BERLIN — The manager of a prominent Berlin theater has stepped down in the wake of accusations by women of bullying and sexual harassment.
Klaus Doerr announced his resignation from the German capital’s Volksbuehne theater on Tuesday. He said that he takes “complete responsibility for the accusations against me” and was stepping down in agreement with the city government.
“I deeply regret it if I hurt employees with my behavior, with words or glances,” Doerr said in a statement released by the theater.
He added that he regretted not succeeding in “creating an open climate sensitive to discrimination” within the theater that would have recognized problems in time and enabled employees to come forward confidentially with complaints.
The city government’s culture minister, Klaus Lederer, said Monday that employees had “reported incidents of abuse of power, bullying, verbal violence and sexual harassment.”
Officials spoke to the women concerned in late January and were still evaluating a meeting with Doerr held earlier this month, he said.
Doerr, an experienced theater manager, took over at the Volksbuehne in 2018.
Lederer’s department has said that no one came forward with complaints against Doerr before he was appointed. But that changed in January when a letter setting out complaints was sent to a counseling office set up in 2018 for people in the film, television, theater and music sectors.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less