On Tuesday, Romanian investigators searched the German youth welfare project "Maramures" in the northern Romanian Oberwischau (Viseu de Sus), the allegations are serious: young people should have been exploited for years and abused.
The alleged acts happened according to the investigators between 2014 and August 2019. A resident Oberwischaus had reported to the SPIEGEL, the "catastrophic conditions" had been known in the village for many years.
As it turns out, German authorities have long been accused of "Maramures". According to information of the SPIEGEL employees of the youth welfare office of the district Celle came in the year 2009 first doubts on the mode of operation of the project.
At that time, employees of the youth welfare office had housed a girl in the aid facility in Romania. But shortly thereafter, there were first indications of an "unprofessional treatment of children," as a spokesman for the district Celle confirmed. After a visit by an employee of the Romanian office, the doubts continued to grow, even if the girl had not given any information on abuses at the time.
In the same year, a German woman came to the youth welfare office in Celle. She had been hiking as a tourist in the Maramures region in June 2009. When she wanted to ask for directions on a farm, she met the girl. Her head was shaved, the girl had looked very unsettled, the woman tells today.
The woman, herself a social worker, informed the Youth Welfare Office in Celle about the meeting on her return. The youth welfare office took own data according to it then the girl from the establishment. In addition, the authority had terminated the cooperation with the project "Maramures" and with the Lower Saxony youth welfare service, which had arranged the contact to the project in Romania.
According to the spokesman of the district, the state youth welfare office was also activated at that time. In addition, there had been a briefing in the state parliament, the experiences of the youth welfare office were however "not unanimously shared".
The Romanian public prosecutor's office has arrested five people on charges, including the German head of the Maramures facility, which is considered the prime suspect. Among other things, he is accused of deprivation of liberty and human trafficking, said his lawyer Ioan Sas AFP. In addition, the prosecutor accused the project management of embezzling money. A Rumanian coworker of the project had denied on request of the SPIEGEL all reproaches.
