Duesseldorf, November 4 (AFP) - About 5,000 adherents of the imprisoned Islamic fundamentalist leader Metin Kaplan demonstrated on Saturday in Duesseldorf for the immediate release of the 47-year-old man. The Islamic demonstrators carried green flags and banners with messages like "Long live our Caliph" and "Long live Islam." Demonstrators, including numerous women in floor-length garb as well as children, demand the criminal proceedings against Kaplan, known as the "Caliph from Cologne," be stopped. As of February, the 47-year old will have to answer before the Duesseldorf Superior State Court for charges of public incitement to criminal acts. According to statements by the police, the demonstration occurred without incident. Kaplan, leader of the Caliph-state founded by his father Cemettin, headquartered in Cologne, was taken into custody in front of a Cologne Mosque in March 1999. The German Justice Department accused him of twice calling for the killing of a rival caliph in Berlin in September 1998. His rival, Halil Ibrahim Sofu, was shot to death in May 1997 by three unknown assailants at a Berlin wedding. On Tuesday, the federal attorney's office asked for four years five months for Kaplan. The fundamentalist leader rejected the court's charges repeatedly and testified that the alleged instigation to murder were only quotations from the Koran. It is anticipated the court will make a decision in mid-November.

How advisors stoke false hopes

He who is poor has himself to blame

Cologne, Germany
October 25, 2000
Koelnische Rundschau

by Thomas Linden

Back in the 1970s when sociologists were still counted as part of the social think tank, the personal success of each individual was measured by his social environment. The habitually unsuccessful knew who to blame that on, namely parents, schools and most of all, the social class to which one belonged and could not escape.

Today it is the investment speculators and stock brokers who arrogantly show the rest of the world how one turns into a millionaire at the drop of a hat. The circumstance of being poor is the fault of the person himself.

Obviously, in this age of the internet and combined stock funds, anyone can carve out a fortune in cold cash. Whereby a fortune is all too quickly equated to success - and, in the years of globalization of the capitalist economic system after the collapse of socialism, money has become a synonym for success.

Apparently there are just a few trivialities to take care of before you can move into your new villa. And for the trivialities there are advisors who fill whole volumes on the shelves of the book stores and whose titles alone guarantee impending wealth.

"The First Million in Seven Years" and "Live honestly - Become rich" can be found there, or we are simply told to "Think Positive," which makes an "art" out of "being successful."

In material terms, happiness means one book bought equals a problem solved - anyway this is the impression imparted by the advisors who promise success in matters of money just as quickly as they do in matters of sex and love.

As the people in the 19th century made an effort to be good people, the people of the 21st century endeavor to have success. Success is defined as the attainment of a set objective; even though that does not have to be a material objective, it is often identified as one.

Character and morals are only in the way when Bodo Schaefer, for instance, who presents himself as a "millionaire" and "money trainer" in his best-seller "The Way to Financial Freedom," emphatically states that earning money has nothing at all to do with avoiding bankruptcy, just the opposite ...

Appearing more professional is American sport psychologist Shane Murphy whose book, "The Art of being successful," practically gives instructions on how people should bring a little bit of structure into their lives: his offers range from bundling energy to retaining creative thought to productive self-criticism.

If one starts taking the advice of these success counselors, then the first obstacle is wading through a sea of rhetoric which fills page after numbing page. Once you run into tips like "look for a successful mentor" or "prefer the society of successful people," then you realize that your investment in this book was in vain.

But like the legendary diet counselors of "Fit for Life," many advisors have a rather restricted picture of people by which we are informed that we are not really participating in life until we take off that fat on our hips which is making us into losers.

Like you always conclude from advisors who have been implanted with positive thinking that people function like engines in need of repair. That is part of the nature of the thing. We take off a little fat there, put a little implant in there and we have installed a program for positive thought:

Anyone may reach any goal envisioned at once. Instead of getting involved with the stocks yourself, the stock market advisor is paid, instead of talking it over with a partner when things are not going so well in bed, a handbook of erotica is acquired.

By doing that a part of one's own potential to acquire experience is replaced by consumerism. It is the ability to deal in a deliberate manner which is a prerequisite for self-initiative, something which an advisor cannot take over for us by proxy. So the advisor's lecture leaves behind a feeling which is unsatisfactory similar to a long evening in front of the television watching the dramatizations of a talk show in which the rich and beautiful people give any number of recipes for success.

That, however, does not contain anything which could help with one's own chronic failures. Same as television, the life-trainers make a good living from the promises of the successful who have often gotten their golden egg from seminars on management or esoterica for which the participants have had to pay through the nose.

But if we could find out how to act from the advisors, then soon we would not need them any more. So the extent that the sales of the advisors' books are booming is the extent to which naive consumers still believe in the illusion that buying a little book for $14.80 could bring them success.

Constitutional Security

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution speaks openly about successes and failures -
The battle against neo-Nazis and spies -
The secret agents of Cologne celebrate their 50th anniversary

Cologne, Germany
October 19, 2000
Koelnische Rundschau

by Horst Zimmermann

Cologne. As is fitting for a secret agency, who will be appearing at the program for the 50th birthday of the Cologne "Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution" (OPC) this coming Tuesday is a secret.

Speeches by Office chief Heinz Fromm, Interior Minister Otto Schily and the President of the Central Council of Jews, Paul Spiegel, will be interspersed with many-flavored musical pieces - from fireworks music and Gershwin's "Many Faces" to the triumph march from Aida. Problems and hopes could hardly be recorded in a better environment.

When Heinz Fromm (52) took office the beginning of June, he had the assignment of slimming down even more the unit which had already been reduced 20 percent of former strength. But since rightwing extremist attacks have risen, its slogan seems to be "Never has Constitutional Security been so valuable as it is today."

It is expected from the Cologne agency, for instance, that it provide additional evidentiary material for an application to ban the NPD. Yet research in the mire of the rightwing has never been so difficult. "The NPD is presently keeping a significantly lower profile for the purpose of avoiding attack," the experts are saying.

And the influx of copycats has also subsided. Even before the application for a ban has been submitted, it has already had a cooling effect on the braver souls. A success which was also had in the surveillance of "Scientology."

Will agency chief Schily come to Cologne with a birthday present by which the his agency's resources will be increased? Even without rightwing extremism his office is hardly suffering from a lack of work. Fromm's predecessor, Peter Frisch, had directed the agency's antennae towards militant Islam. And neither has the traditional business of counter-espionage come to a standstill.

Ever since the office has started talking publicly about anything which is not secret, and even has its own web pages, over 20,000 hits a month at www.verfassungsschutz.de, the one-time secret agent image has been fading. Surveys report that popular approval for the agency has been increasing for years, now even including adherents of the Greens, who once called for doing away with Constitutional Security.

Since the Greens have been represented in the secret agency's oversight committee, tensions have eased. Not too long ago, Constitutional Security agents and staff from the Greens even met for a soccer match. The "Slouch-hats" won 7:3, and for that received green condoms which said, "Better with than without responsibility." Whereupon the agents retorted that now they would be probably be expected to give up the biological way. Laughter from both sides.

