Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an Instrument for Character Assassination
WHY THIS BOOKLET?
The controversial decision by the Ministers of Interior Conference in June 1997 to place the Church of Scientology under surveillance was highly publicized. A survey by Opinion Research Corporation International less than six months later found that 50% of adult Germans knew of the measure. But the survey also found that sixty-one percent considered they were not really informed enough to adjudicate whether the government's actions concerning Scientology are correct – a mere 5% claimed to be very informed on this subject. And 77% did not know that investigations into Scientology by state prosecutors in Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Hamburg over a 15 year period have found no evidence of wrongdoing.
What was even more striking - less than 5% had any first-hand information about Scientology and nearly 98% had received most of the information they do have from the media.
That half the adult German population – probably a majority by now – know of the surveillance measure while more than three quarters are unaware that no wrongdoing has ever been found is significant. Although the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not a law enforcement agency and has no authority to indict anyone of a crime, it certainly has the power to insinuate that in the eyes of the state, he is somehow guilty of one. Being placed under surveillance surrounds a person with an aura of guilt. People have lost their friends and their jobs, been ostracized in their communities and seen their children isolated and abused at school. Banks often refuse to open accounts for individuals and organizations under surveillance. The longer the surveillance continues, the deeper the stigma goes.