Award for Norbert Bluem Last year Bob Minton received the Alternate Charlemagne human rights award in Leipzig, Germany, for his work in dealing with the Scientology organization. The Leipzig Award Committee, with members from eight countries, recognized that other people in addition to US citizen Bob Minton have made progress in publicly dealing with Scientology. Therefore the committee will again be presenting the award this year in appreciation of the importance of maintaining human worth.

This year the Leipzig award goes to German former Minister of Labor Norbert Bluem - http://www.leipzig-award.org/. The award is made in acknowledgement of Dr. Bluem's "implementing and championing the causes of human rights and religious freedom in the d iscussion about the totalitarian Scientology Organization."=20 The reason people express appreciation is to publicly recognize value in life, not just in a strictly statistical, monetary or general sense, but also in other ways that we strive to apply ourselves and encourage in others through example. Therefore the award is not a popularity contest, nor does the selection of a particular person mean that anyone else is less worthy. But by all means if you can think of anyone who deserves the award, it's not too early to start making suggestions for next year and beyond. In sorting out material concerning the award, please keep in mind that while it is a person who receives the award, the important thing is what the award is being received for.

Because language compartments people off from the rest of the world, German Scientology News has worked to break down that barrier to bring you information you would otherwise lack in your perception of the matter.=20 http://cisar.org/951127a.htm This page is a translation from the German language at:

http://home.t-online.de/home/Ingo.Heinemann/bluem95.htm=20 The Spiegel 48/95 November 27, 1995 Spiegel Interview That is psychological warfare"

Labor Minister Norbert Bluem on the threat to society by the Scientology business sect "Octopus" is what Federal Labor Minister Norbert Bluem, 60, calls the worldwide psycho-business of Scientology. The sect, founded in 1954 by American L. Ron Hubbard, has been active in Germany for 25 years and has, according to what it says, more than 30,000 members in Germany. The sect deals with its critics aggressively. In a magazine called "Freiheit" ["Freedom"] it disparages not only Bluem, but also the Scientology Commissioner of the Hamburg Senate, Ursula Caberta, and the best-seller author and Scientology expert Renate Hartwig. "Scientology is an organization in which the end justifies the means," stated Robert Vaughn Young, a former management level member of the sect. "Its goal is complete control of schools, companies and governments"

(Spiegel 39/1995).=20 SPIEGEL:

Mr. Bluem, you are the only minister in the federal government who loudly warns people about the Scientology psycho-sect. What alarms you?=20 Bluem:

Two years ago at an election rally in southern Germany I met a mother who had lost her son to this sect which disregards human beings. The young man had been turned into a completely different person, and she no longer had any kind of contact with her child. It became clear to me then for the first time what kind of terrorism Scientology uses on people.=20 SPIEGEL:

In the meantime you have gotten quite high up on the sect's enemies list. In Scientology propaganda you are portrayed as a "spiritual arsonist" in the tradition of Adolf Hitler. The accusation goes that you have persecuted the Scientologists as the Nazis did the Jews in the Third Reich.=20 Bluem:

That would be OK if it only concerned me. But anybody who compares our campaign against sects, which we are leading by legal means, with the mass murders of the Jews is insulting the victims of the Holocaust. And that, as far as I'm concerned, is that.=20 SPIEGEL:

Don't you have to worry about slander and verbal attacks?

Sect founder L. Ron Hubbard gave the instruction that Scientology critics like you can be "harassed, lied to, deceived or destroyed" in order to silence you.=20 Bluem:

That is part of the intimidation strategy of this association. But if one believes he can worry me, then I can get real stubborn.

In case anything ever actually happens to me, someone will certainly get the idea to look for evidence. I am better protected than a labor office official, for instance, who denies a Scientologist a license for running a private employment agency. If they chose to take it out on him, that would, of course, have less effect than [if they chose to take it out] on me.=20 SPIEGEL:

Scientology makes claims of being a church - and would therefore enjoy the protection of Basic Law.=20 Bluem:

Scientology is the opposite of a church. The sect does not base belief on freedom, but on suppression; golly, you can't call that belief at all. It only has to do with satisfying their lust for power. Money, money and money - that is Scientology's trinity.=20 SPIEGEL:

You have described the organization as a "cartel which disregards human beings" ["menschenverachtendes Kartell"] and as a "criminal money-laundering organization. What makes Scientology so dangerous?=20 Bluem:

This sect is an octopus which ruins people and intentionally puts them in debt by obligating them to graduate unending, over-priced psycho-courses. It destroys the individual's personal essence, by a refined form of brainwashing, no less, which has only been developed this century. Those persecuted in former times can almost be envied, at least they could still think freely regardless of threat. But the victims of Scientology do not understand how they have been conquered by these manipulation techniques. That is a massive danger for our democracy.=20 SPIEGEL:

"Public Enemy Scientology" - this kind of classification used to only be used on political extremists. Aren't you giving the sect too much credit?=20 Bluem:

Not at all. A democracy needs voting citizens. If people turn into marionettes, though, there's no more democracy. All it needs then is a string-puller, and Scientology wants this world domination. Their goal is a new form of imperialism in which the opponent is not shot, but gotten rid of in some other manner. That is war, psychological war. The new conquerors like Scientology no longer arrive like Genghis Khan or Hitler on horses or tanks. Nor with atom bombs. But they can leave behind the same devastation if they manipulate an entire society.=20 "We have long underestimated the problem."

SPIEGEL:

Why doesn't the state just ban Scientology?=20 Bluem:

That would be the emergency measure. Our primary weapon is information. We have to immunize society against this soul peddler. The young people - they are especially at risk - and even their parents should have the alarm signals go off when they see the name of Scientology. Nobody can lead seeing people to their ruin.=20 SPIEGEL:

But that happens sometimes anyway. Many former sect members report that they had been informed about the risks.

