Susanne's nightmare by Pierre Collignon, unofficial anonymous English translation Jyllands-Posten (Copenhagen, Denmark) January 14, 2001 For Susanne Elleby the RPF was a world of informers, censorship, control, and mental breakdown. She felt like a convict. Susanne Elleby had joined the peculiar 'monastic order' of Scientology, the Sea Organisation, because she wanted to fight for a world "without crime, without war and without insanity"--as the movement promised. And she was in love. The 20-year-old girl from Randers had met a German Scientologist, who was one of the 'pious' people in the core of the group, and she married him and signed a billion year contract with the Sea Org in order to be with him. However, Susanne never came to believe 100% in the teachings of Scientology, and she could not become reconciled with the extensive control apparatus of the movement. In the autumn of 1989 - after well over a year - she decided to try to get out, and the question was how? Susanne had heard that Scientology persecuted people who left. She was also afraid of being met with an enormous bill for all the courses she had taken for free while in the Sea Org. Deliberate howlers For these reasons she chose to join the RPF and deliberately make some howlers. On an official journey to Germany she enjoyed herself going out and flirting with another Scientologist in stead of doing her work. Susanne was sent to the RPF and thought that she would soon be thrown out - but she was wrong. Scientology did not give up that easily. Susanne felt a lot of pressure from the first moment on the RPF in Copenhagen. She says that she was forced to admit to numerous "crimes". "They kept repeating that I could only move forward if I confessed my crimes. Three days went on like this and then I was mentally broken. I started doubting everything and felt I was a terrible human being, because I had erred. In the end I was like a marionette. I did everything they told me to," Susanne Elleby recounts. Susanne Elleby is one of the only former members of Scientology who got all of her personal files out with her. She can therefore display hundreds of intelligence reports, records and declarations - and it gives an interesting insight into the everyday life of the RPF. There are long lists of assignments and practices that Susanne should complete. Every time followed by a "flunk" mark or a "success story", in which Susanne would write that the course she had just gone through was "fantastic". There are many notifications of jobs well done - but also knowledge reports from other PRF'ers of different offences she had committed. Maybe Susanne had thrown out her food in the wrong garbage can, or she had stolen a cigarette, or she had forgotten to take her vitamins, or she had overslept, been grumpy - or spent too much time in the bathroom. Most reports are followed by statements from Susanne that she admitted her guilt and accepted her punishment - e.g. in the form of "rounds". A round was a run up and down the backstairs of the Hotel Nordland. Susanne herself participated in the informing on others and turned in her friends for lack of cleaning or violations of the security regulations. "We were told that we could help our friends by turning them in, but in reality people turned each other in because they wanted to look good in front of management, so they would not be punished themselves. The system builds a 'web' around each person, so you cannot do anything without it being reported immediately," Susanne says. Every offence set her further back and she realised that she would not be set free for quite some time yet. It also meant that Susanne had to live without her husband. He wrote her several letters in order to get her to achieve the yellow armband, which at the time gave the RPF'ers the right to three hours of freedom every Saturday. So that they could be together - but the couple only experienced this luxury two or three times. Susanne had to send written applications in order to go to the dentist or write a letter to her family. Each time the letter should be enclosed for the "Ethics Officer" to check the contents. She was not allowed to go anywhere without permission and she was never alone. Once, however, the Ethics Officer wrote a report about the young woman being away from her post for 20 minutes. It turned out that Susanne had gone to the toilet to rest because she was exhausted. Was starved According to Susanne the RPF'ers were seldom allowed to study for five hours daily as Scientology had promised them. Often they had to work evenings and nights to do renovations or cleaning projects that simply had to be done before an appointed date. Other Scientology defectors have told of how they were starved during their rehabilitation in Copenhagen, but Susanne Elleby cannot confirm this. She was given enough to eat and can only complain about the food being too unvaried at times as the menu was rice and beans, when Scientology was getting bad financial results. Little by little Susanne's inner resistance returned. She felt bad about having to report on her so-called "twin" at the RPF, because he masturbated at night. He confessed to this every time he was in session with Susanne. "In the world of Scientology masturbation was considered to be a selfish act. I thought it was a pretty normal thing for a young man to be doing, but there was no respect for privacy," Susanne says. She stopped writing up reports on her twin, and when it was exposed Susanne was punished for the same crime as the young man. She was considered an accomplice because she covered for him. On November 1st 1990 Susanne got into serious trouble when three books were found in her bag. It was two love-stories that Susanne had read numerous times, and a songbook from when she was a girl scout. She had kept them because she needed memories from the world outside, she says today. But back then she had to get rid of the books and declare in writing that it was wrong of her to bring books to the RPF, because it could delay her "penance" on the program. Shortly thereafter Susanne was sent to the RPF's PRF - the program for the most sinful among sinners. From then on Susanne was a complete outcast. She was to sleep alone in a small room in the ceiling, eat alone on the backstairs, and work alone all day. At meals she waited on the other RPF'ers, served them their food and cleaned up after them. On November 18th Susanne asked for permission to call her parents so they could come and get her. She wanted out. It was denied with the following reasons from the Ethics Officer: "This application is not filled out correctly. You do not state the reason for wanting to go to your parents." A few tried to escape from the RPF, but they were mostly caught by security guards who convinced them to return. In the end Susanne reached the conclusion that it was impossible to leave Scientology by following their rules, and she invented a dramatic story to create a panic. She told them that her younger brother, who was in the military, would come and blow up Scientology's building if she was not set free at once. "Expelled" The threat worked. December 29th 1990 the Scientology leadership made one final effort with a written recommendation that Susanne disconnected from her brother. According to Scientology she was to refuse to see him until he gave up his resistance towards "the church". Susanne refused to do this and she was then told to pack her suitcase. Susanne was finally expelled from Scientology - after 14 months at the RPF. One month later she contacted her husband to find out if he wanted to join her outside the organisation and start a new life together. At that time her husband had also been sent to the RPF, but he would not hear of such a thing as leaving Scientology, so they agreed to get divorced. Today Susanne Elleby consideres herself lucky because she was "only" in Scientology for two and a half years. "People who stay in for many years lose their self respect. They are transformed into small and fearsome people who let others decide for them. If you as much as say "Boo" to them, they get scared," she says.

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