Artistic Freedom Threatened In Germany
Free Spirits of Germany (continued...)
CARL-W. RÖHRIG:
Carl-W. Röhrig has enjoyed national repute for his fascinating covers on major German magazines including Der Spiegel, Stern and Geo.
Known to his friends as “Pablo,” the Munich-born artist has produced more than 1,200 original works of art. He operates an art firm founded more than fifteen years ago in Hamburg.
Yet the wide acclaim for his work has not protected him from government-instigated discrimination. Not only has he experienced sudden closures of his exhibits, but his bank accounts have been canceled without notice and his customers have been threatened for purchasing his artworks or engaging his firm’s services.
The bias generated by the government-orchestrated campaign against Mr. Röhrig is no more evident than in the reaction of the Hamburg-Mannheimer Insurance Company — a client of Pablo’s for many years — when faced with the threat of a negative press campaign.
It began when a disgruntled employee of Hamburg-Mannheimer, fired for financial misconduct, demanded $600,000 from the company with the threat that he would go to the press and “expose” that his former employers had been “infiltrated” by Scientologists.
Instead of contacting the police at this
blatant extortion attempt, the chairman of the insurance company forthwith conducted his own investigation and located one Scientologist in his employ — a man Mr. Röhrig did not know. The chairman immediately dismissed him from the company.
That was not all. The chairman ordered all representatives of Hamburg-Mannheimer Insurance not to contact Mr. Röhrig. If they protested, they faced dismissal. All pending orders for Mr. Röhrig’s work were duly canceled, and to this day the company has ordered no further work from his firm.
Not surprisingly, these actions did nothing to prevent the expected newspaper article from appearing. In short, mere association as a client and patron of a Scientologist was
considered by the newspaper to justify character assassination of the company, and in
particular of the employees who had dealt directly with Mr. Röhrig.
It is another manifestation of the government sanctioned hate campaign against minority religions in Germany.
Continued...
