Scientology Pied Piper making rounds of schools
Herzogenaurach, Germany
January 19, 2000
Fraenkischer TagNews > Lokales > Erlangen-Hoechstadt
They are trying to get to children with tutoring courses -
Information meeting at LiebfrauenhausHerzogenaurach Extreme caution is advised for parents in Herzogenaurach and outlying areas whose children are having problems in school. The Scientology organization is trying to introduce the teachings of founder L. Ron Hubbard to children through tutoring courses. by Christoph Laskowski
Therefore there was a continuing education class offered in Liebfrauenhaus on Monday on the theme of "Scientology Structure, Goals and Influence in Society," which discussed matters including how to deal with the dangers of these front companies.
Ludwig Lanzhammer, sect commissioner of the Catholic city church in Nuernberg, informed the approximately 140 participants of the names of the companies who offered tutoring. One of them was the "HELP" institute (help for training and learning problems) out of Fuerth, behind which in turn, Lanzhammer said, stood the "ABLE" front company. The "Association for Better Living and Education" was said to be managed by Andreas Weigmann, a jeweler who is also from Fuerth and who has been a distinguished member of Scientology for a long time, even if he disputes it.
Attorney Joerg von Rochnow, who was also a guest speaker, told of a instance in which the jeweler allegedly sent his entire staff to the Fuerth Forst Hotel, where they received training from Gerhard Boehm, chairman of the Scientology association in Bavaria.
In every major city
Besides "HELP" and "ABLE" in the area of training, there are also "ASI" (Applied Scholastics International), the "Elternverein zur Foerderung der Anwendung der Studiertechnologie" (FAST) ["Parents Association to advance the application of Study Technology"] and the "Zentrum fuer Individuelles und Effektives Lernen" (ZIEL) ["Center for Individual and Effective Learning"].
The audience was stunned when Lanzhammer displayed a transparency of the Scientologists' area of expansion into Bavaria. In nearly every major city there were company proprietors who had fallen for the "new world administration through Hubbardism." As examples he named the brokers' office of "Freitag und Partner" from Bamberg and the real estate office managed by Klaus Koller of the "EFK" company in Nuernberg, which, however, had declared bankruptcy and now had its main office in Berlin. "So it is not just the little people, but also people in management positions who have joined the "Church of Scientology" which comes from the USA," Lanzhammer gave that to the audience to ponder.
Gerd Tauber, lead doctor of the Erlangen District Hospital, attempted to explain how one comes into the clutches of Scientology from the medical-psychological standpoint. "At first the auditor tries to win the victim's trust in a personal discussion."
Like a psychotherapist he presents himself as a "safe, friendly expert," and manages to obtain cooperation of the person being questioned through the use of the so-called "personality test."
Then the introduction of the Scientology ideology is commenced. Once the brainwashing has begun, according to Tauber, it is almost impossible not "to become a fanatical addict with a false identity." Essentially, it is not just unstable people who can be convinced. "There is no person who is immune from the psychotic state in which those people are placed."
Dr. Juergen Keltsch from the Bavarian Interior State Ministry described Scientologists' training as an "alteration of people through strict learning drills. One is trained like a dog." He said that the person is made into a machine, that that has to be justified in retrospect as the case may be, and finally be made into a valuable final product by a "trainer." Books which Hubbard himself wrote clearly show that Scientology has a "strong cybernetic foundation."
This was confirmed by a former Scientologist who was also a guest speaker, but whom did not wish to be mentioned by name. Mr. Z. said he frequently received strange telephone calls and saw someone going through his trash. The writer had gone to the Scientologists because of obstacles to writing, and he explained the entire system from unsuspecting initiate up to Clear. He also cited a quote from Hubbard that one "had to get a hold of people with the technology." He finally managed to get out of the "totalitarian system" after 13 years by using Yoga exercises. He overwhelmingly agreed with the other speakers that Scientologists could hardly be individually differentiated from each other after "brainwashing." On that note he ended the discussion, "It makes no difference with which Scientologist you are speaking, you're always speaking with the same one."
