I. Introduction/Basic Considerations

In May 1997 a Federal/State Work Group of the Constitutional Security Agency of the IMC presented a report on the issue of the surveillance of Scientology Organization, and introduced the objectives, methods and procedures used by the Scientology Organization. On this basis, the IMC determined that actual evidence of political efforts against liberal, democratic basic order in the Federal Republic of Germany had been presented and decided to have the organization put under surveillance by the Office of Constitutional Security.

In accordance with the IMC decision of June 5/6, 1997, the Constitutional Security agencies of the nation and states, with the exception of Schleswig-Holstein, formed the Federal/State Work Group on Scientology (AG SO), which immediately developed a common work concept and put it into action. Essential points of the work concept were

As a result of this, meetings of the AG SO took place about every two months for the exchange of surveillance results as well as any problems encountered in the course of observation. A procedure was agreed upon which was as uniform as possible yet encompassed the interests and possibilities of all participating agencies.

In accordance with the IMC decision, the surveillance of the Scientology Organization was carried out within the limits of the personnel available to each Constitutional Security office and in accordance with legally prescribed undercover procedures. The information obtained was evaluated with consideration for the exchange of intelligence by the participating security agencies at the regular work group meetings.

In addition to their assignments, individual Constitutional Security offices occasionally made themselves available by telephone (e.g., hot line) on issues of Scientology. From our experience, these lines are often used by concerned citizens. The majority of the calls involved general questions about the SO, and requested detailed advice by the Constitutional Security staff on matters specific to Constitutional Security. Only a small portion of the called were in reference to the original mission of the agencies.

In addition, the Constitutional Security agencies carried out a far reaching information campaign on the SO. A total of nine information booklets were published during this observation interval.

This report of surveillance results from the Federal/State WG Scientology was produced by a "Reports WG" which consists of representatives of Federal and State offices of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Nordrhein-Westfalen. The Reports WG collected the material made available from the Constitutional Security offices of nation and states during the surveillance period, structured it, and compiled it into this report.

The report is essentially based on the "Final report of the SC work group by the Constitutional Security Agencies on the issue of the surveillance of the Scientology Organization by the Constitutional Security Agencies i.a.w. the IMC mission of 22 November 1996."

Because of the anticipated general interest in the surveillance results, the Reports WG has waived classification of the report as a final matter. For this reason, a general format must be used in place of a precisely detailed presentation, for protection of sources.

II. Presentation of Surveillance Results

Presentation of the actual findings on the basic structure and individual areas of Scientology (SO)

1.1 Basic Structures

1.1.1 "Church" Area

1.1.1.1 Nationwide data on structure

The Constitutional Security agencies, from the results of the current surveillance, have concluded that there are about 5,000 to 6,000 Scientology members, apparently from all social strata and career groups. By "member" is meant those people who manifest their membership by taking courses or have declared their membership in a SO establishment in writing. The surveillance by the Constitutional Security agencies verified the earlier estimate, that the number of members in Germany was significantly under 10,000. The Constitutional Security agencies had no indications for the 30,000 members given by SO's own statement.

The regional distribution of the membership is irregular. In Baden- Wuerttemberg and Bavaria together there were supposed to be over 2,000 SO members, while in all the new states only 35 - 40 SO members could be confirmed. The rest of the SO members are distributed nearly evenly over the country, except the Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein area, which has a heavy concentration with a total number of about 1,000 SO members.

Nationwide, there are about 950 staff employed in the SO establishments, of those about 350 - 400 are so-called "Field Staff Members" (FSMs), they are a kind of independent staff member. The work week of the individually employed staff goes from part time (about 20 hours per week) up to full time with up to 55 - 60 weekly hours.

The actual findings of the Constitutional Security agencies verify, for the most part, the number of SO establishments broadcast by the SO.

