Religious Apartheid: 1996 – Official Repression of Minority Religious Rights in Germany
cientologists in Germany continue to suffer systematic discrimination simply due to their religious beliefs. Athletes, artists, teachers, musicians, dancers -- indeed, Scientologists in any profession -- know that they risk losing their job, their business or other rights and entitlements if their religious affiliation is known.
Government officials such as the Federal Minister of Labor, Norbert Blüm, and Hamburg Ministry of Interior “Working Group Scientology” Chief, Ursula Caberta, have publicly urged and dictated a Scientology “litmus”test to exclude, isolate and ostracize Scientologists from every facet of society simply because of their personal opinions and beliefs.
In September 1994, the Federal Minister of Labor issued a decree blacklisting all Scientologists from obtaining licenses necessary to operate employment agencies based on unsupported charges falsely labeling Scientology as a “criminal association”.1 This ban was passed according to Blüm as part of a “determined fight” to ban Scientology in Germany.2 In May 1995, Blüm authored an article in Die Woche, a weekly national publication, “warning” the public that Scientology was the biggest and “most dangerous sect” in Germany engaged in “infiltrating the economy” by joining unions and becoming employees of companies. The Federal Minister called on private companies and schools to join his “war” against Scientology and to “use all available means” to “unveil” members of Scientology. He also proclaimed that the federal policy of blacklisting Scientologists from obtaining private employment licenses should be a model of conduct to be emulated by all of society in order to “fight” Scientology.3
On 27 November 1995, Minister of Labor Blüm, in an interview on Scientology with Der Spiegel, called for a ban of all Scientologists from occupations which “intersect with society”, including schools, the government and business companies.4 These were not hollow words, but part of a federal exclusionary policy, as evidenced by the many cases of human rights violations which follow.
In November of 1995, the Berlin Senate sent a form to all contractual partners and subordinate authorities requiring each company that does business with the state of Berlin to declare in writing that they have nothing to do with Scientology or the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.5
In November of 1995, a top executive in a company in Weinheim was dismissed from his position, despite an exemplary record, when it was discovered that he was a Scientologist. The company had adopted a policy requiring the immediate dismissal of any Scientologist. The executive had never proselytized and never made his personal beliefs known within the firm. When his association with Scientology was uncovered, he was summarily dismissed by the Executive Board of the company.
In November of 1995, the Chairman of the CDU in Rhineland-Palatinate called for the exclusion of Scientologists from the German civil service.6 In December of 1995, the Young Union (the youth organization of the CDU) of Baden-Württemberg called for an investigation to ensure that no Scientologists are civil servants.
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