Various allegations against founder and rector Walter Homolka cause unrest at the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam. An internal investigation confirms this at least in part. Homolka himself cannot see any abuse of power and speaks of a campaign.
A commission from the University of Potsdam sees part of the allegations in connection with the rabbinical school Abraham Geiger Kolleg as confirmed. Allegations of tolerating the behavior of sexualized harassment by a lecturer have not been proven to have been confirmed, the university said when presenting a report.
So far, the accusations against the founder of the college, Walter Homolka, of abuse of power through the accumulation of offices, the creation of problematic study and working conditions and through career interventions have been confirmed. In May, allegations of sexualized harassment by a lecturer at the Geiger College became public in a report by “Welt”. As a result, Homolka, founder and rector of the rabbinical college, resigned from his positions.
As a professor, Homolka is now officially back in the service of the university. “As far as we can see from a first look at the report, there are no consequences under criminal or civil law and therefore no consequences under civil servant law,” said the President of the University, Oliver Günther. The university sees no basis for disciplinary proceedings. After it was clear that there would be no legal consequences for civil servants, Homolka has been back as a professor at the university since October 1st. The leave of absence has ended. In the winter semester, however, he has a research semester.
Homolka himself rejects allegations of abuse of power and sexualized harassment. In an interview with the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”, he speaks of character assassination and a campaign to harm him. He was not a cover-up or a harasser, he said. “But with such serious allegations, even if they are refuted by a study, something sticks. To spread them publicly without evidence was character assassination.”
Homolka told the “Zeit”: “Yes, I was the boss and had power. But the use of power is not already the abuse of power.” Committees have always decided on careers. “Their structures were perhaps not ideal and must now be renewed,” said Homolka. “But I’m surprised that for decades nobody was bothered by the fact that I held many, mostly labour-intensive offices.”
When asked how he explained the accumulation of allegations, Homolka said: “All allegations ultimately go back to one thing: I would have covered up the fact that my partner, who also worked at the college, sent a pornographic clip to a student. It’s true , there was the clip.” But he only found out about it when the student reported the incident to the college and the police, Homolka said. Their investigations were discontinued due to insignificance.
“What my partner did was fundamentally wrong. (…) The fact that he has now lost his job would not have happened to him without me: my person is being scandalized.” Homolka was also Vice Director of the School of Jewish Theology at the University of Potsdam. A commission investigated the allegations in the area of ????this facility. The Central Council of Jews in Germany is having the allegations checked at the same time.