The talk about failures and successes is also amazingly open today. Ex-OPC President Gerd Boeden said, "We have people working here, and people sometimes make mistakes." In 1963, for instance, when, due to lack of their own eavesdropping equipment, they let the allied services listen in, or 1977, when physicist Traube's apartment was illegally bugged in the search for RAF [Red Army Faction] terrorists, or 1985, when the alcoholic Hans-Joachim Tiedge had been chief of counter-espionage until he took off in the direction of the GDR.

Five of the twelve agency presidents have been involved in scandal. Otto John landed in the GDR [East Germany] under circumstances which have never been fully explained. Hubert Schruebbers' brown past caught up with him. Richard Meier stumbled into woman problems. Heribert Hellenbroich was incriminated in the Tiedge affair. And Holger Pfahls is sought by BKA [German FBI] investigators worldwide for weapons dealing.

The successful side of the coin includes about 7,000 spies caught. While Constitutional Security could not stop Guenter Guillaume from gaining a niche in Willy Brandt's vicinity, his blown cover can be chalked up to the Cologne agency. Since 1980, material has been delivered which has led to the banning of 22 rightwing extremist organizations - from the "Wehrsportgruppe Hoffman" and the Skinheads to "Blood & Honour."

How many lives have been saved by the recent uncovering of a Palestinian terrorist group which planned to blow up an aircraft in flight remains a matter of speculation. But avoiding just a single airline catastrophe is surely worth more than the 230 million marks which the Cologne office costs per year.

Marktheidenfeld - At the 6th diaconate church conference, Rev. Dr. Wolfgang Behnk questioned the ability of the "Universal Life" congregation to reform.

No fight against non-believers

Wuerzburg, Germany
October 9, 2000
Volksblatt Wuerzburg

by Kirsten Waltert

More than 70 people looked into a multi-faceted display at a gathering of the 6th diaconate church conference of the Lohr-am-Main Evangelical district to listen to a presentation by the sect commissioner of the Evangelical state church in Bavaria, Dr. Wolfgang Behnk.

In his presentation, Behnk made it clear that criticism of various denominations was meant only objectively within a technical system of criticism, it was not a "fight against people of other faiths or other weltanschauung."

The minister pointed out that sects were reformable: "once a sect" did not mean "always a sect."

He also brought it to the audience's attention that the Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, were absolutely a "Christian sect." However, Behnk did not consider the "Universal Life" - UL for short - to be Christian. The sect commissioner gave his reason for saying that as the UL did not base its teachings on the Bible, but regarded Gabriele Wittek's instructions as its standard.

Behnk found the UL's attitude towards Jewry as extremely problematic.

The church representative said that as far as he knew, the leaflets handed out by UL members which offered "remote faith healing" by means of photographs and telephone numbers were charlatanry.

The church representative went into more detail in his criticism of the UL regarding its dealing with medicine, healing, academics and their Christian operations.

Besides Behnk's presentation, people could also go through the "Market of Alternatives" on church operational areas in the diaconate and find out about the entire church: Mr. Wetzlar from the "Evangeliums-Rundfunk" (ERF) showed segments of his television program; anyone who wanted could listen in on ERF programs.

The Evangelical environmental speaker and the Environmental Work Group of the Evangelical state youth presented their "Tailwind" operation. Besides that there were others represented, including the Bible association and the the "Diakonie" as well as the Evangelical "Sonntagsblatt."

The faithful prayed together at the fifth Sunday services. State Bishop Dr. Johannes Friedrich held the final service and answered questions afterwards.

Knowledge replaced by Belief

Constance district, Germany
September 27, 2000
Singener Wochenblatt

Landkreis Konstanz. Sexual abuse has been turning into a topic in the past years: shocked by the terrible crimes in Belgium in particular, an increased sensitivity is also noticeable in the Constance area. Teachers and educators in kindergartens and schools rely on the work of the counselling agencies, mainly the churches. But there is no guarantee that they will provide sensible consolation to the victims or unbiased information work, as has now become clear to the Constance State Court. In the end the judgment was almost coincidental: a young man was exonerated of the charge of having sexually abused and raped his sister for years.

He had to put up with the serious accusations for one and a half years. That is how long the investigation took. In the end there was no other explanation; not even the therapist could say when anything was supposed to have happened. She had simply believed the victim. The fact that belief was always a replacement for knowledge in this case did not sit well with Constance chief state attorney Fritz-Joachim Gnaedinger. He continued to delve into the matter because he wanted to know the truth, especially since a sect active across the country ("Jesus freaks") had been taking care of the girl round the clock for two years.

The person making the accusations did not appear before the court; she claimed the right not to have to appear and also had her absence excused in an attestation from a therapy center in Hesse. All the more surprising to the state attorney was the statement by a witness that she had only met the young lady several days before at her daughter's wedding. The alleged victim had avoided any type of investigation herself for the entire duration of the legal proceedings. Neither was she receiving further therapy. Therefore the state attorney was surprised that she gave an address associated with religious activity. And in the past year she had also graduated from a volunteer missionary course. The Singener Family Court was not making any accusations, neither was the Youth Office, they had given the parents full custody three times in cases which had been suspended.

The documents submitted to the court then corresponded to reality less and less: in them accusations were made back and forth and in them people stated how very much they believed the alleged victim. After a weekend visit a year and a half before she had not returned home, but had been put at a safe distance from her parents' house while charges were filed against the rest of the family. An outside Youth Office had awarded custody to a new foster mother in advance, as stated in the legal description.

A single letter which stated that her brother had raped her for one and a half hours was enough to get the charges established. But her brother had an air-tight alibi. At that point the proceedings went before the state court.

The rest was even more horrifying. The girl was said to have been the victim of child abuse. A Singener puppet show player, who has since died, was sentenced to one year in jail suspended for 150 instances of sexual abuse. Her therapist, who has since moved away, had her appear at two more hearings after his death because she obviously knew that her appearance could sway the case. The defendant documented the point in several of the many letters about abuse problems which the victim was sending out all over the world: suddenly her brother appeared in place of her former tormenter.

In school, a new therapist took up the girl's case. She had 28 sessions with her, one a week. State attorney Gnaedinger had the method of procedure carefully explained: five assistance conferences were held, only the therapist and a pastor claimed the right not to testify. They said they wanted to protect the girl and shuffled her from family to family on weekends. She was supposed to be able to graduate school while she was at a home. Gnaedinger said it clearly: rape is a felony, anyone who has knowledge thereof must testify. The minimum punishment is two years in jail. But nobody in her environment did anything for over six months, although each said they believed that the brother would molest his sister again. The state attorney could not understand that: how could they accept that the child would be injured further? The therapist on the witness stand said that to anybody who had been abused since they were five years old, a couple of months didn't make any difference. In addition, she said, playing doctor at five years old is just as bad as rape. The defending attorney, Gerd Zahner said the therapist was using "coffee clatch psychology." The catch to it is that that is apparently the current standard of sexual abuse in the county.

