Emanuel Foundation

All conspiracy theory?

Plea for solid information between two extremes

A joint statement from April 2020 by the Emanuel Foundation (Bonn), Lichtstrahlen Oldenburg eV, Mosaik gegen Gewalt eV, Bielefeld. All three operate the information portal Ritual Violence (www.infoportal-rg.de).

The public discussion on the topic of ritual or organized sexual violence has for some time been taking place in an environment in which

On the one hand, various “world conspiracy” narratives are spreading, which link the exploitation of children by paedophile perpetrators with some kind of “global network” and often combine them with other crude, sometimes even anti-Semitic or right-wing extremist theories or fantasies, whereby the basis of any sober, objective consideration has long since been abandoned.

On the other hand, some individuals and institutions still flatly deny that such serious crimes as those reported by survivors of organized ritual violence occur in Germany, Europe or worldwide. The argument here is often that this is "all just made up by well-connected therapists" - a conspiracy fantasy that is no less absurd.

As is often the case, both untruths contain elements of truth: Of course, it does happen in individual cases that people develop faulty memories under the influence of dubious therapists. At the same time, it is also repeatedly observed that perpetrators in this area of crime are very well connected with each other and also occupy individually relevant social positions.

Anyone who makes blanket statements from this inevitably ends up with blanket repression or exaggeration. According to our years of research and experience, the following is correct:

Neither do all those who identify themselves as victims have to deal with incompetent/malicious therapists (many of them already have memories of traumatic experiences before they begin psychotherapy), nor is there logically a single large “world conspiracy” behind the crimes that are repeatedly described in a very plausible way.

Both extremes do not do justice to reality or to what scientific and empirical/clinical findings now exist on the subject. They simply lead to misinformation and harm those we must protect - namely those children, young people and adults who are actually exploited and abused in a way that is difficult to bear and difficult to explain.

One extreme: world conspiracy

For years we have observed with concern that the topic of ritual violence, sometimes mixed with right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic statements, is being politically instrumentalized and used to create apocalyptic feelings and spread fear. Corresponding websites then often also address chemtrail believers, anti-vaccination activists or Reich citizens or provide prepping tips.

We clearly distance ourselves from this and emphasize that hundreds of victims in Germany have now credibly reported organized sexualized or ritual violence (including in applications to the Sexual Abuse Fund [1], at hearings of the Commission on the Investigation of the Past [2], on the berta telephone or in the context of scientific studies [3]). The crimes associated with this also crop up again and again in the context of criminal proceedings [4], and they have nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with a so-called satanic, Jewish or other kind of "world conspiracy" that "secretly controls the fortunes of our governments and societies". We also distance ourselves from the assumption that there are any "elites" who are supposed to be involved in such acts in a blanket manner, or from "Pizzagate" [5], "QAnon" [6] and similar striking constructs.

We see the danger that such conspiracy theories and political instrumentalization will cause massive harm to those who are truly affected, because they are considered "nutcases" and denied the help they urgently need. Because investigations are suppressed and because the perpetrators' typical threat is thus coming true: "And if you ever talk about it, no one will believe you."

Our request: If you want to help, remain skeptical of such conspiracy theories! You can find a list of reputable sources on the subject on our links page [7].

The other extreme: complete denial

At the same time, we are repeatedly aware of attempts to sweep the issue of ritual violence under the carpet in a very laborious manner. In this regard, we would like to refer to the very well-founded statement of the Council of Victims at the UBSKM [8] and would like to point out the following findings from our work:

We experience a large number of people who contact us because they are in physical, psychological and/or financial distress because they have been and are being sexually exploited by paedophile offenders in an extreme, long-term, organized and/or ritual form.

Similarly, we often experience people who contact us because they are directly supporting people who are affected. These are doctors, legal guardians, lawyers, experts from social welfare offices, sect counseling, therapy, hospitals, churches and politics, but also family members of those affected, neighbors, friends, work colleagues, employers. And there are a lot of them too.

Many of these reports are comprehensible, properly documented and plausible, even if they have not led to criminal prosecution or convictions, for example. The same applies to various cases of threats and blackmail that clinics and therapists who treat survivors in particular are confronted with. Many report such attacks (e.g. threats and stalking of clients even during hospital stays). However, the experiences are usually not sufficient for criminal prosecution or there are good reasons (e.g. client protection or concern for the existence of the clinic) for not going public with them. Our experience: perpetrators know very well how far they can go. We come to this conclusion again and again after such conversations.

We know that there are well-connected paedophile networks that abuse, torture and rape children (recent example: Bergisch-Gladbach).

We know that these networks exchange, offer, exploit and market children and adults [9]. And that there are “customers” who are willing to kill during this torture (see Staufen [10]). This is not a conspiracy, but a terrible, monstrous, real business model.

We know that sexual violence occurs again and again in the context of many religions, sects and ideologies and that some extremely religious people are prepared to kill for their ideology. Court-known cases of this can be found on the Ritual Violence Info Portal (infoportal-rg.de). We cannot judge whether the religion or ideology is the cause or cover for the violence committed. [11]

We know that hardly any of the cases known to the courts were limited to just one country. There are almost always connections abroad. This is not a conspiracy either, but simply a strategy used by perpetrators to trick the police, because international investigations are much more difficult, not least because of different official structures and authorizations. This can often be observed between federal states within Germany (see Lügde, the main perpetrator cleverly exploited the vacuum of jurisdiction between the youth welfare offices in Hameln-Pyrmont and Lippe) [12] .

