According to an article by Erik Raidt in the September 7, 2002 issue of the Stuttgarter Zeitung, in Stuttgart, Germany, that city cannot stop Scientology from recruiting in the city

Raidt states that the city is once again in a legal dispute with Scientology, which is currently advertising and recruiting on KronPrinz Strasse, but that the local administrative court has decided not to stop them. Apparently, on the morning prior, Scientology had set up a yellow tent near the downtown subway station for an exhibit about their volunteer ministers. By afternoon it had attracted some attention. In the exhibit were arranged pictures of staged scenes. One showed a man lying in a gutter, the next showed a Scientology staff member offering the man assistance, and the last depicted the man liberated from whatever his plight may have been.

It was along those lines that most of the scenarios were arranged. One after the next, Scientology offered solutions for drug problems, job problems and people problems. Free booklets were available which contained simple solutions, and for which donations were gladly accepted.

In the back of the tent, visitors could have one-on-one sessions with staff. Stuttgart Scientology public relations officer Manfred Schick reportedly stated that whoever liked what the group was doing could support it, and that people were being offered courses that cost between 100 and 150 Euro-dollars. Raidt stated that at first there was a table on which lay membership applications for the "clerical order" but that these forms were not meant for journalists, but were for internal use. The applications were then suddenly gone without anyone having seen where they had disappeared to.

Stephan Schorn, spokesman for the executive mayor's office, said Scientology had applied for a permit to put up the tent on August 22nd, but the application had been refused because Scientology had not kept to the conditions of applications in the past. Maja N(ue)esch, who supports Scientology in Stuttgart, said that this practice by the city was discriminatory to the disadvantage of minorities. The administrative court gave Scientology the permit for the tent, but put a condition on it specifying that staff were allowed to approach pedestrians no more than five meters away from the tent. A violation of this condition may result in a 5,000 Euro-dollar fine. It was reported the codes office and the police would be monitoring the situation.

Cult commissioner warns of Scientologists taking advantage of the floods, says that Scientology "volunteer ministers" are trying to recruit relief workers

from Berlin, Germany on the 23rd of August 2002
press release from
the State church office for cult and worldview issues of the Berlin-Brandenburg Evangelical Church

After their annoying interference with the 9-11 relief measures in New York, the advertising effort after the school shooting in Erfurt, and an attempt to recruit survivors and relief workers at the site of the Russian air crash at Bodensee, Scientology's Volunteer Ministers are now making a pitch for volunteers among students along the flood plains of the Elbe River.

August 21, 22 and 23 Scientology recruiters offered "Touch-Assist" pseudo-therapy, as well as back massages to relief workers at the Perleberg Airport. They left on the 23rd and it is to be expected they will show up at other high-water areas along the Elbe, following the flood.

Scientology's attempts to use catastrophes for advertising is connected with its furious efforts to alter its image while recruiting new staff at the same time.

After Erfurt and the Bodensee, the Scientology recruiters set up their tents on Alexander Square in Berlin and in the vicinity of the Technical University (TU) with some degree of success. (reference: Berliner Zeitung of July 4, 2002, "Handauflegen gegen Ohnmacht und Schmerzen - Die Scientologen werben wieder - um Nothelfer")

a) Perleberg

An article from an Internet news magazine reported the following in connection with efforts of a students group from Kleinmachnow near Berlin to transport sandbags to the airport in Perleberg:

"In this sort of situation the Scientology Church is getting closer to the young people than would otherwise be possible. Cult members offer massages to the burdened relief workers. "That's how you catch a mouse, with cheese," Ms. Morling, a teacher, pulled a wry face in comment. The Scientology body-kneaders had only limited success with the Waldorf students. A 14-year-old girl said that as much as she hurt, she didn't want them or their massages anywhere near her."
(The whole story: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,210617,00.html)

b) Alleged Scn help in New York - Internal Strategy revealed

Except from a letter to the editor: " ... [as to] The claim that Scientology some how contributed to the relief efforts in New York after the terrorist attacks.

In short, no, they did not; that's a lie. A more detailed examination into what the sinister Scientology organization did in New York finds that the approximately 15 to 20 Scientologist that came to New York after the attacks were there trying to disrupt the relief efforts by sneaking under police lines, deliberately trying to intercept victims and family members of victims of the terrorist attack from getting to mental health workers at Ground Zero.

