Montessori process

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The Montessori trial was a two-year criminal trial in Münster that lasted until 1995 . The 35-year-old educator Rainer M., who worked in two kindergartens in Borken and Coesfeld with a reform pedagogical concept based on Maria Montessori , was accused of having sexually abused 55 children in hundreds of cases. The innocent defendant was only acquitted after it was found that the investigation had been falsified by suggestive questioning of the children.

Course of events

Based on a children's story, which was interpreted by a member of the association, the abuse allegation arose with the significant contribution of Zartbitter Coesfeld eV . In particular, the suggestive questioning of the children and the partisan attitude of the association towards the alleged victims prevented an objective explanation of the events for a long time. The educator was confronted with these allegations for the first time on March 7, 1991 by employees of the Zartbitter Coesfeld eV association founded in 1987 in their counseling center. The psychiatrist Tilman Fürniss came to support the parents. Only in the criminal proceedings did an expert dispute reveal the connection between suggestive questions, general fear of sexual abuse and the accusation of innocent people. The Spiegel court reporter , Gisela Friedrichsen , was accused of complicity in the magazine Emma because she played down sexual violence with her reporting.

On May 16, 1995, the court acquitted the accused after 120 days of hearing, the hearing of 120 witnesses, the hearing of five experts and more than two and a half years of trial. The accused received compensation of 20 D-Marks per day for 26 months in custody. The public prosecutor's office announced a revision immediately after the verdict. However, that did not happen.

The Zartbitter Coesfeld association dissolved in 2008.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Tamara Duve : The witch hunters (inside) ; in: Der Spiegel , special edition 8/1996 from August 1, 1996
  2. ↑ Buried Truth ; in: Focus magazine. Issue 21/1995 from May 22, 1995
  3. ↑ abuse of criminal justice ; in: Der Spiegel , issue 21/1995 of May 22, 1995
  4. ↑ Blind led the blind ; in: Der Spiegel , issue 22/1995 from May 29, 1995