Tutoring to lure them in
Scientology is out looking for children in the area with the Fuerth "Help" institute
Fuerth, Germany
August 6, 1999
Nuernberger NachrichtenSect Commissioner warns parents - businessman from Kleeblattstadt plays important role
by Reinhard Schmolzi
Fuerth - Scientology is out looking for children in the area: to lure them in, tutoring courses are used which are being offered by the newly founded institution, "Help" (help with education and learning problems) in Fuerth. Concealed behind the institute is the "Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE)", the department, according to the Federal Assembly's Enquete Commissioner, which is responsible in the psycho-concern for education and training. "Help" is directed by Fuerth businessman Andreas Weigmann, who is listed in internal Scientology catalogs as a highly decorated member.
"Test troubles?," "Good grades without extra help! Learn how to learn" Along with that a telephone number, nothing more. With this and similar small advertisements "Help" is advertising its courses at school's close in the local newspapers. When the number is called, a woman's friendly, recorded voice states that simple solutions are available which make learning fun and easy. To receive informational material, the caller is to leave his address.
It is not until a second look at the small print in "Help's" letterhead paper that one discovers the true string-pullers hiding behind the offer. "ABLE" is quite high on the list of Scientology cover companies which bustle about in the areas of education and training. Along with them are "Applied Scholastics International (ASI)" through which English correspondence courses are offered, the "Parents' Association for the Advancement of the Application of Study Technology (FAST)," the "Center for Individual and Effective Learning (ZIEL)" "Narconon," which is involved with youth at risk with drugs, and the action committee, "Say No to Drugs - Say Yes to Life."
Sect experts state that the only goals of these organizations are to spread the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard among the people, to recruit new members and to make money. That is what the tutoring market segment is being used for. According to a study by the Institute of German Economy (IW), in Cologne parents pay 1.8 billion marks per year for additional instruction.
Emergency situations exploited
Making money, according to Ludwig Lanzhammer, sect commissioner of the Catholic city church in Nuernberg, is not the problem: "Anybody who drops their child off at 'Help' for tutoring has delivered him to the Scientologists." And that is said to be particularly dangerous because they are tuned in to detecting emergency situations and then shamelessly exploiting them. Childhood fantasies, stated the Enquete Commission report, is defined in Hubbard's book "Child Dianetics" as psychically ill. Former members report that children, once in the clutches of Scientology, have their ongoing relations to their parents encumbered if the parents have not already been gotten to. Children are taught that the work for the organization, which is striving for world domination, gets first priority.
Scientology apparently also has absolute priority with Andreas Weigmann, the Fuerth businessman. Documents available to our newspaper show that the jeweler has been taking expensive courses for years for the L. Ron Hubbard prescribed "Way to Happiness" in preparation for becoming an immortal superman, called a "Thetan." He is even listed as a "Patron Meritorious" on the Scientology honor roll. This title is granted to those who have donated at least $250,000.
Weigmann also apparently intends to spread the teachings of Scientology in his own business. Members of his staff, it can be concluded from a letter available to our newspaper, are advised to take Communications seminars (they amount to joining the Scientology course pyramid) at the Nuernberg MTS company, Management TOP System, which is managed by the chairman of the Scientology Bavaria association, Gerhard Boehm.
Weigmann wrote in a thank you letter to Boehm, "Several of them have also applied the teachings at home successfully on their spouses and and children. We are enjoying the advancement of training."
Weigmann himself does not at all dispute the the academic principle behind "Help" is based on the "technology" of L. Ron Hubbard. He himself had been educated by Applied Scholastics, he responded to our inquiry. Besides that, the offer from "help" is not directed just at children, but also to adults, he stated, and also that the "Scientology Church" was not participating in either the organization nor the instruction of "Help." Weigmann also disputed having talked employees of his business into attending training.
Warned about Danish reports
Kiel, Germany
July 3, 1999
Kieler NachrichtenKiel (US) Matthias Knothe, Sect Commissioner of the state administration, warned about the testimonies by a non-accredited Danish private school which is connected with the Scientology organization.