According to SO statements, (the last one being the special edition of the SO magazine "Freedom" ["Freiheit"] on occasion of the "Marathon for Religious Freedom in Europe" of August 1998), there are

10 so-called "Churches"

in Germany, with two each in Munich, Hamburg and Duesseldorf as well as one each in Hannover, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart. Besides that there were

10 so-called "Missions",

named in Ulm, Munich, Nuernberg, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Heilbronn, Goppingen, Reutlingen, Karlsruhe and Bremen. According to the actual findings of the Constitutional Security agencies there are

11 "Churches" (Orgs) and
"Celebrity Center" (CC),

with three establishments in Munich (two Orgs, one CC), two establishments apiece in Duesseldorf (one Org, one CC) and Hamburg (two Orgs; the "Eppendorf Org" is also described as a CC), as well as one Org apiece in Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main and Hannover. Besides that, there are in Germany, according to actual findings, a total of

10 "Missions",

with seven mission in Baden-Wuerttemberg as well as one mission apiece in Bavaria, Bremen and Hessen.

Several of the "churches" and "missions" are occasionally called "Dianetics Centers" by Scientology itself. However, there are no self-sufficient "Dianetics Centers"; all are identical to the above named SO establishments.

According to the entries in the Associations Registers of the Federal Republic, there are a total of

9 "Churches" und "Celebrity Centers",

with two establishments apiece in Munich and Hamburg (Hamburg Org and Eppendorf Org) as well as one each in Duesseldorf (CC), Berlin, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart. Besides the two "churches" in Munich, there is another "CC." The Org which the SO said was in Hannover was existent, however, it was not entered in the Association Register, but belonged to the "Hamburg Church" as a "congregation." Neither was the Org in Duesseldorf carried in the Association Register. In addition, according to the entries in the Association Register there are a total of

14 Missions,

with five in Baden-Wuerttemberg (one each in Ulm, Heilbronn, Goppingen, Reutlingen and Karlsruhe), three missions in Nordrhein-Westfalen (Gelsenkirchen, Bonn and Muenster), as well as one mission in Bavaria (Nuernberg), Hessen (Wiesbaden Mission), Lower Saxony (Wilhelmshaven Mission), Saxon (Dresden Mission), Hamburg and Bremen. In fact, the missions in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Lower Saxony are no longer existent.

The partly conflicting findings can be explained by the SO apparently varying the numbers and locations of its establishments for convenience sake. For instance, during the surveillance, Scientology advertised a mission in Muenster in its own publication, even though it had ceased to operate long ago.

1.1.1.2 Finances

Financial responsibility inside of an Org is divided in two. There is the Flag Banking Officer (FBO) who is not associated with the hierarchy of the Org, but is directly subordinate to the Continental FBO. Apart from that, the other finances of the Org itself are administrated in the Finance Department (Department 3). Although a Financial Department exists whose director is the Financial Secretary, he is not responsible for the main mission of financial management; the FBO is. Financial management inside the SO is prescribed for all organizational units. It is presented in detail in various HCO PL's (Hubbard Communication Office Policy Letters).

The duty of the FBO includes "to bring the Org to make more money" or "to make it very rewarding for Flag to manage the Org and to help it." Its mission is to produce a commercially operational optimum from the present Org along with keeping the payments to the SO money reserves (Sea Org Reserves) as high as possible.

As does every member of the Scientology Organization, the FBO presents "statistics" which measure his work. The main objective is measured by his statistic of how much money is diverted to the Sea Org Reserves.

Since he can withdraw money from the Org at his own discretion, and his own statistics depend upon the deposit of this money in the SO reserve, there can possibly be discrepancies between the two areas of finance in an Org. For instance, in one state for the years 1997 and 1998 (as of Oct. 1998) sales were said to be rising. However, when the entire situation is taken into account, this does not absolutely mean that the Org staff could be appropriately recompensed or that the Org could make its rent payments.

As far as the financial situation of the Scientology Organization goes, during this surveillance period various actual statistics could be obtained nationwide. The individual numbers available indicate that the financial situation of the SO has been getting continually worse since the begin of the 90's to the point where they have a huge liability especially in the area of rent payments. An index for this may be the fact that several Orgs nationwide have moved into significantly smaller and more economical rental units or are engaged in this sort of plan to move.