We know that paedophilia and sexual exploitation in various forms have long been proven even among celebrities (Weinstein [13], Epstein [14], Edathy [15] etc.).

We know of many cases in which the police and the judiciary did not help those affected – on the contrary: those affected themselves and their supporters found themselves suddenly confronted with investigations.

We do not know when the issue of ritual violence will stop being downplayed – and what the interest might be in rejecting better child protection, as experts are calling for, and declaring hundreds of survivors to be inherently untrustworthy.

Similar marginalization has occurred in the recent past on similar topics, such as sexual violence against children in families and institutions and right-wing violence. The same applies to the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, which was initially ignored for a long time and then not recognized as a typical consequence of complex, early childhood trauma. This realization has now prevailed and has been confirmed by entries of the diagnosis in the DSM and ICD and the work of many brain and trauma researchers.

It is devastating for the children and adults affected if no attention is paid.

Here again, our big request applies: If you want to help, be it as a private individual or as a professional, please remain open to what is published from reputable sources (such as the website of the UBSKM [16]) about the situation of those affected!

Conclusion

It seems particularly difficult for a "civilized" society to look into the depths of man-made violence. Neither exaggeration nor denial will help us in the fight against this violence - and above all, both extremes do not help those affected in any way. Remain sober, empathetic and open to solid education and factual information. This is how you - gladly at our side - will help the survivors the most.

Thanks for that!

Sources:

[1] From May 2013 to January 15, 2018 alone, 476 applicants to the Supplementary Assistance System Sexual Abuse Fund indicated “ritual/cult-like abuse” in their applications. This is the information from the recommendations of the expert group “Sexualized violence in ritual and organized violence structures” at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs (page 4): http://ecpat.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Fachkreis_Empfehlungen_2018_web-2.pdf

[2] Figures on ritual violence in the report of the Commission on the Reappraisal of the Past on page 130: https://www.aufarbeitungskommission.de/bilanzbericht_2019/

[3] 165 people took part in a research project at the University Hospital Eppendorf on ritual violence: https://elibrary.klett-cotta.de/article/10.21706/tg-12-3-244

[4] We collect relevant judgments on the website https://www.infoportal-rg.de

[5] Under the term "Pizzagate", a smear campaign against US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was launched during Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/neuer-us-praesident-wie-trumps-team-fake-news-streut-1.3283617 and https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html

[6] Article by the editorial network Germany from 11 April 2020: https://www.rnd.de/politik/qanon-der-aufstieg-einer-gefahrlichen-verschworungstheorie-ORTPE4D5YRFRZKVTMJBTFADJTY.html

[7] Link page of the Emanuel Foundation with reputable sources on ritual violence: http://www.emanuelstiftung.info/links/

[8] Statement by the Victims’ Council on dealing with ritual violence from 3 July 2018: https://beauftragter-missbrauch.de/betroffenenrat/aktuelles/detail/statement-des-betroffenenrates-zum-umgang-mit-ritueller-gewalt

[9] We maintain a list of published investigation successes against Internet networks for the marketing of child abuse on the Ritual Violence Info Portal: https://www.infoportal-rg.de/2020/02/18/news-kinderporno-ringe-gesprengt-eine-chronologie/#more-835

[10] One of the convicted perpetrators from the “Staufen” crime complex had actively searched for a child that he could kill after the abuse: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/prozesse-karlsruhe-urteil-mann-wegen-geplanter-vergewaltigung-in-psychiatrie-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-200108-99-397783

[11] Section “Religious and ideological backgrounds” in the information portal Ritual Violence: https://www.infoportal-rg.de/motive-und-hintergruende/religioeseideologische-hintergruende/

[12] The main perpetrator from Lügde in the district of Lippe/NRW looked after a foster child (girl) whose mother lived in the district of Hameln-Pyrmont in Lower Saxony. The authorities had indications of the perpetrator's paedophilic tendencies, but due to coordination problems and unclear responsibilities, they reacted very late. There are various analyses of this situation, e.g.: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/behoerdenversagen-im-missbrauchsfall-luegde-16370504.html

[13] Verdict against former film producer Harvey Weinstein: https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/harvey-weinstein-urteil-haftstrafe-101.html

[14] One of many reports about the networks of multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, in which underage young women were sexually exploited and in which many celebrities are said to have been involved: https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/weltgeschehen/article136257539/Prinz-Andrews-Kumpel-und-seine-Schwaeche-fuer-Girls.html

[15] Former SPD MP Sebastian Edathy has admitted to downloading photos and videos of naked boys from the Internet. The court case before the Verden Regional Court was subsequently dropped in return for a payment of a fine of 5,000 euros to the Child Protection Association: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/sebastian-edathy-edathy-raeumt-schuld-ein-a-1021263.html

[16] Definition and classification of ritual violence by the Independent Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse in Berlin: https://beauftragter-missbrauch.de/praevention/was-ist-sexueller-missbrauch/organisierte-sexualisierte-und-rituelle-gewalt