Recommendations of the Editorial team
They are “a couple like Kissinger and Schmidt, to put it modestly,” Christian Ulmen once said of Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre and described him as one of his best friends. This best friend has now broken off the friendship. The trigger was Collien Fernandes’ publicized criminal complaint against her ex-husband Ulmen.
According to “Spiegel”, Collien Fernandes has filed a criminal complaint against her ex-partner Christian Ulmen. There are allegations that go far beyond private conflicts and could reach criminal law dimensions.
The presenter describes the events as a massive invasion of her personality and speaks of “virtual rape”. According to the report, she supports her account with extensive evidence, including affidavits and digital traces.
Von Stuckrad-Barre ends his friendship with Christian Ulmen
For Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, as he writes on Instagram, his friendship with Christian Ulmen has become unbearable. “The allegations that Collien Fernandes is making against her former husband Christian Ulmen are simply terrible,” writes the 51-year-old, who also works as an author for ROLLING STONE. “Christian and I have known each other for almost 30 years, a close friendship, even if we haven’t spoken or seen each other for years. Nevertheless, I think, no, I thought, that I knew him quite well.”
And further: “When I read Collien’s descriptions, and they appeared to me to be well documented there and elsewhere, it was an immense shock on several levels. Digital sexualized violence is violence. And with violence, everything, really everything, ends. I couldn’t at all reconcile the degrading behavior that he was accused of with my friend Christian, but I have to do it now, that’s the situation. Collien has, without any ifs or buts, become the victim of horrific digital violence, and that apparently also at the hands of Christian. My sympathy, my solidarity you alone.”
Appeal to men: “We must not protect perpetrators”
Von Stuckrad-Barre also appeals to men: “And we men have the task of becoming much more attentive to violence and violent behavior, we have to prevent that, we must not protect perpetrators. Otherwise we will never get any further in this matter. The deep sadness that all of this triggers in you, the helplessness, it’s all very appropriate. I don’t know how things will continue now, of course I have no good advice or anything like that. But what doesn’t work and what has to stop is at least clear.”
He ends with a request for leniency and a clear distancing from Ulmen: “If all of this still sounds a bit disorganized, I ask you to look into it. I can’t put it any better at the moment. But I wanted to at least start with it now, publicly, especially because Christian was my friend, until last Thursday.”
Prominent support for von Stuckrad-Barre’s posting
Von Stuckrad-Barre receives nothing but encouragement in his posting. Jan Delay, Ines Anioli, Anna Maria bother, Bonnie Strange and many more see his words as a step in the right direction – as a call to men to take action against digital abuse against women.
