New book by German Scientology's favorite critic
Berlin, Germany
August 10, 2002
As reported by Südwestpresse[editor comment. Before you agree with Renate Hartwig entirely, you may want to read to the end of the article, or possibly do some further research. Renate is a female name in German pronounced re-nau-teh.]
For eleven years Renate Hartwig was regarded as the most competent Scientology expert there was, who not only warned people about Scientology, but could prove what she said. [editor's comment: maybe that was when she was not engaged in legal battles against critics.] All that was over yesterday as she presented her new book in Berlin, "Die Schattenspieler."
Renate Hartwig did not write about Scientology in her book, but about critics, who she said misused Scientology to further their own interests. She this was done by taking advantage of the public's vague fear of Scientology, and the people she pointed the finger at included Constitutional Security, officially known as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. She said after the fall of the Wall, Constitutional Security merely substituted Scientology for the former East Block for job security. She said she was tired of the self-appointed judges, juries and executioners of libel and no longer wanted to be a part of it.
What is this coming from a woman who has always marched in the front lines against Scientology? She said that she never wanted to fight anyone. [editor's comment: see above comment.] She said she was only ever interested in truthful information, and in getting people to find out for themselves whether the state getting involved with Scientology was criminal or just. She said she still hasn't gotten an answer after eleven years. She said that being a Scientologist was a stigma, and that children whose parents were Scientologists had to suffer. Hartwig said she no longer wanted to be responsible for that kind of discrimination by telling people about Scientology, but she said telling people about Scientology was not at all what was happening.
She accused all the cult critics of having a vested interest, those of the churches, those in government, and those in the political parties. She said that nothing was more profitable than vague threats. She wrote about companies that would not have been afraid of Scientology if it were not for the fact that they had hired high-priced, self-appointed experts to make sure that their company had no contact with Scientology.
Renate Hartwig said she uncovered a business scheme by US millionaire Robert S. Minton who she said paid German cult commissioners to help win an 80-million dollar lawsuit against Scientology in America. She said Ursula Caberta got 75,000 of that and was subsequently charged accordingly by the state attorney. Hartwig's harshest words, however, were for Constitutional Security, who she said not only knew about the insufferable critics, but engaged in activity of the same kind by having a Constitutional Security agent pretend to be a Scientologist on the Internet who told everyone that Scientology had forced him to behave in a criminal manner.
Renate Hartwig said that years ago a woman came to her and said she was a Scientologist whose job it was to blow Hartwig up with a car bomb. [editor's comment: that may have been the one who also said she had a baby by David Miscavige.] Today, there is no doubt in Renate Hartwig's mind but that this woman had been sent to her by Constitutional Security to have her spread disinformation about Scientology. She said they were not so much worried about spreading information about Scientology as they were about justifying their surveillance. She said that a government source who did not want to be identified had once told her that having Scientology around guaranteed that 20 people had jobs.
Renate Hartwig: Die Schattenspieler. Direct Verlag, 390 pages, 18 EuroDollars, ISBN 3-935246-02-1.
[editor's note 1: this book is strongly recommended reading by German OSA. Note 2: Hartwig was the one responsible for getting the Austrian Scientologist dismissed from his sensitive telecommunications position, as reported the following year in the US State Department Annual Knowledge Report on Austria, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Religious Freedom.]