Killings and rapes alleged in Vienna foster home case

Oct 18, 2011, 12:30 GMT

Vienna - Allegations of killings surfaced Tuesday in the case of a Vienna foster home which was allegedly ruled by a brutal system of abuse and rapes until it was closed in the 1970s.

In interviews published on the weekend, two sisters that stayed at the Schloss Wilhelminenberg home in the 1970s described a system of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, including serial rapes.

Their lawyer Johannes Oehlboeck said Tuesday that a third woman says she witnessed the death of a fellow foster child while she was at the home between 1948 and 1953 and that she indirectly knows of several other similar deaths.

Although the city of Vienna set up a panel to look into abuse in public welfare institutions already last year, the city government reacted to the new accusations of possible murders by forming a second, specialized commission.

A city spokeswoman said that a case like the one described by the woman was investigated but prosecutors dropped it last year. A prosecution spokesman did not respond to repeated inquiries.

In the wake of the media coverage, other Wilhelminenberg children have come forward, according to Weisser Ring, an organization that has been caring for victims and paying compensation on behalf of the city of Vienna.

'Our phone lines are running hot,' Weisser Ring spokeswoman Erika Bettstein said.

As of Sunday, 26 people said their were abused at this foster home. Six of those claim they were raped by staff members. Four, including the two sisters, say the perpertrators also involved men from outside the home.

In total, more than 400 former foster home children have reported abuses in Vienna institutions since a hot line was installed over a year ago.

The sisters, now aged 49 and 47, have been awarded compensation of 35,000 euros (48,000 dollars) each, Bettstein said.

They described in television and newspaper interviews how educators and other men would come regularly at night and rape many of the girls in their dorm room.

'We always would pray that we would be saved and released, but there was noone,' one of the sisters told broadcaster ORF.

One of the female educators whom the siblings described as brutal strongly denied accusations that she was complicit in the rapes.

'That's nonsense, that's madness,' said the woman who was identified only as Linda in an interview with the daily Kurier.

While Linda's identity is known, several of the alleged rapists remain in the dark.

'I demand in the name of my clients that there is a search for the directly involved perpetrators,' lawyer Oehlboeck said.

He acknowledged that the crimes might have happened too long ago to be prosecuted, but called on judicial authorities to investigate whether some people could still be brought to court.

While some former educators might face questioning, life will go on as usual at Schloss Wilhelminenberg - the white castle is now a luxury hotel and popular wedding spot.