Intolerance & Discrimination Against the Scientology Community in Germany Today

SECTION XI. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NON-SCIENTOLOGISTS

n index of the discrimination against Scientologists in Germany is the number of non-Scientologists who have gone so far as to take out paid advertising to refute claims that they are Scientologists. These individuals consider the expense of the advertising to be less than the cost of having their businesses ruined through being considered a Scientologist.

Specific instances follow:

1991, Hamburg: The first non-Scientologist became a victim of the general hysteria: An art gallery opened in Hamburg in the beginning of 1991 under the name of “ARC Gallery.” Officials assumed by its name the gallery must be owned by a Scientologist, since the term “ARC” is used in Scientology nomenclature as an acronym for Affinity-Reality-Communication, the components of understanding. Thus, this gallery was denied the public funding it had been promised by the City. This instance was published in the art magazine Information Service ART on November 15, 1991 under the headline “Character Assassination in Hamburg.”

April 1991, Ulm: The leader of the Scientology Mission Ulm reported that the landlord of the Mission premises was receiving increasing pressure as he had rented out rooms to Scientologists.

June 1993: The popular and well-known German talk show host, Thomas Gottschalk, was “accused of being a Scientologist” because he had never taken action against the Church or its parishioners. He became the target of a national and extensive media campaign throughout Germany, which endangered his whole career. He subsequently felt compelled to end his friendship with an artist who was a Scientologist and even demanded that his friend leave the Church. Additionally, Gottschalk publicly announced he had nothing to do with the Church and was no longer friendly with the Scientologist he had known.

December 1993: The anti-Scientology campaign reached such a level that the local paper Husumer Nachrichten published an ad by a local business with the headline “Now it’s enough! At no point in time were there, or will there be, any connections whatsoever to the Scientology movement or one of its organizations....” The ad was signed by the managers of the business and the local priest. It concluded that anybody spreading rumors of contacts with Scientology would be subjected to a penal complaint for “slander.”

February 1994: The local paper Fränkische Nachrichten reported rumors that the board of directors of the pharmaceutical trust, Böhringer, were Scientologists. The board of directors had to persuade the workers committee that this was a “smear campaign.” (This statement demonstrates that it is not a matter of who the parishioners of the Church of Scientology are or what they do. In Germany, the “accusation” of being a Scientologist alone can ruin careers.)

October 1994: Ads were run by the company, Herbalife, denying a Scientology affiliation.

November 1994, Hamburg: Mr. B. opened a bank account at Hamburger Sparkasse in Hamburg at the end of 1993. At the start of 1994, he asked for a higher credit limit. As he had a good credit record, the bank manager at first said there would be no problem. A few weeks later, the bank manager told Mr. B. that a higher credit limit would not be possible, as they found out the head of Mr. B’s firm was a Scientologist.

February 1995: Mr. K., a Scientologist, lost customers because of his religious beliefs. A couple had decided to buy a flat from him and then read in a real estate magazine that his partner was a Scientologist, which he was not. The non-Scientologist partner filed a defamation suit. The potential customers, however, decided not to buy the flat from Mr. K.

February 1995: The Rheinischer Merkur reported that Mr. M. signed a franchise contract with Scientologist K. K. and so became a partner of the K. Real Estate company. After a while Mr. M. received letters from people who wrote that they “cancel any business connection to the K. company, because Mr. K. is a Scientologist.” Next Mr. M. canceled his franchise contract with the K. Real Estate company because he “was not told” that Mr. K. is a Scientologist. Had he known, he said, he would not have entered into a business agreement with Mr. K.

March 1995: Mr. Girrbach, head of the Girrbach Dental company and editor of a magazine published by his company, wrote under the headline “A clear declaration — I am not a Scientologist” that a rumor was spread three years ago that he is a Scientologist or his company “infiltrated” by Scientologists. He asks everybody who knows him to contradict this rumor whenever they hear it.

May 1995: The Warsteiner Beer Brewing Company ran a half million dollar ad campaign to refute rumors that their executives belonged to the Church of Scientology.

June 1995, Munich: Following a false rumor that the discotheque Apfelbaum in Munich is owned by Scientologists, the company published an ad in the Heidenheimer Zeitung announcing that they do not have anything to do with Scientology and that no Scientologist is allowed to enter their discotheque.

Next