Sent to South America - DW - 02/07/2025

Published 3 months ago• 2 minute read

After two teenagers accused Catholic priest Dieter Scholz of abuse in 1963, he disappeared overseas.

Sent to South America - Did the Catholic Church in Germany hide abusers abroad? — Image: BR

He went to work in Bolivia as a missionary with the approval of his archdiocese. After his return to Germany, he went on to abuse many others. Even though church authorities were aware of the accusations against him, he was allowed to continue in his post.

Priest Josef Zottmann was also able to vanish abroad. In his case, he was trying to escape a warrant for his arrest. Five school girls had reported him to the police for sexual abuse in 1969. The diocese of Eichstätt continued to finance Zottmann abroad by concealing it as a "mission donation.” High-ranking church officials in Germany and Brazil were informed about the police investigation, but they did not cooperate with the authorities. Zottmann returned to Germany in the 1980s after the crimes reached their statute of limitations.

Lawyer Bettina Janssen has also come across other cases that match this profile. The Catholic Church, including the German Bishops’ Conference, has commissioned her to look through their files. She concluded that: "People found diverse ways of keeping priests under cover and concealing their ties to a diocese, of sweeping incidents under the rug, and of providing financial support.” Janssen regards such practices as "a form of obstruction of justice”. No consideration at all was given to the victims.

So did the Catholic Church consciously hide perpetrators of abuse abroad? A documentary team went looking for answers in Germany and South America.

DW English

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