With one such testimony several weeks ago the "Sonderjyllands Internationale Skole" in Bjerndrup near Apenrade attempted to recruit teenagers at a business in Schleswig-Holstein. The testimony falsely stated, "Graduating [this school] is the equivalent of a high school diploma ["Mittleren Reife"] in Germany."
Knothe and the Culture Ministry in Kiel stated that the grades of the school, which instructs its students according to the methods of Scientology founder Ron Hubbard, are recognized neither in Denmark nor in Germany.
The case came to light because the director of personnel at the business made inquiries to the state government. The Danish private school made headlines two years ago because several Hamburg parents had pulled their children from required German courses of instruction to send them there. The Hamburg school district does not agree that the Danish school fulfills the mandatory requirements for German students.
[contact info given]
Scientology on soft soles
Reichenbach/Zwickau, Germany
September 24, 1999
Freie PresseSect alters strategy and apparently infiltrates business -
operations on the Vogtland real estate market(ur). Anybody who thinks that Scientology is in retreat and losing significance is apparently mistaken. According to information available to the "Freie Presse," the sect has only altered its strategy and, after critical publications have opened many people's eyes, is trying to recruit new members less clumsily.
Instead of decreasing, the operating field has gotten stronger in business. Companies aligned with Scientology include many from the construction and real estate sectors. In Zwickau, influential Scientologist Kurt Fliegerbauer is buying up considerable amounts of real estate with his Schloss Osterstein company.
Starting point Zwickau
The first deals in Plauen became known about two years ago, where Fliegerbauer acquired a standing office building in Rohbau, had it renovated, and marketed it. People familiar with the situation have concluded that Scientology is acquiring real estate in other areas in Vogtland, as well as in Netzschkau. News comes from one village in North Vogtland that a young man who rose to wealth in an unexplained manner is there buying up a considerable amount of buildings and real estate. He has even approached companies, but they have had no interest in him.
According to information from a business woman, the so-called WISE organization is exerting increased influence. It is said to use practical trickery to covertly bring companies into dependency and then to cash in on them.
To alert the public to the sect's activities, the Contact and Info Bureau Zwickau (KIB), which belongs to the church and is financed by the public, is organizing presentations. KIB director and theologian Joerg Bank is aware of the increased endeavors in North Vogtland. "There are business people from the region who warn us about it," he said.
Ex-member reports
On October 5 at 7:30 p.m., the KIB will talk about goals, practices and dangers in the Reichenbach Old Meeting Hall. Scientology ex-member Sylvia Goerg will report there on the time she was in the sect. This Friday, at 7:30 p.m., there will be a presentation in the Zwickau "Neuen Welt" with Ursula Caberta, a Scientology specialist.
From: "TAZ"
June 7, 1995Representatives of the Scientology sect feign public criticism: All real estate agents are completely normal.
Attack is the best defense. That is probably what the three Scientologists were thinking who arrived at Allerstrasse 4 in Neukolln yesterday. That is where Phoenix real estate, a Scientology-aligned company, has been converting rental apartments into condominiums for months.
In reply to a SFB broadcast about the sect in the Allerstrasse building, the Vice President and Press Spokesman of the "Scientology Church e.V." himself came from Hamburg, where the sect has been active in the real estate business for years, and which recently had a change in management. In the meantime the chief of the secret service unit, "Office of Special Affairs" (OSA) and the director of the commerce business group "World Institute of Scientology Enterprises" (WISE) have been active in Hansestadt, it was confirmed to "TAZ" by a Scientology representative in Hamburg.
"The Scientology Church has nothing to do with real estate," Vice President Franz Riedl repeatedly stated yesterday. His claim was met with laughter and hoots by the numerous renters who were present. Ulrich Mergelmeyer and Jurgen Joting, staff at the Phoenix and acknowledged Scientologists, also stated that the one did not have anything to do with the other. "People are mixing up business and private life," said Joting.
