Breaches of boundaries: City of Leipzig launches an inquiry into experiences of violence within the St Thomas Choir

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The City of Leipzig, as the governing body of the St Thomas Choir, has launched a academic research project in collaboration with an independent team of experts to examine experiences of injustice within the St Thomas Choir since 1945, the Department of Culture and the Department of Youth, Schools and Democracy in a joint press release. The aim is to bring to light experiences of boundary violations relating to physical, psychological or sexual violence, to acknowledge the suffering of those affected, and to examine the events and structures from an academic perspective. To this end, the project delves deep into history.

To this end, an online eyewitness portal has been set up at the University of Leipzig, where former members of the St Thomas Choir can recount their experiences and answer questions about their time in the choir.

“With this study, the St Thomas Choir and the City of Leipzig, as its sponsoring body, are taking responsibility for examining this part of its history as well. The aim is to gain as comprehensive a picture as possible of the suffering and injustices experienced by former St Thomas’s boys during their time in the choir and at the former boarding school,” says Dr Skadi Jennicke, Councillor for Culture.

For generations of former St Thomas’s choristers, their time in the choir is associated with formative memories of music, education, friendships and community. Over the decades, the institution has undergone outstanding artistic development and gained international renown. Yet it is also recognised that not all experiences were positive.

With this study, the St Thomas Choir and the City of Leipzig, as its sponsoring body, are taking responsibility for examining this aspect of its history as well. The aim is to gain as comprehensive a picture as possible of the suffering and injustices experienced by former St Thomas Choir members during their time in the choir and at the former boarding school.

Structures and child protection

The study will also examine the institutional, educational and social conditions under which breaches of boundaries were possible, and which structures facilitated such abuse. It will also look at how such experiences and reports were handled within the structures of the time.

The study focuses on those affected and their experiences. They are to be given the opportunity to describe what they went through in a safe environment. Their perspectives form an essential basis for bringing what happened to light, understanding the context and examining the institutional conditions.

This will also serve to benchmark and further improve the structures currently in place in the choir’s day-to-day life – namely the Thomaner’s practices of prevention, vigilance and mindfulness in their interactions with one another and with teaching staff – as well as the choir’s protection policy.

“The process of coming to terms with the history of the St Thomas Choir shows how important it is to draw lessons from past experiences for the present and the future. Child protection means taking responsibility, looking closely at the situation and creating structures that prevent boundary violations. An effective child protection policy is essential for this and must be put into practice in everyday life and continuously developed,” emphasises Vicki Felthaus, the city’s education councillor.

The academic study is being led by Prof. Dr Heide Glaesmer, a psychologist and psychological psychotherapist at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leipzig. The research team includes the musicologist and educator Andreas Lueken and the psychologist Doreen Hoffmann.

The research project is based at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leipzig, in the Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, and is supported by a review commission. This commission comprises former members of the St Thomas Choir, a representative from the Leipzig Youth Welfare Office, a representative from the Leipzig City Council, a legal adviser from the Leipzig Legal Department, and members of the research project team.

The study is funded by the City of Leipzig and the St Thomas Choir Foundation. The scientific independence of the study and the confidentiality of the former St Thomas Choir members and all other eyewitnesses taking part form the essential foundations of the project.

Detailed information on the study and links to the eyewitness portal can be found at www.leipzig.de/studie-thomanerchor.