Scientology Ads

Between 1994 and 1996, the Church of Scientology placed a series of full-page ads (at a cost of approximately $60,000 each) in The Washington Post and The New York Times in which the Church accused Germany of treating its members like Jews during the Nazi regime. This campaign was roundly condemned by Jewish groups, the U.N., and the U.S. State Department. The ads were refused by German newspaper publishers.

Washington Post September 1994

October 3, 1990, was an historic day for Germans. As the former communist state of East Germany and the democratic republic of West Germany joined again after almost 50 years of division, Germans all over the world celebrated the reuniting of their country. Yet, paradoxically, four years after Germany's rebirth as one nation, the gulf inside the country between Germans and those viewed as "foreign" or non-German is wider than at any time since World War II. Resurgent nationalism has brought a wave of attacks on religious and racial minorities. Once again, Jews are among the victims. In March of this year, a Jewish synagogue was firebombed with neofascist extremists suspected as culprits — the first such attack on a synagogue since the war. An isolated incident? Hardly. In the year of unification, incidents of extremist violence totalled 375. The following vear, they more than tripled to 1275.

In 1992, they totalled 2,285. Members of minority religions and ethnic groups have been targets of beatings, burnings and even murder.

Germany's recent president, Richard von Weizsaecker, warns of the national reversion to fascism, with anti-Semitism again rearing its ugly head. In May, Weizsaecker told the New York Times that when he spoke about the Holocaust nine years ago, "I got many letters then asking me what right I had to say that many Jews had died. Today, I am still getting the same kind of questions, but now they sign their names and give their addresses. Nine years ago, they were anonymous."

Those who look to the German govemment for solutions will find none.

Although media blame shaven-headed, neo-Nazi youth for the discriminatory acts against non-Germans and minorities, the govemment is as guilty. In Germany today, you cannot join a political party if the government disagrees with your religious beliefs. In December 1991, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany's governing party, did what would be unthinkable in any other democracy. At its annual party convention in Dresden it resolved that membership in the Church of Scientology was incompatible with membership in the CDU party. And it banned all Scientologists from the party. Chancellor Helmut Kohl, in his capacity as the national leader of the CDU party, personally voted for this prohibition. By doing so, he violated the religious freedom guarantees embodied in the German constitution — a constitution written for Germany after the war to protect the rights of minorities. Anyone wanting to join the CDU has to sign an official form stating that he is not a member of the Church of Scientology — a recognized, tax-exempt American religion.

Intolerance and hatred characterize the treatment of "foreigners" and minorities by the German authorities. In an incident reported by Amnesty International a 32-year old Iranian who was traveling on a bus was violently assaulted by the driver. When the police arrived, instead of arresting his assailant, they pulled the Iranian roughly from the bus and threw him into a van with such force that his head banged against its side. He was driven to a police station and interrogated by several officers, who, thinking he was Jewish, hurled racial insults at him. When they found out he was Iranian, they ridiculed and abused the Islamic religion. When he tried to complain about his ill-treatment, one of the officers struck him several times in the face. A medical examination later found that his vision had been damaged by these attacks, yet he was accused by the German police of "resisting state authority." Recently a mob of rightists and hooligans attacked a group of five black Africans and destroyed a local restaurant owned by Turks. Of 50 rioters arrested in broad daylight, the police released 49 immediately. However, they detained a Turkish waiter who had stabbed a rioter in defense of the African men. In the 1930s, Nazis stormed through the streets of German cities, terrorizing and killing Jews and members of religious minorities. Although news of these events reached the outside world, nothing was done. Today, we would be wise not to ignore the early warning signs from a country which has twice this century brought the world to war, and whose govemment is today attempting to rewrite history with an exhibition at Columbia University puffing up so-called German resistance to the Nazis — a spectacle that, according to the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, is intended solely to polish Germany's international prestige. You can make your voice heard. Experience, has shown that German politicians, while ignoring protests from minorities in their own country, will listen to the voice of world opinion — especially American opinion.

Write to Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Urge him to take strong and effective steps to stop hatred and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities in Germany.

Dr. Helmut Kohl
Federal Chancellor
Adenauerallee 139-141 53113, Bonn
Germany

Send copies of your letter to:

John Shattuck
Assistant Secretary of State
Department of State,
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520

President Bill Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dr. Klaus Kinkel
Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Adenauerallee 99-103 53113 Bonn
Germany

Mr. George Rupp
President
Columbia University,
New York, N.Y. 10027

Dr. John Gerard
Ruggie Dean School of International and Public Affairs
Columbia University,
New York, N.Y. 10027

Other Scientology ads:

• 1995 Washington Post
• 1995 New York Times
• 1996 New York Times

A response from the Anti-Defamation League , fairly typical of the general reaction to these ads:

The New York Times Editorials/Letters
Thursday, September 29, 1994

Attack on Germany

To the Editor:

The advertisement of the Church of Scientology ("Never Again," Sept. 22) parades concern about neo-Nazi skinhead activity in Germany. But the ad is a broad-scale, unjustified attack on the democratic German Government for having banned the Scientology movement. There are real problems in Germany today, and the Government could and should do more to combat the extremists and to educate for greater tolerance and pluralism. That, in no way justifies the assault — the imagery of Nazi-like society — depicted by the Scientology ad.

Making things worse is the Scientology effort to link the German ban of the group to Nazi persecution of Jews. This is a disgrace and reflects the group's willingness to go to any lengths to take revenge on a Government that has taken action against it.

-ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN Natl. Dir., Anti-Defamation League New York, Sept. 23, 1994

           

Upon reading that, leading Scientologist Heber Jentzsch responded to Foxman's letter by writing that Foxman supported "fascist treatment" in Germany. "Wake up, Mr. Foxman," wrote the excited Jentzsch in his letter, in which he incorrectly spelled both Luebeck  ("Leubeck") and the name of Labor Minister Norbert Bluem  ("Bleum"). "Do you smell the burning flesh of the Turks who have been thrown into the fire by your beloved German democracy?" he wrote.

-Steffan Heuer, "In the War against Germany", Die Woche, 12 May 1995