But everything they had been warned about, psycho-terrorism or brainwashing, they did not see those things at first - instead they saw only nice, happy people who were ready to help.=20 Bluem:

That is the trick. This feigned friendliness is the bog in which people mire down. In it they believe they have found what society can no longer offer them. It is not good enough to say, "You have something to eat and drink, and once a year you can take a vacation." What that doesn't cover is an enormous void of meaning which people have - the yearning for transcendence. That is the market hole which Scientology exploits.=20 SPIEGEL:

Aren't the churches supposed to be doing that?=20 Bluem:

The churches frequently shy away from filling their role of supporting understanding. If I listen to morning services on the radio when I am in the bathtub, that is all quite interesting, but I really don't need a minister for that. The churches' message is reduced to social comforting, and the rest is almost shamefully kept quiet - the good God, the presence of the unknown. That area is wide open for charlatans and devils who take the place of the churches.=20 SPIEGEL:

Scientology has been spreading even into business for a long time. Entire areas, such as the real estate market, are under threat of being systematically infiltrated. The German Convention for Industry and Commerce has called the business sect a "danger to business in Germany." But the government is not doing anything.=20 Bluem:

We have been underestimating the problem for a long time.

But society is beginning to snap out of it. Using court decisions, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and other cities are forcing the sect to officially put their business on record. In doing that the sect has to reveal its finances and show from whom it gets money and what it does with it. That is already quite a bit.=20 SPIEGEL:

These judgments have hardly influenced Scientology's drive for expansion. For instance, the sect may recruit for adherents on the open street and lure unsuspecting pedestrians in with its psycho-tests. There are no related decisions which apply nationwide.=20 Bluem:

As a first resort, this is a matter for the states. The Interior Ministers Conference will concern itself with that. As part of the federal government, we cannot make a presentation there.

SPIEGEL:

Why not? As Labor Minister you could, for example, systematically review the business relationships of the Scientology staff. Many are slaving away for pocket money 50 hours or more a week, and often get little or no social security. What would be the harm of making a raid on the sect?=20 Bluem:

That would also be a matter for the states. We have no central person who reviews labor relationships in Germany.=20 SPIEGEL:

Random checks at construction sites for illegal workers [who avoid paying tax] have become customary since you have requested this of the states.=20 Bluem:

I also strongly recommend this to the states in the case of Scientology. But the main thing is to gather information on activities. Facts and evidence of the sect's criminal machinations must be gathered by Constitutional Security.

They have not had a blind eye to the matter. But first, at the next State Interior Ministers' Conference, it will be decided whether a nationwide operation will take place. I am very much in favor of that.=20 SPIEGEL:

You keep Scientologists from operating private employment placement centers. Do the reproaches against the sect serve to curtail the rights of its members to freely elect a career?=20 Bluem:

Anyone who wants to operate a business needs permission from officials, in this case the Federal Office of Labor. But why issue someone a license when he uses this as a pretext to gain the personnel layout and personal data from a business?

It starts out quite harmlessly, with the psycho-tests, but the goal is a network of informants who exploit the needs and weaknesses of people.=20 SPIEGEL:

Which career should a Scientologist be permitted to follow?

May he be a teacher?=20 Bluem:

No.=20 SPIEGEL:

Kindergarten teach, professor, police officer?=20 Bluem:

No. Those are all tentacles of the sect. Why would they bother themselves with teachers? In order to timely prepare the next generation for their dirty business.=20 SPIEGEL:

Are you thinking of a legal professional ban?=20 Bluem:

A professional ban is the extreme, the last resort. Until then we are in the position of having to explain the techniques used by the sect. But in any case I want to prevent the Scientologists from settling themselves down in the nodes of society - kindergartens, schools, state agencies and commercial enterprises. These nodes link together to form a net for those being manipulated.=20 SPIEGEL:

In that you are alone in the federal government. Nothing on this subject can be heard from the departments of commerce, family or the interior.=20 Bluem:

Well, Manfred Kanther is not afraid, in any case; he has already expelled a Scientologist in his CDU state association from the party. And naturally I would be glad if his colleague Rexrodt joined him in the battle against psychic suppression which Scientology organizes. Freedom is a basic liberal theme. The FDP, like the CDU/CSU, excludes Scientology members. And Bavaria is at the forefront of the battle against Scientology.=20 SPIEGEL:

And your friend in party politics in the Families Ministry, Claudia Nolte?=20 Bluem:

She has recognized the danger.=20 "We need a public system of exit counselors"

SPIEGEL:

But apparently without suffering the consequences. Sect expert state that many members - some of them deeply in debt or at their spiritual end - would depart Scientology if there were institutions which would show them the way back to civil life.=20 Bluem:

That must not be permitted to fail because of money. We need a public system of exit counselors. To use military terminology, we need a psychological Red Cross which carries the wounded from the battlefield like the medics do in war. The Scientologists should be clear that we mean this seriously. They have to know that the game is over.=20 SPIEGEL:

Bluem:

Sir, we thank you for this interview.=20 --- If you do a web search on "Norbert Bluem Scientology", you'll get an idea of what is available in the English language about Norbert Bluem and Scientology. Most of what you see will be Scientology semi-fiction about Dr. Bluem (Bluem is an anglicized spelling of the German name Bl=FCm, which may not display correctly on your screen). For those who have not yet realized it, Scientology presents a distorted picture of reality, especially when dealing with disagreement. A graphic example of this in regards t o Norbert Bluem will be posted to alt.binaries.scientology.=20 --- Joe Cisar: http://cisar.org/rfs0100.htm
Overview of Scientology in Germany: http://cisar.org/overview.htm
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