Tutor Trap:

How Scientology recruits the next generation fm http://www.br-online.de/politik/ard-report/archiv/0906scien.htm [From Munich, Germany] June 9, 1997 by Lisa Wurscher and Marion Paulsen Following up on an anonymous call, we come upon a pamphlet in Munich. A teacher there offers help for school and learning difficulties. According to our anonymous informant, the teacher is a member of the psycho-business of Scientology. We wish to follow up on the tip.

We pass ourselves off as mothers who have brought two children in need of remedial help. They have been enlightened as to Scientology. The time they spend here will cause them no harmful after-effects. We film the instruction with an amateur video camera. The textbooks originate from L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the organization. A pamphlet of the psycho-business lies on the table.

However the teacher does not explain anything to us about Scientology. The sole goal of the lesson is the definition of simple concepts. This kind of remedial assistance will certainly not bring about better grades. It has an entirely different purpose -- to introduce children to Scientology without, apparently, the knowledge of their parents.

We bought the same textbooks. We wanted to get to the root of the subtle methods of their influence. Then it became clear: the definitions of simple words lead up to a central concept -- the misunderstood word.

In order to remove the alleged misunderstanding, the children have to clear the word meaning. Example: the bank. A bank can be a row or a tier, or there can be money in a bank. So far, so good. Then the teacher implants his students with yet a third definition of bank -- the reactive mind -- Scientology synonym for subconscious. According to Scientologists it is something which should be removed because it encumbers the person. These definitions prepare the children for a hypnotic session, the so-called auditing. An agonizing procedure. We have yet to experience it for ourselves.

A half year later. In the meantime we have access to the innermost circle of the sect. We, ourselves, are to be trained as tutors for the Scientology organization, "Applied Scholastics."

We document the introductory speech in Cologne with a hidden camera. The director of the German "Applied Scholastics" center tells us, "Basically we are this office in Germany and we establish various study groups all around the country to become better known. And the bad thing at the moment is that we really are not able to become known, because the press immediately arrives and talks Scientology and brainwashing. And people close up. They don't want to hear anything about it or have anything to do with it. It's rather criminal, what's happening out there."

"Perhaps one would be better off not saying that to the people...?"

"I'll say that to no one. That is what is happening here, nobody gets anything at all out of it."

After this introduction our training begins. First, in Obertshausen near Frankfurt, we are supposed to be made into good Scientologists.

What we have planned is an experiment by one of the authors. Risky, because no one can protect themselves from the effects of the Scientology psycho-technology.

The agonizing procedure begins. We have to sit facing the so-called auditors with closed eyes. We may neither speak nor move. They look at us for an entire hour. With all our strength we struggle against the nausea which arises.

Towards the end, the situation becomes almost unbearable. Silence as a means of torture.

After an hour, done at last. It continues without a break. The next exercise.

This time we have to take over the roll of auditor. We are supposed to learn to apply this abrasive method later upon our students:

"Do birds fly?"

"Are you stupid"

"I repeat the auditing question. Do birds fly?"

"I'm also stupid. Do you know what my daughter said to me: you are a dingle-butt mom. That's what she said to me."

"Aha. I repeat the auditing question do birds fly?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. Do birds fly?"

"Mhm."

"Good. Do birds fly?"

"Of course."

"All right. Do birds fly?"

"Haven't you ever seen that birds fly? I think you must have seen that birds fly already. Of course they fly."

"Good. Do birds fly?"

"Mhm."

"Thank you. Do birds fly?"

"Yes, yes, they fly."

"Good. Do birds fly?"

That went on for three days. Sometimes we became indecisive and reacted mechanically. Our auditors immediately recognized that:

"Now I've got you. You've become numb. Now I have the button. You can't move.

All right. Brain-washed. Is that it? Brain-washed. You've not noticed it.

Right?

We presented this scene to Klaus Behnke, graduate psychologist and therapist for Stasi victims. ["Stasi" = former East German secret police, "Staatssicherheitsdienst" = State Secret Service.] His impression:

"A chill ran down my spine when I first saw that. It reminded me of something I've been told many times before, the psychic torture meted out by the State Secret Service, who used quite similar methods to, as the Stasi called it, disintegrate with their disintegration methods."

"Disintegration" works especially well with children. They have less resistance. This is why Scientologists press forward with the establishment of tutoring groups. There are already at least eleven "Applied Scholastics"

franchises: in Verlbert by Wuppertal, in Erzhausen by Darmstadt, in Kriftel by Frankfurt, in Heilbronn, Hartheim by Freiburg, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Munich. Scientologists disguised as tutors are on the look-out for unsuspecting victims all around the country.

We have to marathon-cram for the Scientology instruction method because it is time for the exam. We are not alone with our students. Beside us sits the director of the institute. She wants to monitor to see if we have developed into dependable teachers for the organization. Our research comes to an end with this course. After one and a half years we can finally end our stay with Scientology.

German Scientology News

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