Mergelmeyer protested that the Phoenix was a real estate company, the same as any other. He did admit, nevertheless, that the company was a member of WISE. The vice president of the sect said that of over 20,000 real estate dealers in Germany, "only forty" were Scientologists.
Mergelmeyer complained that the renters' protest had created a climate "from which the Renters' Association would profit." He said since the inception of the Phoenix four months prior, he was not aware of any folders kept on the renters which contained a personality profile. Renters who had been pressured [to move] had reported of these type of folders [being kept on them] with detailed information as to age and illnesses. In Neukolln, there are, according to a statement by the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft" Rental Agency, seventeen buildings with over 500 residences and units affected, in which Phoenix and other Scientology- aligned companies, HIC, TCG, GGB, Erber, Britz and Lux have been trying to get renters to offer their residence up for sale or force them to move. Of the 23 dwellings at Allerstrasse 4, about a quarter have been sold so far.
"Those have been in the spotlight since May," complained Mergelmeyer. Since renter initiatives have been brought to bear against the conversion, and potential buyers have been warned of connections to the sect when they go to view the property, sales have dropped off.
Bodo Manegold (CDU) of the Neukolln City Planning Council compared Phoenix' way of proceeding with "Stasi [secret police] methods." An attorney for the renters warned of the "psychologically refined" style of [building] conversion.
Barbara Bollwahn
Copyright: contrapress media GmbH
From: "TAZ"
July 3, 1995by Uwe Rada
Copyright: contrapress media GmbH
"Go with God. But Go! Scientology Sect, Out of this Building"
Apparently the potential buyers of the condominiums have understood the banners against the Scientology-allied real estate conversion companies. The banners on the front of its building at Sanderstrasse 4 in Neukolln have been bad for business at the TransWert company, who owns the building. The company claims that the "illicit use of the exterior of the building's facade can result in serious, irreparable commercial damage." The business managers of the TransWert, Waldemar-Fred Anton and Robert Boehm, have stated what the the cause of the alleged damage is, "Potential buyers of the condominiums we have for sale show little or no interest in acquiring a single residence as soon as they see the building."
The banners against the Scientology condo-converters have been hanging on a total of four buildings. It is to be decided whether they will be removed from Sanderstrasse 4. Next Tuesday, TransWert will hear the decision from the Neukolln District Court ("Amtsgericht") on whether the renters can imply or state that the building at Sanderstrasse 4 is the possession of the Scientology Church. A petition for a temporary order _without_ appeal was refused by the court two weeks ago. The application expressed the fear that "crimes against the building" could occur as a result of the demonstration of protest by the "Renters against Scientology."
Apart from the fact that the wording of the complaint does not fulfil the applicable legal decision - it has been legally determined that Scientology does not operate as a church, but as a commercial enterprise - TransWert states that it does not want anything to do with Scientology. "The illicitly employed placards," states the basis of the complaint, "castigates the applicant in the crudest and most baseless manner." To "establish credibility," the TransWert business manager presented the "sworn attestation of a witness [named] Weissberg." Sure enough, Weissberg has already been outed as a Scientologist by Ursula Dyckhoff, a Scientology opponent and rental advisor. Dyckhoff had already given sworn testimony to this effect.
TransWert will have a tough time getting people to believe that it has no relationship to Scientologists. One of the TransWert proxies is Farhad Rashidi, an identified Scientologist. In 1990, he was listed in Issue 33 of "Impact" magazine as a "patron." This means he has donated $40,000 to the sect's war chest. Rashidi is also listed in the register of the Scientology Commerce Department, 'WISE,' for the years 1991 and 1992.
According to a statement of the "Renters against Scientology" alliance, which invites the public to tomorrow's hearing, Rashidi and Weissberg both are proxies for the TCG company. The business manager of that company is also an acknowledged Scientologist.
Uwe Rada
The hearings will take place on Tuesday at 12 o'clock in room E/16a of the Neukolln District Court ["Amtsgericht"] on Karl-Marx-Strasse.