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Labor court process: Still no verdict in the Buschkow case

Status: 05/04/2023 8:18 p.m

After Jan Hempel’s case of abuse became known, the German Swimming Association dismissed Lutz Buschkow. The court is now dealing with the case.

It was the first hearing at the labor court in Halle/Saale, where the main question was: When did the former national coach Lutz Buschkow know about the allegations of abuse by the well-known water jumper Jan Hempel? The presiding judge Gabriele Firzlaff listened to the different positions for almost three hours, but did not come to a conclusion on Thursday (04.05.2023). A verdict is unlikely to be forthcoming any time soon.

In an emotional monologue, Buschkow presented his view to the court and maintained that he only found out about Hempel’s allegations of abuse through a press inquiry in August 2022. He said the German Swimming Association had him “to jump over the blade in an emergency situation” and issued a “notice on suspicion”. These have led to a “loss of image” on a national and international level. He said he was not guilty of anything in the DSV for more than 32 years. That’s why he wants compensation.

DSV listens to more than 50 people

In the ARD documentary “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming”, Hempel made the allegations of sexual abuse against his coach Werner Langer, who died in 2001, public for the first time. According to Hempel, he was abused almost daily between 1982 and 1996.

In the film, Hempel Buschkow, now 51, accused him of knowing about the allegations of abuse back in 1997 but not having taken any decisive action. According to Hempel, in 1997 he confided in the then national coach Ursula Klinger, who died in 2006. Klinger then informed the association leadership and other management personnel in the association.

The DSV initially suspended Buschkow after the publication of the ARD documentation, then issued an extraordinary termination in mid-October. After a survey of more than 50 people who were employed at the DSV at different times, the board came to the conclusion that Buschkow also knew about it. Buschkow had taken labor law action against the dismissal.

DSV accuses Buschkow of “false information”.

At the end of the 1990s, Buschkow was the national youth coach and sighting at the federal base in Berlin. Shortly after the publication of the ARD documentation, he said in an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” that he had first heard about it through a press inquiry from ARD. Buschkow did not respond to this press inquiry at the time.

The subject of the dispute between the two parties is two meetings that took place in 1997 and 2002. In 1997, Buschkow, as chairman of the DSV works council, is said to have been present at a discussion about Langer’s dismissal. The official reason for dismissal is said to have been his work as a Stasi employee. However, the association has information proving that the allegations of abuse were also discussed. According to Buschkow’s lawyer, there was an affidavit from the then DSV President Rüdiger Tretow, which contradicted this.

As a second reason for Buschkow’s dismissal, the DSV cited a specialist division meeting of the diving department in spring 2002 in Rostock. There, in the presence of Buschkow, a minute’s silence was discussed for Langer, who had committed suicide a few months earlier. In the process, Hempel’s allegations of abuse are said to have been discussed. This was not noted in the minutes of the meeting at the time. By this time at the latest, according to the DSV, Buschkow had become aware of Hempel’s abuse – and consequently made false statements in the “FAZ” interview.

called Bushkov settlement proposal “unmoral offer”

The DSV, represented in Halle by its Vice-President Wolfgang Rupieper and lawyer Dirk Brand, had sought a settlement, which Buschkow rejected as an “immoral offer”. This stipulated that the employment relationship would not end until October 31 of this year. A quality appointment last year had also failed.

Rupieper argued that while Buschkow’s sporting merits were “undisputed”, they could not “conceal misconduct”. “We have to meet the high demands placed on managerial staff in the DSV. This is about clarifying allegations and Lutz Buschkow has not fulfilled this task.”said the Vice-President of the DSV.

Judge Firzlaff, who was striving for an amicable agreement, will announce in the coming weeks how this procedure should proceed. Then it will become clear whether there will be another hearing to which witnesses would then be invited. Both parties had announced that the respective witnesses would confirm their own arguments.

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