GERMANY
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — A report says that at least 547 members of a prestigious Catholic boys’ choir in Germany were physically or sexually abused between 1945 and the early 1990s.

Allegations involving the Domspatzen choir in Regensburg were among a spate of revelations of abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in Germany that emerged in 2010.

News agency dpa reported that Ulrich Weber, a lawyer tasked with investigating the abuse, said Tuesday there was violence against children in the choir’s pre-school and high school.

He said many victims described their time at its boarding school as “the worst time of their lives, marked by fear, violence and helplessness.”