The accusations against the German metal band Rammstein are multiplying. After those against the singer of the group, Till Lindemann, two new testimonies implicate the keyboardist, Christian Lorenz, 56 years old. Two women explain in the daily Süddeutsche Zeintug and on NDR radio that they were sexually abused after the musician got them drunk.
The first victim, who spoke under the pseudonym Jasmin Stevens, was 17 at the time. She says that she met the group during a signing session for the book Messer by Till Lindemann in December 2002 in a Berlin bar. She was allegedly invited to Christian Lorenz’s country house in Brandenburg, where she was allegedly sexually assaulted.
“I let him do it, it’s as if I had died out, disconnected from myself, she testifies in the German newspaper. I was so drunk and he [Christian Lorenz] knew it because he was there all the time”. She adds that she did not explicitly say “no” but that she confided in him that she did not want to have sex. The victim specifies that the singer of the group Till Lindemann was also present and would have encouraged him to drink.
This attack would have had serious consequences on the mental health of the young woman, who was forced to undergo therapy for several years. She explained that she sent a written statement to a court and attached to it the pages of her diary at the time relating to this event. The statute of limitations in Germany for the rape of a minor is twenty years, counting from the victim’s 18th birthday.
The second attack allegedly took place following a concert by the group in Gera, Germany in 1996, according to Sybille Herder, the then 22-year-old victim. After the show, she would have been invited to a party in the hotel where the group was staying. According to her, she lost consciousness and woke up naked, lying next to the keyboardist. She confides that she felt a great pain in her stomach “as if it had been torn. I had sex before in my life and I had sex after, she testifies. I have never had this kind of pain before and never since”. Sybille Herder said she was unable to explain the cause of this pain or whether the keyboardist was the cause, having no memory of the evening.
Dozens of testimonies overwhelm the singer of the group Till Lindemann, claiming that he allegedly drugged and sexually abused dozens of women, which Rammstein denies outright. An investigation by the German daily Die Welt revealed that women were selected before the concert, lined up next to each other and filmed. They then attended the concert in the front row. The videos would be used by Till Lindemann to choose which ones he would like to see after the concert. The newspaper adds that according to witnesses, the singer is a “sex addict” who chooses young women “he has never had before” and even leaves the stage to have quick sex.
The German government has asked venues hosting the band – which is touring European stadiums – to step up public safety. German justice has opened an investigation and Universal Music has suspended “the marketing and promotion activities of the group’s recordings until further notice”. Since these accusations, many calls for a boycott have been launched, but the tour continues. The group will move to the Stade de France this Saturday, July 22.
