More about Germany and Scientology.


Note: This page contains many false and libellous allegations. I am distancing myself from them. They are published as a historic record only.

GERMANS AND AMERICANS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION

(G.A.A.D.)
545 Eighth Avenue, Suite 401
New York, NY 10018
Phone (212)560-2689

HAMBURG STATE GOVERNMENT FUNDING DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

A recent letter to GAAD from a German businessman has revealed a shocking practice that is apparently being condoned by the Hamburg parliament.

The writer, an established businessman in Berlin who chooses to remain anonymous, has reported that he was required to sign a "Scientology disclaimer" form before a large real estate company in Berlin would agree to do business with him.

These "disclaimer" forms, according to reliable sources, are provided by Ms. Ursula Caberta, who heads the anti-Scientology working group based in Hamburg under the Hamburg Ministry of Interior.

It also appears that the Berlin Chamber of Commerce has published information on these forms in one of their periodicals.

In fact, Ms. Caberta has gone so far as to promote these forms in a speech to businessmen in Bremen as a "solution" to the "infiltration" of businesses by members of the Church of Scientology. One wonders whether Caberta will be issuing similar disclaimer forms for members of the Jewish faith or Catholics to prevent the takeover of Germany businesses by members of these religions.

These discriminatory practices by German officials must cease. If you are aware of similar practices going on, please send us your story. We are in the process of collecting all of the facts on this subject.

Below is a reprint of a previous article on this issue...

IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?

Imagine this:

You are a productive citizen who runs a small business which you created using your own hard work and initiative. One day you arrive to work to find out that the Minister of Labor in the country in which you live has has just decreed that your business will no longer be allowed to be licensed by the state due to your religion. He later declares that members of the religion should be banned from occupations which intersect with society. The reasoning is based on false and unsupported charges and is part of a campaign to ban your religion.

This decree is accompanied by a nation wide smear campaign in the press in which members of your religion are depicted as demons and ogres. Suddenly, people you once knew will no longer speak to you and are told by government officials not to do business with you. The business which you worked hard to build collapses.

As such a discriminatory decree is against the country's constitution, you decide to file suit with the little money you have left only to be faced with a prejudiced panel of judges who have been subjected to "enlightenment" briefings as part of government sponsored campaign against your religion.

You are recognized on the street as a member of this religion and are physically threatened and subjected to verbal abuse. Your property is defaced with hate filled graffiti.

Still being a loyal citizen, you attempt to join a political party so as to have a voice against the ruling governmnent's oppression only to find that all the political parties have banned members of your religion from participation.

If this sounds like a Jew in pre-war Germany, you are only partially correct; this is exactly what is going on in Germany today but the members of the minority are not Jews but Scientologists.

In the wake of the horrors of Nazi Germany, under the watchful eye of the allied powers, a German constitution was forged which mandated that regardless of race, color or creed, all citizens shall have the right to practice the religion of their choice:

Article 3.3: "No one may be discriminated against because of his sex, his heritage, his race, his language, his birthplace, his beliefs, his religious or political ideologies."

Article 4:1: "The freedom of faith, of conscience, and the freedom of religious and ideological beliefs are inviolable."

Article 4:2: "The undisturbed practice of religion is guaranteed."

______________________

The guarantees in the German constitution are under serious attack today, not from a foreign power but from a German offical by the name of Ursula Caberta, head of "Working Group" established by Hamburg's Senate in the Ministry of Interior to target Scientology. Amongst other things Caberta:

These are the facts:

Caberta's Working Group on Scientology, was established in 1991 by a motion from Caberta herself who, at that time was a member of the Hamburg Senate. Caberta then got herself appointed to the job at several times the pay. The Hamburg taxpayers contribute one million deutschemarks annually to fund Caberta's office which is directly used to further a hate campaign against the Scientologists. Incidents created by this campaign of hate and prejudice abound. Just a few examples follow:

The Inquiry Commission is planning to draft a revision to Article 4 of the German constitution regarding religious freedom, which would clarify which religions are afforded this protection under the constitution. The Commission, which is expected to present an intermediate report in mid-1997 and conclude its work in Spring 1988, seeks to achieve a prohibition of Scientology and other religious movements in Germany.

Interestingly enough, Hamburg's official minority hunter, Caberta, also advocates Stasi-like surveillance methods and coercive tactics in furtherance of this objective to get new religious movements banned. She has repeatedly stressed the importance of the involvement of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in her battle against Scientology and other religious minorities.

The use of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to suppress religious minorities has an unpleasant overtone, especially in Germany, a country still scarred by religious intolerance and genocide unlike any in history, where state security agencies abused their powers to eliminate dissidents.

Is it possible that Caberta knows exactly where her abuse of power is leading? Should her actions be viewed as simply the greed of a rising politician, or are these right-wing connections of Caberta's just a glimpse of what is rapidly becoming a re-enactment of the Third Reich in Germany?

Germans and Americans Against Discrimination (G.A.A.D.) is a grass-roots movement formed up in October 1993 by German and American citizens who are committed to exposing fascism, right-wing extremists, discrimination and injustice of any kind.