Religious Apartheid: 1996 – Official Repression of Minority Religious Rights in Germany
In March 1995, the State Labor Office of Rhineland-Palatinate notified Claudia Engel that, based on the Federal Minister’s Order blacklisting all Scientologists from obtaining employment licenses, it would revoke her license to provide au pair employment solely due to her association with Scientology. The State Labor Office demanded that Mrs. Engel acknowledge her affiliation with Scientology or execute a declaration swearing that she had never participated in Scientology and that she disapproved of its teachings.7 Mrs. Engel’s license was revoked simply because of her association and beliefs. In December 1995, the State Social Court of Mainz determined that the government’s action in revoking Mrs. Engel’s license was illegal and inappropriate. The Court noted that no credible evidence existed to support the government’s bald allegations that Scientology was a “criminal organization” or its claim that Scientologists are “unreliable.”
Unfortunately, as with other decisions which have struck down illegal executive conduct targeting Scientology, this decision has been criticized and ignored by many German officials.
Mrs. Engel’s case is not unique but instead has served as a model for similar discrimination in the private sector. At the urging of government officials, businesses and other organizations continue to routinely require employees or members to swear that they are not affiliated with Scientology or that they have renounced their ideology in order to gain or maintain employment, execute contracts, conduct business, maintain membership in a political party, social, trade or business association, open bank accounts, or obtain bank loans.
In January 1995, a teacher, Hubert Schwarz, received notice from the Karlsruhe Superior School Office that the school had information that Mr. Schwarz was associated with the Scientology religion and that any support of Scientology was contrary to Mr. Schwarz’s duties and the qualifications for teachers at the School.8 In August 1995, a mathematics teacher, Mrs. Hardt-Enzenberger, was removed from her teaching duties at the primary school in Hemmingen solely because of her association with Scientology.9
In January of 1995, Welt am Sonntag reported that the General Secretary of the CDU in Berlin was denied an appointment in the Berlin Senate because of his association with Scientology 20 years earlier.10 In March 1995, the appointment of Dieter Klee, a Scientologist who had served one term of office as an Honorary Judge of the Industrial Tribunal Ludwigshafen, was not renewed for a second term due to Mr. Klee’s association with Scientology.11
In January 1995, Jochen Töpfer, a Scientologist, received notice from a carnival association, Der Närrische Rat, stating that he must execute a declaration swearing that he was no longer associated with Scientology in order to maintain his membership in the association. The notice stated that this demand was due to pressure placed on the association from third parties and was necessary for the preservation of the association.12
In February and May 1995, articles appeared in the Dachauer Nachrichten that one of the individuals interested in joining a new community association, “Association Adventure Playground Schwabhausen,” was Dr. Wolfgang Keller, a Scientologist. Officials connected with this association immediately demanded that Dr. Keller be barred from this association due to his association with Scientology.13 In April 1995, the Düsseldorf Trade Corporation placed someone for employment with a business operated by Monika Nonnen. A few weeks later, a spokesperson for the Trade Corporation informed Mrs. Nonnen that it was canceling its agreement with Mrs. Nonnen because she was a Scientologist.14
In April 1995, Mr. Jens Bolwin was denied a credit disposition increase from the Vereins- und West Bank Hamburg solely because of the bank’s policy not to provide credit to Scientologists.15 In May 1995, banks such as the Hamburger Sparkasse, German Hypothekenbank and the Commerzbank informed the press that they would not do business with Scientologists.16
In May of 1995, the American corporation, Executive Software, learned from an article in Die Woche that government officials were “warning” prospective and current customers not to do business with Executive Software because its Chief Executive Officer, Craig Jensen, is a Scientologist.17 In May of 1995, a board member of the trade association Mechernich, Albrecht Arenz, was identified in a newspaper article in the Kölner Stadtanzeiger as suspected of being a Scientologist. Although Mr. Arenz is not a Scientologist, the association demanded that he execute declarations and swear that he was not a Scientology parishioner. The city refused to provide a guaranty to the association due to rumors that Mr. Arenz was a Scientologist.18