Police Launch Satanist Probe in Germany

January 15, 2003

TRIER - A television documentary about Satanism in Germany has spawned a police investigation into broadcast claims of occultists drinking the blood of innocent victims during bizarre sexual rites.

Prosecutors in Trier said Wednesday they were following up leads into "numerous illicit sex-related activities with an occult background".

"A 34-year-old woman filed a complaint which includes allegations of potentially serious violence," said Chief Prosecutor Georg Jƒngling. He declined to go into details pending further investigation.

The investigation comes amid headline-making revelations in a ZDF TV network documentary on Satanism in Germany. The documentary was aired on digital Pay-TV earlier this week and was scheduled for national broadcast on ZDF Wednesday evening.

The documentary interviews self-proclaimed satanists as well as youthful members of the Goth music scene.

While some of the interviewees willingly appeared on camera and gave their names, others were filmed in shadows and their voices were disguised to protect their identities.

In the broadcast, a 36-year-old woman from Trier identified only as Steffi claims her parents were satanists who exposed her as a child to chilling rites in which blood-letting and group sexual activities were carried out with children's participation.

Some of the alleged practices were focused on the Trier area on the French border, but the documentary filmmakers denied tabloid press allegations of "an organised network of flesh-eating satanists" based in Trier.

"This is not an organised network but rather scattered groups across Germany, although admittedly some of them bear striking resemblances to each other," said filmmaker Rainer Fromm.

Fromm, who said he put two years of "very serious research" into the documentary, added, "You can dismiss all these people as just a bunch of loonies."

He said he had uncovered nearly 20 incidents of ritualised criminal activities ranging from murder to dismemberment and from blood-drinking to "snuff" videos in which victims are ritually killed on camera.

Complicating the legal circumstances, he added, is the fact that many of the incidents date back 15 years and were committed outside Germany.

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