Intolerance & Discrimination Against the Scientology Community in Germany Today
Censoring Chick Corea: an International Protest
Another artist whose work has been censured by German government officials is internationally acclaimed jazz pianist, Chick Corea.
In May 1993, Mr. Corea was invited to participate in a concert for the World Championship of Athletics in Stuttgart. The concert was to be scheduled for August of that year but was subsequently canceled by the government of Baden-Württemberg because Mr. Corea is a Scientologist. This incident caused international protest and U.S. congressmen, senators, artists such as B.B. King, Friedrich Gulda, Bill Cosby and many others announced their support for Mr. Corea.
Just over a year later, in June 1994, the Chick Corea Quartet visited Germany as part of a European tour to perform musical concerts. Mr. Corea was invited to perform at the Opera House of Kassel, a state theater in Hessia. When this concert was announced and tickets went on sale, the newspaper Hessische Allgemeine informed the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art that Mr. Corea was a Scientologist. In response, the Ministry and other state officials publicly expressed their desire to cancel the concert and criticized the state theater for entering into a contract with an artist associated with Scientology.
The Deputy Chairman of the CDU in Kassel called for an inquiry of state theater officials who signed the contract and publicly demanded cancellation of the concert as “Scientology and other sects must be hindered wherever possible.” The state government also notified the German promoter organizing Mr. Corea’s concert that it had “problems” with Mr. Corea’s performing due to his “membership of the Scientology Church.” Despite the fact that Mr. Corea has never used his performances to promote his religious beliefs, the state pressured the promoter to agree to supplemental clauses to the contract forbidding Mr. Corea from “promoting” Scientology before, during, or directly after his performance in Kassel in any way. The supplemental clauses provided that, if a “violation” of these clauses occurred, the promoter would be liable for a penalty of 50,000 DM for breach of contract and legal steps would be taken.
Mr. Corea’s association with the religion of Scientology was also the subject of a demonstration at his open air concert in Trier in June of 1994, which was organized and carried out by the Young Union of Trier. No permit was issued by the government for this demonstration and a representative of Mr. Corea was advised that the demonstrators could hand out literature at a table next to the entrance, but if the demonstrators impeded the entrance to the concert or displayed banners or placards on poles, the police should be alerted and the demonstrators would be arrested. Yet, over 30 CDU demonstrators obstructed and impeded the entrance to the concert when the audience attempted to enter. The demonstrators also carried placards and displayed banners “warning” the audience that Mr. Corea was a Scientologist and that the admission price would “support Scientology.”
When the Chief of Police was called he did not arrest the demonstrators, who told him they would cease their activities. Within minutes after the police leaving, the demonstrators resumed their illegal acts and the police refused to respond as they were in sympathy with the demonstrators.
To cite another example, Mr. Corea had accepted an invitation to perform at the annual Jazz Week Festival in March 1996 in Burghausen. Prior to Mr. Corea’s performance the “sect expert” for the CSU, Mr. Sackmann, publicly called for a boycott of Mr. Corea’s concert and protested the Bavarian Ministry of Culture’s financial support of the festival due to Mr. Corea’s religious association with Scientology. Mr. Sackmann also demanded that the festival organizer cancel Mr. Corea’s concert. The organizer refused to cancel the concert and the Minister of Culture, Hans Zehetmair, responded that Bavaria does “not need a cultural police.”
Due to the position of the Minister and the organizer, and despite the efforts to cancel the performance, Mr. Corea’s concert went forward successfully without further incident before a full house. Subsequently, State Minister President Edmund Stoiber intervened in support of CDU “sect expert” Mr. Sackmann. As a result Mr. Zehetmair was forced to reverse his position regarding Mr. Corea. In April 1996, the Ministry of Culture issued a statement to the festival organizer blacklisting Mr. Corea from ever again performing at state subsidized events in Bavaria.
In essence, while Germany may claim to be a democratically elected government, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are definitely not alive for minorities in Germany. Scientologists are the most vocal and outspoken about the discrimination, but Scientology is not the only religion targeted. A fact-finding committee composed of members of the British House of Lords and academics visited Germany in September 1996. They reported they were “completely unprepared for the sheer scale of prejudice, discrimination and even persecution” they found after interviewing representatives from 17 minority religions and philosophical groups, as well as government representatives. Some of the groups under attack are small Christian communities with only a few hundred members.
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