Hans Paul Lichtwald

Church may pay damages

Two psychotherapists believe they were unjustly described as the men behind a sect

120,000 mark law suit, including damages -
first hearing in state court yesterday

Nuernberg, Germany
September 22, 2000
Nuernberger Nachrichten
http://www.nn-online.de

by Harald Baumer

The damage is said to be enormous, somewhere around three million marks. That is being asserted by psychotherapists Guenter "Sepp" Schleicher and Leonhard Oesterle from Neumarkt county. They think they have been disparaged for many years by the Catholic Church and unjustly persecuted. They said this has caused them to lose teaching contracts and has caused diverse business contacts to fail. And now they've had enough.

The two men have filed suit in a civil chamber of the state court. However, they are not demanding the entire three million marks mentioned above, they would be satisfied with a total of 120,000 marks compensation and damages.

The entire proceedings hinge on a statement by Ludwig Lanzhammer, the sect commissioner of the Bamberg archdiocese. In 1990 he told the media that Schleicher's group, which consisted of between 200-300 people at the time, was "definitely a psycho-sect."

A person who used to participate in the group's meeting said the men wore long leather coats and riding boots and the women all wore white blouses and leather skirts, like uniforms. It was said that Schleicher's words and actions were "accepted reverentially." In Ludwig Lanzhammer's assessment, these and other observed characteristics were indications of a sect.

In the years that followed, the media and the sect commissioner himself referred back to those statements repeatedly. This resulted in enormous damage to business, as the psychotherapists intend to prove in the hearing. They have an attorney known across the nation on their side: Professor Martin Kriele authored an almost 150 page thick complaint.

The attorney has the opinion that the church (represented by the sect commissioner) went too far in its description of the Schleicher group. He said that those who appear as official spokesmen must take special care in what they say. He said that Lanzhammer asserted false things "without review and without caution." Professor Kriele: "The whole thing is an illusion - like the witch trials."

As the accused, the Bamberg Archdiocese believes that view is grossly exaggerated. It was said to be representable, even a condition of the profession, if a sect commissioner made a statement about a dubious group. "A campaign has been constructed here," said attorney Joerg von Rochow about the complaint. He believes it is completely incomprehensible that "'Sepp' Schleicher attempts to connect his own mediocrity on the church's words from the distant past.

Presiding judge Dieterich Drechsel would not tip his hand yesterday as to what the October 26 decision would look like. He did indicate, however, that the highest court decisions in reference to freedom of opinion were far too liberal. Could that also apply to sect commissioners?

The Belief in Paradise on Earth

Cologne, Germany
September 21, 2000
Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger

Dressed simply and smartly, they stand on the street corner and wait until you talk to them. They hold their "Watchtower" and "Erwachtet" magazines in hand. The Jehovah's Witnesses are practically part of the city picture in German inner cities. Many people think of the "Witnesses" as "harmless story-tellers" who are annoying only when they knock on their front doors and want to talk "about faith."

In contrast to other Christian denominations, "Jehovah's Witnesses," as they call themselves, do not believe that all Christians will go to heaven. They read out of the Bible that only 144,000 people can go that route. For those left over, however, there is a promise. They will find "Paradise on Earth" when the Kingdom of God has "annihilated" all "who ruin the earth." For non-believers, this expectation of God's campaign of annihilation may sound somewhat martial, but the Witnesses find their belief "refreshingly different." They constantly reckon that Paradise is right around the corner. As far as they are concerned, each report of bad news about environmental and natural catastrophes, wars and immorality is, at the same time, good news; it is proof that we are living "in the end times." Previous predictions about the actual end of the world, such as in 1914 and 1975, did not come true.

For about the past ten years, the Jehovah's Witnesses have been trying to be classified as a "corporation of public rights" - like other churches. They would then be exempt from basic earnings and inheritance taxes, could better minister to their faithful in hospitals and prisons, and even impose church taxes. [In Germany, church tax can be withheld from pay, like income tax.] The Jehovah's Witness communities in Selters, Taunus, however, have no interest in the latter. Their 190,000 members (4.4 million worldwide) are so closely tied to the organization that there is no lack of "voluntary donations."

Efforts to be officially recognized not successful

But so far their efforts have not met with success. In 1997, the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin refused to recognize them because their faithful may not take part in political elections, which is thereby said to undermine the "legitimacy of the state." And the legal dispute has been more counter-productive than not in its effect upon the public. While the discussion about the Scientology Church in Germany has become more hectic, the Jehovah's Witnesses have also gained the attention of the anti-sect fighters. The accusations made by former "Witnesses" have been taken under consideration because they are very reminiscent of those made against psycho-sects. "The Jehovah's Witnesses are a totalitarian organization," said Hans-Juergen Twisselmann, "because they so strongly control personal areas of life." Twisselmann, who left the Witnesses back in the 1950s, founded the "Bruederbund" in 1958, which cares for people who want to leave the Witness community. "I don't use the word 'brainwashing' because that word implies force," said Joseph Wiltung, a Norwegian former member, he said it was more of "a refined style of talking people into not thinking for themselves anymore." From early childhood, the strict teachings of the faith lead to children alienating themselves from others their own age. "Apostates" automatically lose all their friends and are relegated to a social vacuum.

Naturally, the Jehovah's Witnesses have also noticed that they are running against the wind. The press are constantly instructed in alleged false rumors. No, partaking of alcohol is not forbidden to the Witnesses, just the misuse. Yes, Jehovah's Witnesses also have free time in which they watch television, go to the movies or partake in sports - 14.2 hours per week on the average, while their religious activities require 17.5 hours. No, the Witnesses really are not a totalitarian cult. "The only people we baptize are those who have made the decision to join the Jehovah's Witnesses after a long trial period," stressed Bernd Klar, press spokesman of the organization.

No obligation to serve in the military

The community has also shifted its position on several areas in the past few years. They still refuse blood transfusions, yet hemoglobin solution with red blood cells can be accepted. Together with the progressive development of new surgical methods, this has led to hardly any Witnesses putting their lives in danger due to the content of their belief. The Witnesses are also more flexible in refusing to work in civil service. Today only military service is taboo.

But the Jehovah's Witnesses still have a special something in Germany. By virtue of their fate under National Socialism, they have acquired a moral nimbus which makes it difficult on critics today. Of the approximately 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany in 1933 ("serious Bible researchers" back then), about every third was arrested, and about 2,000 even landed in concentration camps where they received a "lilac chevron" [a classist distinction within the camp].

Chance of success: 1 in 100

Cult Researcher wants to clone dead babies

In October French biologist will implant mothers with reproduced embryos.

Berlin, Germany
September 6, 2000
Die Welt

by Jean-Michel Stoullig and Henning Lohse

Washington - Worldwide, the cloning of humans is at least officially taboo, but a French woman scientist wants to make a solo try at sweeping through the barriers in the USA: in October, announced Brigitte Broisselier, she will clone a dead baby. The infant died several days ago in the USA at the age of ten months because of a medical error. As a result, the parents asked her to "resurrect" their baby, confirmed the 44 year old woman. She has no moral objections - Broisselier is a Raelian.

Behind the Raelian Movement, as abstruse as it is scientific, lurks a sect which was founded by Claude Vorilhon (53), who resides in Canada. The former sports journalist claims that 27 years ago in France, on the site of an extinct volcano, he was confronted by an extraterrestrial who explained to him about the "true source" of all life: he said aliens in UFOs landed on the earth 25 thousand years ago and created humans and animals out of dead material by using cloning technology. Cloning is supposed to make eternal life possible for humanity.