The operating costs can generally, as a rule, be measured by the income ("gross income" of the SO unit) - includes contributions and profits from book and course sales. Occasionally these are born, on an exception basis, by other, superior SO establishments.

The financial entity of the SO has numerous LRH directives. In practice, however, it is very complicated on the whole and difficult to penetrate from the outside. As far as real numbers from the SO account balances are known in various aspects on the statements, only a little serious business being undertaken. Nationwide the financial situation is seen as fluctuating. On the whole there is still much which is not known in this area and needs further observation.

1.1.1.3 Management structures/channels

The establishments of the SO in Germany are - at least on the official level - all structured according to the organizational chart prescribed by L. Ron Hubbard ("Org Board").

All the prescribed posts, as a rule, are also filled. Some staff fill different posts simultaneously. The missions and actual activities of these "function holders" are directed by the numerous Policy Letters.

Under the level of the "Executive Director" (ED), who is the director of the SO establishment, and the division directors, there is not always a recognizable hierarchy in place. It happens more often that those responsible for individually assigned areas react on an equivalent level near and with each other. In this way, the operating space for one's own concepts and initiatives is restricted to making only trivial decisions, at least on the lower levels.

Even in these decisions, there is direct influence brought to bear by the superior SO establishments, e.g. from Copenhagen. Placing a staff member is mostly voluntary in at least several regions and is normally done without regard to interests of the staff member himself. Also, he is subject to numerous transfers of position. In some respects, the disorder in "SO Operation" may be a result of the permanent pressure and ensuing challenge of ever increasing statistics under which the staff live. Regular "teamwork" can only be recognized in a few areas, such as advertisement campaigns. Differences on this point also exist by region.

Authorization power inside SO establishments is essentially limited to the ED and the directors of the divisions. These, in turn, are dependent upon superior SO establishments in the USA, or on the "Continental Liaison Office" (CLO) in Copenhagen.

Communications between the "CLO" in Copenhagen and the Orgs and Missions in Germany is, per SO security considerations, done by telex and by SO private courier.

1.1.1.4 "Knowledge Reports" and "Ethics Procedures"

The SO exerts extensive control over the individual member as well as the environment of the organization through "knowledge reports" of the SO member. Neglecting to prepare one of these reports can result in penalty for the member. The obligation of the member to prepare this type of report over the years has risen in practice. One member's report in the early 1990's concerned undesired sexual advances by the person's spouse. From the distribution of the report it can be seen that several copies went to different places, one of which was the spouse's franchise holder, WISE.

In another report a member wrote about his SO associated brother, that he had searched through his father's work room for documents critical of the SO. His brother justified that one was "at war" and that "the end justifies the means." Other knowledge reports concern political measures, especially those by the state, in regards to the activities of the SO. Along with that SO members are extensively interrogated using standardized questionnaires from stem from both the 1980's and 1990's. The questionnaires include questions which refer to potential contact of SO members with journalists, legal or security officials.

Detailed findings were obtained during this surveillance period concerning the so-called "ethics procedures," the SO private system of maintaining its internal order, which, as a rule, is based on knowledge reports to the "Ethics Officer" (EO) of the SO establishment.

The EO determines - in special cases after feedback from the "CLO" in Copenhagen - which measures are to be taken; these can consist of the introduction of an "Ethics Court" ("Board of Investigation") - with the EO at its head - or of an immediate sanction. Auditing sessions are also often "ordered," they are often held from a list of questions contained in Policy Letters.

The penalties which the EO can mete out, which can range from additional work for the SO to "degradation" of the person affected, are, as a rule, accepted without objection, since the person affected concludes from his total situation that only in this manner can he be reassured of his own existence.

