beautiful parish, and I wasn’t aware that I would then also cover up and not help the victims.”

The main person responsible, Robert Zollitsch, wants to go with him Report Mainz don’t talk about it. At the beginning of October, however, he apologized to the victims in a video statement – ​​without being specific. “I made serious mistakes with my behavior and actions, documentation and decisions at the time and misjudged the dangers – including renewed abuse. I regret that with all my heart. I’m sincerely sorry.”

A first step. The full extent of the abuse can probably only be shown when the Freiburg report is published, probably at the end of April 2023. Victim Hildebrandt says that this is playing for time, because “over time some victims will no longer be alive”. If Zollitsch dies, there will be one less person who knows what happened, Maier adds.

You can see a TV report on this and other topics in the Mainz report at 9:45 p.m. on the first.