The Scientologists who snuck in had to be escorted out from the restricted areas, the American Red Cross had to issue statements stating that Scientology wasn't acting on their behalf, and even FEMA joined the Red Cross in issuing statements about criminal organizations trying to take financial advantage of the terrorist attacks.

Exact details of what Scientology was trying to do by disrupting the relief efforts was disclosed in a series of secret e-mails which followers of the notorious organization were sending to each other, all of which are currently available on the Internet with specific attention at the http://www.cosvm.info/ web site. Once Scientology realized that human rights activists had infiltrated their mailing list, Scientology sent a final e-mail explaining why they could not continue to send 'updates' on what they were up to in New York through the mailing list."
From: FRice@SkepticTank.ORG (Rev. Fredric L. Rice) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.true-crime,alt.activism
Subject: Scientology story lacked information -- It sure did!
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 03:11:29 GMT

2. More advertising more carefully

The Scientologists have found telemarketing, as reported from Switzerland and Berlin. Scientologists harvest names from the telephone book to either write people or telephone them and ask questions like, "What would you do to improve your life situation?" They try to involve the individuals thus contact in personal conversations and sell them Scientology books.

It was also reported from Zurich that Scientologists, like Jehovahs Witnesses or Mormons, are going from door to door to push their books. The public relations department of Scientology Zurich has even said it had gotten state permission to do so.

More on events in Zurich was reported by Hugo Stamm in the Zurich Tages-Anzeiger on August 5, 2002

Scientology on Parade

Scientology built a Catastrophe Corps with 400 helpers. But they were too late at the Crossair crash.

Zurich, Switzerland
November 29, 2001
Der Tages-Anzeiger

by Hugo Stamm

Scientology is always jumping up on stage. The series of disasters in the USA and in Switzerland has animated the sect to build an operational unit by the name of "Volunteer Ministers." The "Volunteer Ministers" were widely activated after the collapse of the World Trade Center and in the recent airliner crash in New York. Then the Swiss Scientologists showed up, as if someone had called them, for the Crossair accident in Switzerland on Saturday to prove their usefulness during catastrophes.

But they arrived too late. The wounded were already in the hospital and the airport's Care-Team were already long at work. Even if the Scientologists had appeared at just the right moment at the crash site, they still would have had to watch idly. "We do not accept the Scientologists as helpers," categorically stated Hans Baltensberger, press spokesman for the canton police. The Hubbard disciples were not only unwanted in Bassersdorf, they will be put on their way if the show up again. Rescue management at the Crossair crash had warned the Care-Team about uninvited helpers, said Baltensberger. They already had bad experiences with people who called themselves assistance personnel during an attempted murder on a train. Whether those were Scientologists or not, the police spokesman could not say.

Firefighters were not happy either about the volunteer helpers. "They hurt more than they help," said Willi Ehrbar in the capacity of commander of the Zurich professional firefighters. The rescue teams are set up to work with each other. Unfamiliar personnel without assigned tasks only get in the way. He said there was even a case where the volunteers fought over who got the patient.

Propaganda through advertisements

This is bad news for the "Volunteer Ministers." They would have liked to have built up a corps of 400 "Volunteer Ministers" within the next month and "contact authorities and institutions to coordinate future operations and to inform the appropriate agencies about the planned corps." In January, Scientology will take out advertisements to acquaint the public with their new services.

Scientologist feel they are especially capable of helping victims of disaster. To that end, sect founder Hubbard propagated a simple method of help called a "touch assist." It is a sort of laying-on of hands, and Hubbard described it as a true worker of miracles. His method allegedly alleviates pain, accelerates healing, dissolves fear, and helps overcome feelings of loss.

"In these troubled times," Scientologists want to approach not only disaster victims, but also government agencies, business managers and the general public. Hubbard adherents have founded the "Friends of Ron" (first name of the sect founder), which says its goal is to make the public aware of Hubbard's "effective solutions." They say the sect leader strove for a world without war, criminality or insanity. But this would only be attainable if all people take Scientology courses. Therefore the suspicion surfaces that the Scientologists are using disaster assistance as a means to get Scientology into the media and the victims and their relatives into sect centers. An official of the (American) National Mental Health Association stated it bluntly after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, "the Scientologists are using this tragedy to recruit new members."