suspected of having covered up sexual violence, the leader of the Protestant Church resigns

The president of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany, Annette Kurschus, suspected of having covered up sexual violence, announced her resignation on Monday, November 20. According to the German newspaper Siegener Zeitungshe would have been informed in the 1990s of the accusations of abuse made against a former colleague, but would have taken nothing against him. The suspect in question is now the subject of a police investigation.

Annette Kurschus denied having any knowledge of the attacks during a press conference in Bielefeld (Germany). She justified her resignation by explaining that she wanted to prevent the image of “his Church be tarnished”. “I would have liked, 25 years ago, to have been as attentive, trained and sensitive to the behavioral problems that would alert me today”, she added. She argued she sought to protect the suspect’s family, but found herself under fire “for lack of transparency”.

While the German Catholic Church has been in turmoil for years due to allegations of sexual assault, its Protestant counterpart has so far been relatively spared.