Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an Instrument for Character Assassination

Teufel was not even informed about this account in the OPC report, an omission the media characterized as an “embarrassment.” But the characterization misses the real point. The Teufel story was contrived and invented so that the Baden-Wuerttemberg OPC would not appear to be completely empty-handed when asked for “evidence” against Scientology.

The consequences of ordering the OPC into the role of “thought police” while refusing to dialogue was apparent in the Otto Dreksler scandal – an incident which again displayed the OPC as an eerie institution where the end is made to justify the means. It is an incident which has filled thousands of column inches of press and injured the repute of the Berlin Interior Ministry, at an additional price of millions in manhours and money. Harmed, too, was the reputation of the responsible politicians who would have much preferred to present themselves as pillars of Berlin's squeaky-clean brigade: ex-Senator of the Interior Joerg Schoenbohm, his successor Eckhart Werthebach, and under-secretary Kuno Boese, still at his desk in the Berlin Senate of the Interior.