News
Research Project "Reappraisal of the violent Constellation of the 1950s in the Martinstift Protestant School Hostel in Moers" completed
The research project investigated the historical and contemporary reappraisal of a constellation of violence in the 1950s in the Protestant alumni centre 'Martinstift' in Moers. The initiative of those affected by sexualised violence and severe physical abuse by the former director of the home, Johannes Keubler, was decisive for this. The research report will be presented on the 30th of March 2023.
Those affected turned to the (successor) organisations of the Protestant church with the request that the case be dealt with institutionally. As a result, a research project led by Prof. Dr. Friederike Lorenz-Sinai and Prof. Dr. Fabian Kessl (Bergische Universität Wuppertal) was funded, which examined the case from a historical and social science perspective.
A key finding of the study is that the institutional de-thematisation of the case of violence in the 1950s – despite the legal conviction of the perpetrator – meant that the violence was not addressed for many years, both by those affected and by the (successor) organisations. The current employees of the (successor) organisations only became aware of the existence of the Protestant alumni school in Moers with its violent past when the victims reported it. The study thus illustrates once again how important it is to maintain an institutional memory in order to learn constructively and sustainably from the past and counteract future constellations of violence.
The research report will be presented by the researchers on the 30th of March 2023 at a media event in the former Martinstift building in Moers and commented on and classified by those affected by the constellations of violence. The research report will be published on the Bergische Universität Wuppertal's university publication server immediately before the event.