When the Scottish, cloned sheep, Dolly, blinked in the flash bulbs for the media three years ago, the sect rejoiced - as far as they were concerned, Dolly was living proof of their theory. The Raelians found the Clonaid company in the Bahamas for genetic reproduction. According to Vorilhon, the "service," never before performed on humans, costs between 340,000 and 510,000 marks. The sect says it has 50,000 adherents in 50 countries, including Switzerland, Belgium, England and Canada. The sect members must pay about 5 percent of their income.

Broisselier, the "scientific director" of the sect company, said they had already been contacted by hundreds of people. Most of those asking were either infertile, or had lost their child and wanted to have it reproduced. That is no problem in a real case. The cells of the baby are available and the expenses are covered, "The doctors made a mistake and the parents got a lot of money which will help them to resurrect their child," said the molecular biologist and doctor of chemistry and physics. They are keeping the time and place of the process secret. They will only say that their laboratory is located in a country in which cloning humans is permitted. The team consists of a genetic technician, two biologists and a doctor who specializes in test-tube fertilization.

David Kirby, genetic researcher at the University of Washington, does not believe the operation will be a success. He estimates the chances of success at one percent. He said the cloned embryos would probably have to be implanted in a number of women because there would be numerous miscarriages. Even the cloned sheep Dolly did not come into this world until after hundreds of failures. Nevertheless Kirby commented that the technology had improved considerably. He said he would "not be surprised if there were a human clone in the near future."

Brigitte Broisselier does no more fear failure than she has ethical objections. She assured us that she does not want to produce a monster. "Parents have the right to have a child with their own genetics. Imagine the joy of a widow who raises a child that resembles her deceased spouse, down to the last hair.

Court Report

Two Lapses of Memory

Darmstadt, Germany
August 22, 2000
Frankfurter Rundschau 2000

by Wolfgang Fleckenstein

Darmstadt. The court's jury of the Darmstadt State Court has been faced with a difficult task since Tuesday: it has to clear up two lapses of memory. Neither the alleged perpetrator, whom the state attorney's office has accused of attempted murder, nor the victim can recall the actual chain of events. The main hearing lasted four days, and what needs to be cleared up is whether a 26-year-old mill operator from Darmstadt injured his girlfriend who was no longer living with him so seriously with a knife or other object on April 18, 1999, that she barely got away with her life.

According to the charge, the man abused the 22-year-old cashier around 4:30 in the morning so that she suffered cuts on her face and in her genital area, a life-threatening brain hemorrhage, a broken left wrist and multiple bruises. Besides that the accused is said to have tried to stop the police, whom the neighbors had called, from entering the residence and living room in which the gasping and severely bleeding victim lie. The young woman was so badly injured that she had to be put on artificial respiration at the Darmstadt clinic.

The native-born Moroccan grew up in Dieburg with eight brothers and sisters and, according to what he said, got to know the married cashier in 1997 and moved in with her. The two had a son together, who is now two years old. The accused reported to the court that he has been consuming drugs since 1992 in a steadily increasing degree, including hashish, marijuana and LSD. Besides that he said he has regularly been taking Rohypnol, a strong sedative, as well as valium and cocaine since 1997. He said on weekends, especially, he swallowed up to ten Rohypnol daily.

The man further reported that he has been suffering from a persecution complex since 1998. According to his statement, he felt like he was being eavesdropped and spied upon by Freemasons and Illuminati and, at the time, he also believed that his apartment was bugged and his tormentors lie in wait for him in office buildings. In addition he says he was living under the delusion that he could read [other people's] thoughts. After treatment in detention these symptoms had disappeared. He says he now realizes that he had only imagined all of this.

On the day of the deed he said he had smoked about 45 joints and drunk at least a dozen bottles of beer. He said he went to his girlfriend's apartment to see how their nine-month-old child was doing. He said he had in no way intended to exert control upon his ex-live-in girlfriend. He only knows that he rang the bell and opened the door. He said he remembers his girlfriend gasping for breath only "like a nightmare." He said he did not recall his arrest, the interrogation at the police station which he would only permit in the presence of his attorney or the hearing at the magistrate's office.

His ex-girlfriend, who has regularly been visiting the accused in jail after the crime and, until recently, has been living with his parents, said she had lapses in memory when the attack began. It was not until she was in the hospital that her memory came back to her. She had told the police that it was three men who had come in and grabbed her by the hair. She had only said that, the witness said, to protect her ex-friend.

District Attorney Klaus Tietze-Kattge submitted evidence which would show that the accused checked out books from the prison library about Freemasons, Scientology and Illuminati to prepare for questioning by psychiatric expert Hartmut Berger.

"Poltergeists are troublesome,

but they are not dangerous"

Basel, Switzerland
August 22, 2000
Basler Zeitung

Walter von Lucadou has been director of a parapsychology counseling center in Freiburg for eleven years. The physicist and psychologist used to work under Professor Hans Bender at the Psychological Institute of the University of Freiburg. Bender, who is deceased as of 1991, is regarded as the pioneer of parapsychology in Germany.

by Elisabeth Rosenkranz

There are a number of establishments in Freiburg which offer people help in dealing with unusual experiences. The Parapsychological Counselling Center under the direction of physicist and psychologist Walter von Lucadou is one of them. It is important to him that people be able to talk about their fears. Sometimes just being able to talk about it helps.

Freiburg. It is no coincidence that Freiburg is regarded as the Mecca of parapsychology. Professor Hans Bender (1907-1991), that legendary pioneer of parapsychology in the German post-war era, taught at the psychological institute of the university. Besides that, Bender founded the Institute for borderline areas of psychology and and psycho-hygiene (IGPP), which is currently celebrating its 50 year anniversary. It was for that reason last week that Freiburg was the convention location of the 43rd annual conference of the Parapsychological Association (PA), an international, inter-disciplinary assemblage of researchers in the area of the phenomenon of extra-sensorial observation. The famous organizations in this respect in Freiburg include the Scientific Association for the Advancement of Parapsychology (WGFP) under the direction of degreed physicist and psychologist Walter von Lucadou. Eleven years ago, the scientist and former Bender student founded the Parapsychological Counselling Center (PBS). Besides extensive information, it provides people with help in dealing with and managing unusual experiences.

Walter von Lucadou hardly has any time left over for experimental research. 3,000 contacts per year - many by telephone - are made with the scientist who has over 30 years experience in the area of parapsychology. PBS is supported with 40,000 marks of public money by the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In addition, donations are solicited. "When you put this budget in relation to the 18 billion marks in yearly sales from the German esoterica market, then it is clear that factual discussion of the theme is not likely in our society," Lucadou has found. The scientist rarely uses the world "parapsychology." "Too overdone," he says. "I speak of unusual human experiences as defined by the people who who experienced them." Those include clairvoyance and magic as well as "true-dreams" (dreams which happen as experience), occult practices, problems with sects and psycho-groups, as well as apparition phenomena "and people who think they have been hexed because of a string of bad luck," von Lucadou related. The scientist refuses to write off such people as paranoid or liars. He would rather find out in his discussions what is behind the experiences reported by the people who are afraid and do not know how they should deal with such fears and unusual experiences.

