Compensation after abuse
Even 600,000 euros won’t let Jan Hempel sleep peacefully
October 24, 2023, 10:11 a.m
Jan Hempel receives more than half a million euros in compensation and damages from the German Swimming Association. He is relieved. However, he can’t sleep peacefully yet. He hopes that changes in February 2024. He already wants to help other people affected.
Former diver Jan Hempel described the end of the dispute with the German Swimming Association over compensation for years of sexual abuse as a “milestone” that will be followed by “more”. “There were a lot of ups and downs. It was very difficult, but we are now relieved that there is a bit more calm,” said the 52-year-old on Tuesday in the ARD morning magazine.
At the same time, Hempel announced that he wanted to stand up for other victims and called for the statute of limitations in cases of sexual abuse to be abolished: “This deadline must be put to the test.”
On Monday, Hempel’s lawyer Thomas Summerer and his manager Oliver Hillebrecht as well as the German Swimming Association (DSV) informed about the agreement after lengthy negotiations. The DSV is paying the 1996 Olympic silver medalist compensation and damages totaling 600,000 euros. The settlement guarantees Hempel a fixed payment of 300,000 euros and a payment of a further 300,000 euros in monthly installments over ten years. The amount of this compensation payment is unusual in Germany.
It continues in February 2024
Hempel’s case sparked a broad discussion about abuse and violence in German sport and how to deal with it. In August 2022, Hempel made the allegations of sexual abuse against his long-time coach Werner Langer, who died in 2001, public for the first time in an ARD documentary entitled “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming.” Accordingly, Langer is said to have attacked the Olympic silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996 from 1982 to 1996. In the film, Hempel accused the DSV of knowing about the allegations in 1997 but not doing anything decisive.
Hempel also made allegations against the former national diving coach Lutz Buschkow that he had already found out about his years of abuse at the end of the 1990s, but that he had also done nothing significant about it. Buschkow denies this. The DSV nevertheless terminated him without notice in mid-October 2022, and Buschkow sued. The hearing will continue at the Halle/Saale Labor Court in February 2024.
“When this negotiation is concluded, another stone in my life will have been removed. I hope that this will be over at some point. Then I will be able to sleep more peacefully again,” said Hempel.