What is noticeable is that the majority of the ethics cases appear to have a direct bearing upon the "condition" of the establishment. When this condition, that means the productivity of the Orgs/CC's or missions, becomes worse, the number of ethics cases increases, and these are introduced not only for the more serious, more important occasions (SP Declares) and failure to perform assigned tasks, such as showing up late for "duty," but also for trivialities.

This phenomenon can be explained from the SO ideological concept that every Scientologist must conclude that obeying the prescribed rule of behavior in the previously mentioned "Policy Letters" leads to the expansion of SO establishments. If this expansion does not occur, then the error must be found in behavior which is "counter-policy," that means against the instructions of the "CLO" in Copenhagen. The "CLO" has extensive lists of measures for this occasion which prescribe numerous detailed individual measures, which include the increased writing of knowledge reports and also the increased showing of Hubbard videos to personnel.

The sales of the SO establishment actually rises from the additional, unpaid work and from the degradation of individual staff who have to newly prove - i.e. buy - courses in order to be accepted back again. This leads, at least in the short term, to an increased productivity.

Findings were presented from the WISE area that high-ranking Scientologists, upon being subjected to means meant to intimidate by other Scientologists who were financially harmed by them, agreed to settle the matter inside of the WISE justice system, and to take back punitive measures in regards to civil rights (real arrest) which had been introduced.

1.1.1.5 Financing

The essential foundation for the financing of the Scientology Organization is the sale of private courses, auditing intensives, books and other publications, and acquisition of customers, especially those who are already SO members, who, not infrequently, are intruded upon and coerced (see "Ethics Procedures").

New customers are obtained by "body routing," i.e., by indiscriminately accosting pedestrians, normally in the vicinity of one of the SO establishments which prefer to locate in the downtown district. To the degree that the person accosted tries to have a discussion, that is how much he will be asked to come inside the SO establishment in order to take the nationwide offered "Oxford Capacity Test" (a personality test which disregards any scientific professionalism). On the basis of this test, courses and books for the improvement of the individual's situation in life will be offered, as well as the SO membership.

In the sale of SO products, the staff are bound by a "Policy Letter" which states that the potential customer will absolutely buy ("Hard sell"). In spite of this, in the past several years, the income from courses and book sales, without exception, has tended to decrease, since the public at large, due in part to the information campaign about the SO, apparently avoids contact with the SO, or regards it skeptically.

An exception to this point are the Orgs who, from their position in the sales district of the inner cities, are able to turn over a large, widely mixed pool of customers.

Other income sources for the SO are the contributions and primarily the donations of its members. Since some SO members are well situated or capable and ready to have a large portion of their wealth go to the good of the SO, large sums of money flow, if irregularly, from this area to the SO chests.

In addition, SO conduct in financial matters includes some requirements, e.g. rent or goods, being paid late or not at all, tax obligations being filled out late, and when money gets more scarce the Org or Mission will occasionally reduce the "staff pay".

1.1.1.6 Recruitment and Sales Operations

The most important activities in this area include the distribution of the SO's own literature; a few of the most frequently distributed publications are described in the following paragraphs:

"Freiheit" ["Freedom"]

This is the SO magazine which is meant for the general public. According to "Freiheit's" masthead, it is published by the SO publishers several times a year and in special editions according to need, from the "Church of Scientology International, 6331 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 1200, L.A., California, 90028-6329 USA."

Nothing is known about the actual circulation of the magazine. Although it is distributed throughout the country, the circulation given by the SO of 1.5 million copies, with 5 million copies for a special issue, appears doubtful.

"Impact"

"Impact" is the semi-monthly magazine of the "International Association of Scientologists" (IAS), c/o Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, West Sussex, England.

The magazine, which appears in two different formats, deals mainly with IAS members. Until recently, it published names of those who had made contributions, by category (ranging from $5,000 to $1,000,000). Besides that, the magazine advertises heavily for IAS members.

The circulation is not known, however, it is probably less than that of "Freiheit."

"Kompetenz", "Neue Zivilisation", "Dimensionen" et al.