Let people talk about fears

Von Lucadou described the case of a totally baffled woman who complained to him about the inexplicable appearance of dirt in certain locations of her well-kept apartment. "I inspected the apartment and determined that the woman was right." He said it was not important to find out where the dirt was coming from. "The most important thing was to listen and do an on-the-spot reality check of her story. This type of discussion with the unusual often proves effective in getting rid of the phenomena," according to Lucadou. In other cases, it is reported that objects fly about the room. "Most of the time I advise them to install a video camera and to set up a mirror on the opposite wall so that the whole room is covered by the camera. That usually stops the objects from flying about," said the scientist. It is not solving cases of ghosts, but of letting people speak about their fears that is the purpose of the counselling. The thing which proves most positive is a site inspection. "I have stayed in houses and apartments in which knocking noises could be heard and in some places I detected cold whiffs of air. I can not explain those circumstances, but that was not to be expected. This has to do with helping people in dealing with the unusual. They should be able to say, "if he can stay overnight in the scary dwelling, I can, too," is how Lucadou described the situation.

What ghosts really don't like

Frequently, a so-called plausible, informative explanation about unusual experiences is not possible for some people. "Therefore we have developed a counselling concept which permits us to positively integrate personal belief systems into the recording of the paranormal experience," said von Lucadou. It would not make any sense to tell a convinced spiritist that his ghosts are internal psychic representations of his cognitive structure. It is better to argue in "spiritese" to avoid misunderstandings. "So you have to talk the jargon of the people concerned and make it clear that ghosts don't like it when people are looking at them all the time," is how Lucadou explained the "flexible response" concept.

"The illusion of knowing everything"

The talk about psychokinesis continues in the realm of parapsychology. Scientists see that as a physically inexplicable influence of a person upon a material event. One such phenomenon, for example, is that some people get restless when they think they are being watched. The question is why they react at all and why other people don't have reactions. "We know that psychological and psychic aspects interact in this case. How that functions, we don't know," said von Lucadou. There is not usually a key explanation for much phenomena. "The mistake is that we live under the illusion that we know everything," he criticized and spoke about the "arrogance of science which, since the 1960s, has made everybody believe that everything has been researched and that everything is able to be explained. That makes it easy to write off unusual experiences as jiggery-pokery instead discussing them. As soon as one understands that we know much less than we think we do, then it is easy to expose charlatans. Those are the ones, namely, who always know everything along with the why's and wherefores." He says he has repeatedly told healers and providers at the Basel Psi-Convention that he has nothing against pendula, pyramids and the sort. "But I have also read Levi to them and warned them of risks, side-effects and mistakes." That cooled the atmosphere and since then he has no longer been invited to the Psi-Convention, the scientist reports. All the more demand for von Lucadou as lecturer in school classes, where his experiences about shaking glass and apparitions meet with high interest, as do the results of his research. Threatening letters and phone calls sometimes turn into daily routine when Walter von Lucadou gets too interested in something, but he's not afraid. "What I'm most afraid of is that people with unusual experiences will run away or falsely react to their situation." Therefore he persists in making it clear to the people he deals with that Poltergeists & Co. are truly remarkable, irritating and bothersome. "But dangerous they are not."

Simple! Short! Threatening!

Everybody is wondering what makes politicians like Joerg Haider so successful. The demagogue only has to follow a couple of simple rules. An outline:

Berlin, Germany
July 5, 2000
Die Zeit 27/2000

by Mia Eidlhuber

Step One
Preach something simple

You know that social and political processes are complex matters. But see to it that you are the only one that knows it. As a demagogue, it is your job to clear out the jungle of political problems and draw a picture of an easily seen garden. Do you want to be a demagogue? Act like everything is quite simple. It would be even better if you believe your own simple answers to complicated questions. Thus: foreigners are criminal, politicians corrupt and civil servants are lazy.

Haider does not say, "Dear people, unemployment is no fun. Those who are unemployed often have great difficulties: they get behind in their payments, their marriages can suffer and their sense of self-worth is destroyed."

Unemployment, such as Joerg Haider sees it, fits into his picture of the world. Haider, our model demagogue, divides people into good and bad. He describes his adherents as people who staunchly work the entire year. Then he picks out people from the masses of the unemployed who have worked a half a year and then used the social system. They are redefined as "the others." It is clear that his audience always counts as the good people.

Step Two
Divide the world into "we" and "the others"

"We" are good, "the others" bad. Avoid any positive statement about "the others" and ignore their motive. In contrast, praise everything that "we" do. Never ask about their intentions, conduct or motives. The "we" are threatened by "the others." The "we," for example, are honest, industrious, little people/Austrians/workers who have to live off a certain amount of money a month and feel threatened by the System.

Haider activates and strengthens fears and directs them to the enemy: a whole generation of soldiers is threatened by a false account of history, free enterprise by capitalism, citizens oriented toward performance by the social state and successful operations by the bureaucracy of the major political coalitions. Negative themes abound in the FPOe's political work. The subject is always the struggle against "the others."

In this struggle, Haider gets creative with word formulation. The political discussion in Austria has been enriched by new words and phrases not previously used: old parties, beggar republic, bigwigs, thieving rabble, "Diskutantenstadel," unity party, development democracy, functionary's paradise, swindler republic, rabble, creepy cabinet, corruptionary, license party, night watchman administration, operetta state, sinecure business, political bigwigs, post haggler, knight of privilege, bog of privilege, robber knight, brother in scandal, social cadger, social misuse, state circus, "Zwangskammernsystem."

The more you manage to alter political language, the greater will be your influence on the political process.

Step Three
Act like you're infallible and never admit to a mistake.

Joerg Haider is the master of this discipline. He often speaks of himself in the third person. In the 1995 election campaign, he even praised himself as "security patron." He acts like Superman, like a hero with a nimbus of indestructibility.

When it is pointed out to Haider that he enjoys privileges and has cashed in on a large settlement (happened 1992), then he is quick with a re-interpretation: if it turns out that I am the only politician who has been paid a settlement, then I have to assume that someone wants to bring discredit upon me shortly before the state assembly election in Vorarlberg. Haider's settlement was not a bog of privilege, just the opposite. It was the attempt of an evil system to harm him. Haider, as a kind of "super-we," is the only who in the nation who can assign guilt.

Therefore: invent scapegoats! That way problems will explain themselves quite simply: why are there unemployed people? Because the foreigners are taking away jobs from the people who live here. Why are people so hostile to Joerg Haider? Because he does such a manly job of defending the little guy and because those other people up there are anxious about their privileges.

Not only does Haider activate the fear of the little guy, but also his hopes and far-fetched fantasies at the same time. Haider is a victim and a hero at the same time. He negotiates with the little people in mind, suffers like they do, rebels against their suffering. And finally, does what the little person does not: stands up and bangs on the table. A question to him personally is redirected by Haider to his voters: "Are you aware that you represent the foster father of rightwing terrorism?" Yes, my God, the Austrian people have the right answer to that and they won't stand for it. So criticism of him is criticism of his voters.

