from: Renate Hartwig

REPORT - July/August 1999

Interview with a woman who was affected by Scientology

source of this translation as of August 30, 2000:
http://www.renatehartwig.de/ren-har/interview.html

Interview | Renate Hartwig conducted an interview with a woman whose family and private life was affected by Scientologists. The reason - increasing downplay of the risk of the situation. The woman, a non-Scientologist, got involved with a Scientologist and her marriage failed because of the Scientology organization.

Can a non-Scientologist quite normally enter into a relationship with a Scientologist?

Involved: No it is not possible to have a functioning relationship between a Scientologist and a non-Scientologist in the long run.
You communicate on two completely different planes thereby missing each other - the worlds are too different and there is no possible compromise for the two sides. The one cannot be just a little bit of a Scientologist and the other cannot be just a little bit of a non-Scientologist - the ideology does not permit that from two sides.

To what degree did the Scientology organization have a view into your marriage?

Involved: Up to the most intimate details. Based on the reports before me from my ex-husband I can only say they know absolutely everything that we discussed at home. It was also determined how often my former husband and I went to bed with each other and what all the variants were of our marital sex life. From that I can assume that I did not find all my ex-husband's reports and I would not at all like to picture which parts were documented and, most of all, who has read all of this.
I led - for a long time without my knowledge, because I did not find these reports until much later - a nearly completely transparent marriage life for a perfectly undemocratic organization.

You could say I had the feeling that I was married with 35 people. This marriage was nothing more than a farce.

What was more important to your husband, Scientology or you as his wife? Where were his priorities?

Involved: For my ex-husband, the organization was definitely more important than I. His priorities were quite clearly with Scientology, he began to spend four or five evening a week at the organization or in the "Charter Committee Vienna." When I told him that I did not want to constantly be alone it was all the same to him, he wasn't interested.

Do you think that he willingly separated from you?

Involved: Whether he willingly separated from me or not, I cannot exactly say, the less so since he was running around the entire year of 1998 with documents from the PTS course. I think whatever type of feelings he may have had for me, he was systematically talked out of. For him I was an SP with whom he was no longer permitted to have contact. During our marriage, he received the order to separate exactly three times.

What did you feel when you could actually prove that your relationship was betrayed?

Involved: I seriously asked myself whether I was really his wife. It was incomprehensible to me what he had been thinking of in betraying his marriage and his wife to an organization. I was very hurt. I was not ready to simply give up without a fight - it's just at the time, I had no way of assessing my opponent and, most of all, how much power was really behind this thing. This opponent was too powerful or too crude, as the case may be, and he did not operate using fair conditions.

How did you work out this experience in your life?

Involved: On one hand I would like nothing more than to scream to the world: look here at what the Scientologists did to us and we quite simply let it happen!
On the other hand I often think it would be better for me and my family if I would very quickly forget what I have lived and learned and if I would keep quiet for the sake of my family's health.

How far did the influence enter into you marriage and when did it begin?

Involved: From my husband's hand-written comments I also found proof that Scientology and its handymen were already considerably involved in the arrangement of this "marriage" without me knowing about it.
Just as this "marriage" was construed in the hope of obtaining me as a new member, upon the non-attainment of that goal, the marriage was also thrown into the big trash can where all non-"functioning" people and things land with Scientology.

The price of not becoming a Scientologist was high - it cost you your great love and led to divorce. What are you doing now after the divorce?

Involved: Since my divorce I am now trying to get my life and my feelings together again. I have undone everything that had some connection with my ex-husband - I gave him four years of my life.

Do you believe that a more aggressive and generally more open information politic would have helped you in not having to have gone through this experience?

Involved: Absolutely! Four years ago I had never heard the word "Scientology" before and never suspected what was really behind it.
There continue to be many people in Austria who don't know the first thing about this thing, and so there are a large number of potential victims for this fly-by-night business monster. Because of what I've seen, heard and experienced, I am in favor of a far-reaching, professional, aggressive information campaign using all available media.

Many thanks for speaking so openly.

(from: ROBIN DIREKT REPORT
July/August 1999)