Starting in the 1970s psychology professor Helmut Kentler conducted
his "experiment." Homeless children in West Berlin were intentionally
placed with pedophile men. These men would make especially loving foster
parents, Kentler argued.
A study conducted by the University of
Hildesheim has found that authorities in Berlin condoned this practice
for almost 30 years. The pedophile foster fathers even received a
regular care allowance.
Helmut Kentler (1928-2008) was in a
leading position at Berlin's center for educational research. He was
convinced that sexual contact between adults and children was harmless.
Berlin's child welfare offices and the governing Senate turned a blind eye or even approved of the placements.
Read more: The dark legacy of sexual liberation in Germany
Several
years ago two of the victims came forward and told their story, since
then the researchers at Hildesheim University have plowed through files
and conducted interviews.
What they found was a "network across
educational institutions," the state youth welfare office and the Berlin
Senate, in which pedophilia was "accepted, supported, defended."
Kentler
himself was in regular contact with the children and their foster
fathers. He was never prosecuted: By the time his victims came forward,
the statute of limitations for his actions had expired. This has also
thus far prevented the victims from getting any compensation.
Read more: German council to fight sexual violence against children
The
researchers found that several of the foster fathers were high-profile
academics. They speak of a network that included high-ranking members of
the Max Planck Institute, Berlin's Free University, and
the notorious Odenwald School in Hesse, West Germany, which was at the center of a major pedophilia scandal several years ago. It has since been closed down.
Berlin's senator for youth and children, Sandra Scheeres called the findings "shocking and horrifying."
A
first report on the "Kentler experiment" was published in 2016 by the
University of Göttingen. The researchers then stated that the Berlin
Senate seemed to lack interest in finding out the truth.
Now Berlin authorities have vowed to shed light on the matter.
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Thousands of protesters fed up with authoritarian coronavirus
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