Intolerance & Discrimination Against the Scientology Community in Germany Today
1991, Altbach: A Scientologist in the town of Altbach wanted to build an office. Permission was granted only after he gave written confirmation that the building would not be used for the Church of Scientology, even though he had never intended to rent spaces to the Church.
1991: A reporter from Bild Zeitung offered a Scientologist 1.000 DM to publicly disassociate himself from the Church of Scientology and report “negative experiences” disclosing how the member had been “forced.” The reporter also wanted to put statements like “I am a drug addict” into his mouth. The Scientologist rejected the offer.
1991: Mr. and Mrs. E., owners of a highly successful business, reported that contracts were canceled because they are members of the Church of Scientology. Mrs. E. wrote a letter to a Cardinal Meissner and asked for support. An employee of the Cardinal answered that the teachings, the concept of man and the practice of Scientology are incompatible with the Catholic Church.
As a result, this family experienced a major hate campaign which destroyed their livelihoods. In the end, they emigrated and now live in the United States.
1991, Ratingen: Mrs. S., a member of the Church of Scientology, applied for an information stall with the local government of Ratingen, part of Northrhine-Westfalia, to inform the public about drug misuse with children. This application was rejected because she is a Scientologist.
March 1991, Hanover: A Scientologist reported that a member of his church was prohibited from selling Dianetics books on the exhibition grounds in Hanover.
March 1991, Freudenstadt: A hotel in Freudenstadt canceled a conference hall reservation because it had been booked by Scientologists.
March 1991: The owner of a real estate broker’s business informed the company in writing that he refused any further business contact with the company, whose owner was a Scientologist.
April 1991: In a circular, a German property advisor company cautioned all their branches that activities on behalf of the Church of Scientology would lead to immediate dissolution of their business contracts.
April 1991: A Scientologist reported that her local bank had canceled her credit standing because of a campaign of defamation against her in the press.
April 1991: The company A. had to change their bank account from the Sparkasse bank to another, only because they were connected to Scientology.
April 1991, Ratingen: In Ratingen, part of Northrhine-Westfalia, a Scientologist was denied an information stand for an anti-drug campaign because he is a Scientologist.
April 1991, Hamburg: Scientologist Mr. G. was a member in a management association, which held monthly meetings in Hamburg, which he attended. The federal and regional associations decided to exclude Mr. G. because he is a Scientologist. He was also excluded from Mensa in Germany.
April 1991: Graduate engineer Mr. G., who intended to hold lectures about Dianetics and Scientology in the larger hotels, reported that previously arranged contracts for the rent of rooms had been canceled on short notice. This was because the rooms were to be used for providing information about Scientology.
April 1991, Northrhine-Westfalia: The City Council of a small town in Northrhine-Westfalia, called Iserlohn-Letmathe, adopted an anti-Scientology resolution after learning that some residents of the town were Scientologists. As a result of this discrimination, a family of Scientologists faced major problems even though they had lived in the town for 50 years and were highly regarded. The family became social outcasts and neighbours forbade their children to play with the Scientologists’ children. The City Council of Iserlohn canceled ongoing negotiations for the purchase of a piece of land owned by the family.
May 1991, Bienenbüttel: Children were kept away from a riding school owned by Mrs. S., a Scientologist from Bienenbüttel near Lüneburg. Their parents had been stirred up by Lutheran “sect-expert” Mr. Knackstedt who held an “information lecture” denouncing her because of her religion.
September 1991: An order from New Era Publications, which publishes exclusively books by L. Ron Hubbard, was refused because of their affiliation with Scientology.
Boycotts and social ostracism continued...