These are magazines of the local "Scientology Churches" which are published by a central SO location, but are distributed by the individual Orgs. The magazines primarily contain advertisement for and information about the course system of the SO, enriched by statements from the individual Org, as well as numerous, standard Hubbard quotations.

Until recently, these Org-related magazines published the names of the SO members who had successfully graduated from courses in the individual Org. Presumably as a reaction to the surveillance by the Constitutional Security agency, the publication of these lists were suspended or limited, as were the lists of donors in the "Impact" magazine (see above).

According to SO statements, "Kompetenz" has a circulation of 5,000. There are still no findings on the actual number of circulation.

Besides magazines, other advertisement material is also distributed by the SO. This includes mass mailings, which may have advertisements for Hubbard books or for the "Oxford Capacity Test", and flyers, which are distributed on the street and are often targeted at schools or public buildings/offices. Recently there have also been isolated, "special" mass mailings apparently targeted at residential districts which are selected on a basis which is not yet known. These have included 4 or 5 different leaflets which are not recognizable as SO advertisements at first glance, but which contain a statement which says to visit a Scientology establishment.

During this reporting period, advertisement posters were also put up throughout the country and - particularly in public places - diverse brochures were sent out which neglected naming an official source, yet promoted the interests of the SO. This is how a booklet with the title "Vom Rechtstaat zur Inquisition" ["From Constitutional State to Inquisition"] was specially distributed. This booklet is examined in greater detail later on in this report.

During the period of this report, SO members set up, at regular intervals, information and advertisement stands, primarily in pedestrian zones, so they could offer free tests, including one on an E-meter. Public response, however, tended to be light.

As already mentioned, one of the principal sources of income for the SO is the sale of courses and "auditing," which is the Scientology "form of therapy for the expansion of consciousness." As far as the numbers here in the German states are known, it has been determined that each Org has between 3 and 50 continuous course participants, or "long-term students" at the so-called "academies" participating in the various courses. The course offerings range from meetings for the mastering of the "Ups and Downs of Life" at 182.50 DM up to the "HUBBARD KEY TO LIFE" Course for a "donation" price of, e.g., 8,950 DM. Also, for about 30,000 DM, a packet of 50 hours of "Auditing Intensives" can be taken.

The SO's standing order that all establishments should continuously expand until they are "Saint Hill size" (that means a staff of at least 150 to 200 personnel) leads to a constant endeavor to increase the sale of courses. Therefore up to 200 courses sold per week is set as the target figure for the SO staff - often using supposedly valid statistics from the 1980's and early 1990's - and is seen as a goal which is obtainable.

Actually the sales figures in many Orgs and missions have been declining for several years (see the "Finances" section). The propagated goal of reaching "Saint Hill size" appears to serve as long term motivation for the staff and members who are intentionally shielded from realistic estimates. The SO books and course materials are published by the SO private "New Era" publishers. The "New Era Publications Deutschland GmbH" was founded in 1984 in Munich on commission from the Copenhagen mother company; its headquarters was moved to Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main in 1986, to Neu Wulmstorf/Niedersachsen in 1992, and to Seevetal-Maschen/Niedersachsen October 1, 1997. The purpose of the business is to engage in the wholesale and retail commerce of published material of all kinds, which include picture and sound recordings, as well as similar business.

"New Era Deutschland" is affiliated with its mother company "New Era Publications International ApS" in Copenhagen. That is where it receives its goods which are sold in Germany. New Era Publications is accountable to the SO; this occurs through the mid-level organizational structure of the SO. "New Era Publications Deutschland GmbH" has made its connection to the "Church of Scientology International (Copyright)" clear since March 13, 1997, for instance, it was listed under the "Scientology organizations" on the internet.

According to the findings of the Constitutional Security officials, sales occur as a result of the distribution of publications (Dianetic literature). "New Era" in Seevetal-Maschen is responsible for the northern part of Germany. Delivery of the product occurs only after pre-payment. SO communities or SO members order directly from "New Era Publications International Kopenhagen," while the pre-payment goes to "New Era Deutschland." Delivery occurs after that, and the pre-payment is then transferred to Copenhagen.