Step Four
Use emotional language

Language is the real tool of demagogues. Speech is calculated to arouse emotions. That is important, because the decision to vote for a party will be made emotionally. Demagogues know that in a state of emotional excitement, the ability to judge is significantly decreased and that people are more sensitive to placative slogans.

Up to this point, in traditional political speech, a language suited to diplomats has been used: long, ingenious sentence, vague, with little emotion. Demagogic speech demands just the opposite: short, pregnant sentences with much feeling. Joerg Haider's speech functions in that way and contrasts to that of other politicians in ability to be understood. A lack of business sense then becomes "money wasted by functionaries." Political success in Haider's language: We've brought it all together.

Demagogic emotional speech is not a by-product of politics and is not a result of spontaneously being flustered as happens to a politician in the heat of battle. It is an deliberate instrument. Phrases like "streams of asylum seekers, flood of foreigners, people migration" and "overwhelm by strangers" are carefully chosen by demagogues like Haider. They incite fear. People are given the feeling that something terrible is going to happen to them.

Demagoguery is the use of hate for political purposes. So invent a new epithet for "the others": "apocalyptic horsemen, ministry of bankruptcy, red-black harassment machinery, European beggar's republic, disoriented society of failure, retired Stalinist, living room democrat." Insult everybody that makes an appearance against your politics. Haider has been doing that for years with gusto. For him, former Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky was an Austro-fascist in pinstripes who no longer had a grip on things because of his morbid xenophobia of the FPOe. For Haider, ORF members (namely, the staff of the public-legal Austrian Broadcasting) are journalistic red partisans in an ORF underground. EU Farm Commissar Franz Fischler is a Judas from the Tirol.

Effective personal attacks are aimed at the names or physical peculiarities of an person. For instance, for Haider, the recently elected chief of the Austrian Social Democrats is not Alfred Gusenbauer, but Gruesomebauer. The Viennese mayor, according to Haider, has the problem that his mental maturity has not kept pace with his rapid increase of body weight. And: when I take a look at Lech Walesa and see, yes, he has gotten wider than he is tall, then that is symbolic of the type of thinking that reigns there.

Step Five
Threaten "the others"

Haider is a violent criminal when it comes to language. For him the tangled political system is long overdue for being taken by storm. He intends to liberate Austria from the protection of the Old Parties and purge it from top to bottom. We'll start off by cleaning out the country, that was his slogan for the 1995 campaign.

For demagogues like Haider, politics is battle: We intend to storm the red-black castles of the tyrants, lower the drawbridges and get the people in the castle. The blue banners (blue is the party color of the FPOe, editor) of Freedom will again fly from the turrets. It is looked at as the battle against the red and black crab lice who must be fought with prussic acid.

Such use of the language incites fantasies of violence. Satisfy this need of your followers by threatening "enemies": "I am not yet federal chancellor but I'll outlive him and lock you up," said Haider to an editor of a Social Democratic party newspaper. And to the hecklers at a campaign rally (1994): "Those who are yelling back there - if I have anything to say about it - will be needing their breath for something else. Get to work!"

Haider's threats animate his followers to do the same. FPOe man Holger Bauer said to a Greens representative, "Watch out that you don't get any letter bombs at home." Peter Mueller, FPOe candidate for mayor in Bad St. Leonhard in Kaernten to "Trend" business magazine, "I told Simon Wiesenthal: We'll be building ovens again, but not for you, Mr. Wiesenthal - You have a place in Joergl's pipe."

Step six
Tell stories

Demagogues are gifted story-tellers. They like to tell their stories based on events at hand. They select individual cases from the enemy group and put them on display as examples.

There is no interest in facts for the propaganda of an invented picture of the world. As a demagogue, then, keep your distance from "empirical evidence." Be creative and overwhelm reality: invent your own numbers. In the 1994 Tirol campaign, Haider said that there were 350,000 foreigners in the country illegally. According to Interior Ministry estimates, it was 100,000.

Invent your authority, like dates, laws and persons to support your arguments. When asked about the source for his surveys or numbers which he uses in arguments, Haider never specifies more precisely.

Step seven
repeat, repeat, repeat

Demagogic propaganda works by constant repetition. Invent an absurd claim (see above) and staunchly repeat it - without consideration that it has long been disproved by facts. Stay tough. The power of the repeated word should not be underestimated. The readiness of the audience to accept the claim as true increases with the number of repetitions. That way a claim can turn into "truth" at last.

*The starting point of our research was a rumor that was making its rounds in Austria: Joerg Haider's Liberal Party of Austria, the FPOe, credited its popular success to neuro-linguistic programming, a psychological school of a unique kind. In the course of our research, we ran into Walter Oetsch from Linz, Professor of political economics and cofounder of the Linz Academy for NLP. "I assume that the FPOe uses NLP language training, but that is all just a rumor," Oetsch told us. He further reported how years ago he had been asked to give a lecture about the FPOe's style of communication; in the course of his preparation for the lecture, he started to get more and more interested in the theme. As a result, Oetsch looked at videos of Haider's appearances and, from that point forward, followed the political debate quite closely in the media.

Oetsch was amazed at the simplicity of the models used by Haider in his successes, and how clumsily his political counterparts reacted to them. Oetsch wrote in the forward to his book, which came from his involvement with Haider, "It is high time to end the advantage. Most models of communication are effective only when those being addressed are not familiar with them." By writing his book, Oetsch would like people to be able to face up to Haider and his act-alikes. The book from Walter Oetsch is called "Haider light., Handbook for Demagogues" and it will be available in October 2000 from the Viennese Czernin publishing house. It serves as the foundation for our article about Joerg Haider's communications strategies.

The Success Business is booming

Countless advisors promise the Way to Happiness

Weser, Germany
June 28, 2000
Weser Kurier

They show one thing above all else on book covers and advertisements: a beaming smile. Those are the authors who want to put the general public in the mood for success and their readers in debt. Success, so they suggest, is a Fun-Factor which makes you beautiful and sexy.

If you are not yet wearing Armani, not driving a Porsche, your stocks are sagging, work is no fun anymore and creativity borders on zero, then that is bad, but not hopeless, because there are people who help. An impressive number of experts, trainers and authors in Germany are involved in consulting. The sale of their literature is booming along with the life-style magazines. It is possible overnight, or, at the latest, a couple of months: "Everybody makes their own happiness," is the motto of which the authors never grow tired in matters of happiness, repeating it in all its variants. "Say yes to success," (Econ publishing, Munich), "The Way to financial freedom" (Campus publishing, Frankfurt/M.) "Make your dreams come true" (mvg publishing, Landsberg) or "Forever young" (Graefe and Unzer, Munich) - those are only a small selection of titles which are currently flooding the book market and whose sales are skyrocketing.

Parallel to that, a regular seminar culture has developed. Trainers and success gurus lecture and preach at expensive manager seminars or less expensive mass demonstrations. But what is success? As smoothly as the authors present themselves, the forefront of their success programs does not include a house, a pool, horses and an expensive private park. Those objects of material success function, so to speak, as ornamental by-products of a new life strategy, of a new positive thought which can be paraphrased from the grandfather of the success-minded, Dale Carnegie, thus: "Don't worry, live." Start to discover your own positive sources, follow your own career - phrases from well-versed success-people. A conspicuous characteristic of the advisors' literature is the didactic dissemination of their material. Most questionnaires start off by defining the "is-condition" of the reader, then work out the "should-condition" as a second step. The "route descriptions" are the third final great part of most advisors. In this, checklists play a big role in being able to systematically do away with inadequacies.

