(Reuters) - Germany's Roman Catholic Church will open its files to independent investigators into a sexual abuse crisis, allowing a search as far back as 1945, a bishop announced on Wednesday.
Nine German dioceses will open records dating back to the end of World War Two while the 18 others will do so for the period 2000 to 2010, Bishop Stephan Ackermann said in Bonn.
"We want to track down the truth that may be lying undiscovered in the files of previous decades," said Ackermann, the spokesman on abuse issues for the bishops' conference.
The two studies will provide "not only formal statistics, but also research into the causes (of abuse)," he told journalists, "so we can better understand how this monstrous sexual abuse by clerics and church employees came about."
The German Church, one of the worst affected in a wave of abuse revelations that swept Europe last year, will use the studies to help hitherto undiscovered victims and improve prevention of future abuse, Ackermann said.
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