Intolerance & Discrimination Against the Scientology Community in Germany Today

SECTION VIII. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN AND IN SCHOOLS

lder Scientologists who are experiencing religious discrimination in Germany today, recall their childhood of the 1930s, when Nazi propaganda infiltrated the schools with hateful images of Jews. Mrs E., a successful businesswoman and Scientologist for 28 years, recalls with irony a 1942 classroom incident:

“My friends are German,” exclaimed the teacher, Frau Braun, at the top of her voice. With the class of nine-year-olds shrieking back her words, she continued to yell out, “Gypsies and Jews are not German! Gypsies and Jews are not my friends!”

“I saw my usually mild-mannered teacher change drastically before my eyes when she started reciting this Nazi propaganda lesson,” said Mrs. E. “I was not Jewish and I never expected to be the target of such mindless hatred.”

Fifty years later, Mrs. E. and her family left Germany, their birthplace and life-long home, for good. A hate campaign conducted by government officials and the media had destroyed their business, a once flourishing cosmetics and fashion consultancy with more than 650 franchise holders, and lost them their friends, who were now too frightened to associate with them. All because they are members of the Church of Scientology.

The E. family now live in Florida, from where they continue to write and speak about religious discrimination in Germany today.

Schools are a particular target of the government’s propaganda. On October 17, 1995, the Bavarian government under the direction of Minister-President Edmund Stoiber initiated a twelve point plan to “fight” Scientology.

As part of this plan, all Bavarian schools were ordered to inform pupils of all ages about “the goals, strategies and operating procedures” of Scientology and to inform parents about the Scientology “problem.” Headmasters were required to report by September 1996 regarding the measures they had taken to implement this “Enlightenment Program.”

The Minister of Culture made public statements extolling this plan and gave a speech at the Lutheran Academy in Tutzing in which he called upon established Churches to cooperate in dealing with new religious movements as part of the government’s “Enlightenment Program.”

In the April 1996 issue of School Report, the Bavarian Ministry of Culture provided information on Scientology to be used to “enlighten” students, teachers and parents. A review of this magazine evidences that no attempt was made to convey information in an objective and scholarly manner as required in a democratic society. Instead, the information was replete with false and derogatory information on the religion designed to foster prejudice and intolerance against Scientologists. The events which have occurred as part of this official campaign have been chilling.

In Ickstadt, a town in northern Bavaria, teachers instructed their pupils to create a “Scientology exhibition” which included a series of cartoon sketches depicting Scientologists as evil characters, and other hate-inducing “props.” One such cartoon was printed up on a T-shirt for pupils to wear. None of these children had ever had any contact with Scientology or knew anything about it personally. The school boasted about its exhibition of bigotry and has been hawking it around schools in Bavaria.

Other specific instances follow:

1987, Hamburg: Two pupils from Hamburg were thrown out of school because their mother’s religion was Scientology. With the approval of school management, one teacher sent a circular to all parents and pupils inciting them against Scientology.

Discrimination against children and in schools continued...