A Berlin youth centre allegedly failed to report the rape and sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl to authorities because a social services coordinator feared the perpetrators would be marginalised, according to a sworn affidavit submitted to German politicians.
The claims, reported by German outlet Bild, relate to the Wutzkyallee youth centre in the Neukölln district of Berlin. The affidavit, submitted by employees at a neighbouring facility called MaDonna, describes the case of a Turkish-Kurdish schoolgirl who was allegedly raped by one boy and subsequently sexually assaulted by eight others in a secluded area of the centre. The alleged perpetrators are said to have filmed the assaults and used the footage to blackmail the victim. The group also reportedly attempted to lure the victim’s younger sister into meeting them.
According to the affidavit, staff raised the need for a formal report to be filed, but the social services coordinator declined. The document states she said, in essence, that “Muslim boys were already under enough police scrutiny” and that she wanted to avoid creating a general suspicion around them.
The claims have been denied. Left Party youth councillor Sarah Nagel said there had been “absolutely no attempt to cover up the allegations” and that the perpetrators’ background had “played no role whatsoever” in how the incidents were handled.
A separate transcript obtained by Bild from a conversation between centre supervisors stated that “intimacy in the premises of the youth centre is permitted — even between girls and several boys.” Markus Oegel, head of the CDU parliamentary group in Neukölln, described that position as unacceptable, noting that “we’re still talking about minors.” The Berlin Senate Department said it had no official regulations governing relationships in youth centres.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner called for a full investigation, writing on Facebook: “If it turns out that the rape of a 16-year-old was deliberately covered up out of a misguided sense of cultural tolerance or for partisan political reasons, there must be consequences. There is no cultural discount for criminals.”
The youth centre has since been closed. The affidavit has been submitted to both Senate and district politicians, and the matter is now the subject of political and investigative scrutiny.