Are these books mocking reality, are they making fun of the majority of the population who will never get a whiff of anything near success? That cannot be said in every case. There are still reservations about the delusion that creeps in with the waves of success, health and fitness. It is common sense that not everything in life is do-able, plan-able or predictable. Always wanting to do everything better can be rather stressful - then there will be a great demand for advice for "victims of success addiction."

Study: Devout people are happier

Science Information Agency (idw) Press Release
Bavarian Julius Maximilians University Wuerzburg

Wuerzburg, Germany
June 28, 2000
idw

Are religious people happier? Research from the USA and England suggest a positive relationship between happiness in life and religiosity. German medicine periodicals also give reports like "The Pious live longer," or "Praying protects you from heart attack." Theologians from the University of Wuerzburg wanted to find out what to make of such research.

Catholic religion academics Prof. D. Hans-Georg Ziebertz and Dr. Boris Kalbheim took a survey on that account of beginning students from all schools of the university asking about religiosity, their personality and the happiness with life. Prof. Ziebertz: "Viewed statistically, the results are clear: religious students are happier."

For "Measuring personal happiness in life," those surveyed received a detailed list of statements concerning many diverse areas of life: questions were asked about the meaning of life, about social relations, personal attractiveness, optimistic/pessimistic hopes for the future, about feelings, work life, free time, etc. That way it could be determined whether students liked the lives they led. The Wuerzburg theologians used this research instrument from the field of psychological research. According to Dr. Kalbheim, there was a reason for that method: "We did not want to influence those surveyed with ideas of happiness that had been colored by Christianity."

The results of the research showed that about half of those surveyed described themselves as "not happy" and about as "happy." The far fringes were inhabited only by a minority of "very happy" or "very unhappy" people. The findings had no relation to age or gender.

The scientists examined the personalities of the students. That is because if there were a majority of extroverted personalities in religious people, according to Prof. Ziebertz, then a connection between religiosity and happiness could be due not to religiosity, but to the personality involved, "because studies have shown that extroverted people are frequently more happy than introverted people." It was clear from the results, though, that religious and non-religious people could not be differentiated with regard to their personality. Both groups, on the average, were equally extroverted or introverted, could also be described as emotionally stable or unstable.

To differentiate non-religious from religious, Prof. Ziebertz and Dr. Kalbheim used several instruments of research: they asked about membership in a church, about personal practice of religion and about concepts of religion, church, Christian belief and God.

According to their feedback, 15 percent of the students did not have a God, for a similar sized group, the Christian belief was the one and only way to know God. 70 percent of the students thought God "was possible," but saw a way to find God in all religions. There was much agreement of those surveyed about the Christian faith in particular: 56 percent had a positive concept of Christianity, 20 percent were undecided and 25 percent rejected Christian beliefs.

The real target of the study was the issue of whether personal religiosity is a sort of indicator of happiness in life. "Happiness strengtheners" were membership in a church, a positive attitude toward a series of expressions of belief which are typical for the Christian faith, as well as the general belief in the existence of God. "It turned out, surprisingly, that those surveyed who took the position of 'There is no God' were significantly less happy than those who did believe in God," said Prof. Ziebertz.

In contrast, personal religious practice, whether going to church, praying or reading the Bible were preferred, had no significance for the perception of happiness. The primary factor in "happiness strengtheners" was the inner attitude toward God and to Christianity, including membership in a church. Age, gender or political orientation had no influence on perception of happiness.

The researchers also looked into whether theology students differed from other students. But they could not find a difference: the "career" understanding of religious issues is not the same as personal religiosity. Personal religiosity can be strong or weak - no dependency on area of study.

The significance of these results, in the opinion of the scientists - in spite of much criticism on religion, Christianity and church, including that which is justified - is that religiosity can have a positive life force on the level of personal life organization. In addition, an old accusation against Christianity can be debunked - that it deals with the salvation of people only on "the other side," but not in the "here and now" of life: "The hope for eternal life has positive effects on the life one is living," is what the scientists think. They explain this finding by saying that not only does extroversion, that means openness towards other people have the effect on people that their lives are worth living, but also their openness towards God.

The religious academics will present their study during the Wuerzburg JUMAX 2000 university fair, and on Saturday, July 8 at 2 p.m. in room SE 36 in the mathematics building on Hubland.

--

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw)
Ein Projekt der Universitäten Bayreuth, Bochum und der TU Clausthal Im WWW: http://idw.tu-clausthal.de/

Upset on Mainau Island

Mainau Island, Lake Constance
Lake Constance borders on Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Mainau was acquired in 1853 by Grand Duke Friedrich the First of Baden
but it's also listed as belonging to the Swedish Royal house.
Duchess Bernadotte is the wife of Friedrich's great-grandson.
June 16, 2000
Tagblatt St. Gallen, Switzerland

(sda) The Constance "Suedkurier" has withdrawn as a sponsor of the fifth Schlosspark Concert, which is taking place from June 30 to July 2 on Mainau Island. The reason for that is the engagement of opera singer Julia Migenes, a professed Scientology adherent. When Migenes' involvement in Scientology became public, the largest newspaper in the Lake Constance area withdrew its support. "For years, we have been reporting critically on Scientology, so we could not appear as a sponsor in this case," stated "Suedkurier" business manager Rainer Wiesner. Sonja Duchess Bernadotte let it be known that Migenes was an artist who was recognized worldwide, and her beliefs were not a matter of interest. But Mainau will have at least one less concert visitor. Minister President Erwin Teufel, patron of the Mainau Schlosspark concert, will not be appearing at the Migenes concert.

Conflict between Protestants and Visionary Christians comes to a head

Kindenheim, Germany
May 20, 2000
RON - Rheinpfalz Online

Kindenheim: State church accuses independent church of using sect techniques - Visionary Christians ["Geistchristen"] see reason for criticism in the competition for nursing station.

In Kindenheim, a conflict is developing between two institutions which are both listed in the local telephone book under the heading of "churches" - the Protestant Church and the "Geistchristlichen Kirche e.V.". According to statements by the Commissioner for Issues of Weltanschauung of the Evangelical State Church, Dr. Richard Ziegert, the Protestant Church has tried repeatedly to set up a meeting with the chairman of the visionary Christians, Gerhard Krause. He, however, was said to have repeatedly cancelled the scheduled meetings on short notice and started attacks on the local pastor's office instead. This was said to be the reason for now going public.

"We have been looking at the Visionary Christian Church for over three years, including the founding of their nursing station, but Mr. Krause has even gone so far as to hang out libelous signs directed at the local minister, Elke Maicher," said Ziegert. Krause was said to be constantly impugning the church with negative criticism in order to elevate himself. Ziegert also said that Krause reacted to criticism against his association with bitterly worded letters, and that he liked to present himself as a victim who was being prevented from doing good works by the malicious criticism he received.