In southern Germany and parts of Austria and Switzerland, SO groups or members order directly from "New Era" in Munich. The pre-payment from there is directed to "New Era" in Niedersachsen for forwarding to Copenhagen. Indications are that the present New Era company in Niedersachsen has a central importance in financial regards.

Further findings indicate that all members of the "New Era" groups are members of the "Sea Org," a high-ranking, international SO establishment. The SO distributes data about structure and anti-constitutional statements on a number of internet pages. This kind of information is found, e.g., with

The presentations are multi-lingual, in part, and include charts/graphics.

Under the description of "About Scientology Hatewatch - The Home Page HATEWATCH GERMANY: 1998," the SO has established pages which contain links to other English-language pages on the world wide web. These pages contain allegations of state persecution of Scientologists in Germany, and equate this to the National Socialistic persecution of Jews.

The SO also uses the internet for advertisement for demonstrations such as the "European March for Religious Freedom," which last took place on August 10, 1998 in Frankfurt am Main. At the end of 1997, the "Scientology Online Club" was founded. Under this label, the Church of Scientology International (CSI) from Los Angeles distributed "starter kits" for Scientologists to allow them to partake of the internet. The programs provided include a filter program which automatically blocks access to pages which are critical of Scientology, such as those of the Constitutional Security offices or of former Scientologists. At the same time, Scientologists are told to use these programs to present their own homepages as Scientologists on the internet. A standardized template is included with the starter kit.

A large quantity of these homepages has brought about a large number of "hits" for propaganda pages which favor the SO whenever an internet user uses the word "Scientology" in a search machine to look for information on the topic.

The SO also attempts to present its activities to the public in the form of announcements and demonstrations. There have been three major demonstrations of this sort during this reporting period.:

The factor these arrangements have in common is that they were planned and directed by superior SO establishments outside of Germany. The staff of the German Orgs were required, to a large degree, to participate in the events themselves and to motivate other SO members to take part. However, they did not take part otherwise in the arrangement of the demonstrations. They were barely able to mobilize the SO membership for such occasions.

The operations planned and executed by the local SO establishments go off without any noteworthy participation (often with only 5 - 10 SO staff, sometimes including members) and only with minimum effect on the public:

The factor which all larger gathering had in common is that the number of participants at the gatherings were significantly exaggerated, and that, in the Orgs, they were rated each time as a complete success.

1.1.1.7 SO Members in Political Parties

At this time there is no distinguishable infiltration of political parties, as commanded for a long-term SO goal by L. Ron Hubbard.

1.1.1.8 SO Members in Civil Service

In this report period about 90 cases were known in which members of the civil service were also said to have been Scientologists; of those, 81 have been investigated so far.

The investigations confirmed this suspicion 48 times for employed members of the civil service. In addition to that number, there are 14 cases who separated from the civil service in the meantime and 3 cases which were furloughed.

Scientologists are represented in all areas of civil service. There are no recognizable areas of concentration due to the low numbers involved.

Scientologists in the service who had been actively recruiting for the SO could only be observed in isolated cases.

In one case, the use of SO materials by a teacher in her instruction led to her transfer to another area where she not longer had to instruct.

In another case a Bavarian police officer, who has since then been separated from active service, recruited for the SO while on duty, and misused his official position for SO activity.

Besides that there are also two members of the civil service from the area of legal administration who were also active as staff members for the SO. Nothing is known as to whether these persons were active in any form for the SO during the course of their duties.

1.1.1.9 SO Contacts with extremist groups or other organizations

During this reporting period it is known that the SO has made attempts to establish contacts to organizations which have religious characteristics. The bandwidth of these organization ranges from Moslem/Islamic groups to religious groups such as, e.g., the Mormons or the German Raelian movement.

According to the present findings, the success of these endeavors has been slight.

Activities in common with religious groups, e.g., gathering cases to give examples of religious suppression in Germany, have hardly had any noticeable effect so far.

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