Among other things, the Evangelical Church is accusing the Visionary Christian Church association of using unfair competition practices in operating their nursing station, "The Sisters." In the Evangelical Church's accusation, it was alleged to be using PR articles in an attempt to assume the tradition of the former order of nuns (deaconesses or sisters' order) for itself. For instance, their work clothes were called "habits," although they wear completely ordinary work clothing, and the staff had other duties they performed. Besides that, they gave the impression that they were not subject to the nursing clause as other places were.

"Appearance of tested Quality"

Ziegert also said the status of association was misleading. He said the impression was given that this legal form had been selected so that all activities would be open which should express that of a religious association in a manner "Christian in deed." This was not the case. The form of association was the only possible way it could have been legally organized. The letterhead, which Krause used and contained the clause "officially recognized," implied a position equal to that of the two major churches and gave the impression of tested quality.

In Ziegert's opinion, Krause was practicing "spiritual charlatanry." His teachings were based on both Christianity and spiritism. Operating as a medium - receiving messages from the great beyond as a so-called medium - which the Visionary Christian Church practices, was alleged by the weltanschauung commissioner to be "100 proof, stark sect technology" which was intended to "catch people in crisis situations. Religious techniques and psychological mechanisms were being used to make people dependent. What was practiced was a "Christian Fundamentalism" which shut out all modern, western accomplishments, along with the goals of Christianity, namely mercy and freedom, such as the two major churches promoted. What remained, according to Ziegert, was "absolute control."

In gatherings of the association a "report on the ethical status of the community" is given. "A control and religious authority which goes beyond that which a Christian Pope has ever expressed," said Ziegert. On Saturday services, instructions regarding the selection of profession and marriage partners are given. "Mr. Krause despises democracy, freedom and human dignity because the people with him are dependent upon spiritual acceptance of a higher-up," said Ziegert. He said that was a major difference from Christianity, that Christians could have an intelligent discourse directed by reason and by their belief in God.

"Since Krause relies upon the works of Johannes Greber (an interpretation of the New Testament. -ed. comment), his basis of knowledge is a closed cognitive system which shuts out real social life," Ziegert commented. By doing that, Krause was becoming a "grave digger for out democratic culture," ran the weltanschauung commissioner's accusation.

"Disturbed by appearance"

Christoph Bussen, sect commissioner of the Speyer Ordinariat, also regards the Visionary Christian Church with skepticism. "I have recently received many inquiries from the Gruenstadt area, which is disturbed by the appearance of this spiritist, sectarian community," said Bussen. That is the case even though he can tell people that the association is not known to be connected with dangerous sects like Scientology, said Bussen.

He also continues to hear of suspicions that political decisions in Kindenheim were being influenced by the Visionary Christian Church. Whether "clean means" were being used in its care was questionable, he said, because that was difficult to judge from a distance. On more than one occasion, he said, he heard the the accusation that nurses who changed from other care centers to the Visionary Christian "Sisters" misused knowledge about patients. Many Catholics and Protestants, anyway, were confused by the way and method the Visionary Christians showed up, Bussen replied to a question. "Goals and motivation of the community are still unknown," said Bussen.

As Norbert Goebel, local mayor of Kindenheim, replied to "Rheinpfalz," neither he nor the other council members had contact to or sympathy with the Visionary Christian Church. As early as two years ago, there was already some unrest in the area about the community. At the time he, Goebel, made an inquiry at the Interior Ministry. He was told that the Visionary Christian Church operated in a "gray zone," but was not categorized as dangerous. Except for one or two cases he knew of where people were pressured into getting involved with the Visionary Christian Church, the church did not appear to take the offensive.

Goebel said he had rejected a proposal a long time ago to promote the recognized association, the reason being that an association which did not get involved with the community would not be promoted by the community. The mayor decisively rejected the accusation that community decisions could be influenced by the Visionary Christian Church. "The community council makes the decisions, and it consists of three extremely lively factions," said Goebel.

"If we could accuse ourselves of having made a mistake, then it would be that we had not set up an information booth about our nursing station in Gruenstadt," said the chairman of the Visionary Christian Church, Gerhard Krause in an interview with "Rheinpfalz." To the accusation that he had repeatedly broken appointments with the Evangelical State Church on short notice, Krause said that was not so correct. He said he had only taken one call in which the question was put to the Visionary Christians of where they had the right to involve themselves with humanitarian service. "We did not want any dispute, and kept relatively quiet," said Krause. But after there were ugly attacks on his church, he called off the meeting. "The problem is that we are small and the others are big. And we are infringing on their domain," is how Krause sees the reason for the state church's criticism. He avidly defends himself when the Visionary Christian Church is mentioned as a sect. "We are absolutely autonomous, we only wish to do good works, and decisively distance ourselves from those who have nothing good in mind," said Krause.

"We are not a sect"

To the accusation that the Visionary Christians are regarded as a spiritist association, Krause said, "Everybody except for the state churches like to be described as spiritist." He said the Visionary Christians were a "spiritual, charismatic Church, led by clergy and members of the clergy." He said he strongly rejected the "esoteric mishmash on the religious market today."

He said the Visionary Christian Church differed from the state churches on several points and stood on different grounds. Speaking theologically, he said the Visionary Christians did not pray to the Trinity, but exclusively to God. Another point, he said in which the ancient Bible Church differed from the state churches, was that it was intentionally comprised of a small congregation whose members knew each other and could help each other, and who rejected the anonymity of the major churches. Just as they rejected the pomp of the major churches, neither did they have any saints' or Virgin Mary cults. He said they were founded on a "simple, functioning" structure.

He said their form of association had been selected because it guaranteed transparency through the accounting reports alone, which they were obligated to produce. "We have been reviewed by the authorities and found to be good," said Krause. To the accusation that the board consisted only of him, Krause said, "Only one man can steer the ship." He said, however, that he was not a single organ, for instance there was also a donation administrator.

The money which the church had at its disposal - according to Krause's statements there was not a membership contributions - the "not major" savings consisted for the most part of voluntary donations by the members, a significantly smaller portion consisted of the donations by non-members and companies "to do good." For instance, the association had acquired a house in Etschberg near Kusel and let a family in need with many children stay there at low rent. Now that the family had moved out, they wanted to sell the house and use the profits to invest in beds and other things for the nursing station.

The welfare station currently consisted of five nurses, an administrative employee and a business manager. He had founded the station and built it up, but had not been involved in it for a long time so that he would not be accused of "operating a commercial business for the church." He said certainly "The Sisters" welfare station had to operate in accordance with commercial aspects, but it had the model image of care and a warmer and more human in the tradition of the nun nurses, in mind. "We had a deaconess in our ranks, who unfortunately died, but who impressed us all very much. I can only recommend that every nursing station take on that philosophy and appear in healthy competition to the good of the patients," said Krause. To the accusation of the Evangelical Church that the Visionary Christian Church is putting on foreign trappings, Krause said, "The Evangelical Church is probably aware that they have slept through something."

He said the church planned to slowly expand as a social service. "We will very probably see ourselves not as a missionary church, but as a church of testimony." He said they were not out to get members at any price. He said the spat with the Evangelical Church was a "local story" and that in other places people were completely familiar with them.

from a member of our editorial staff: Birgit Schuster

Counseling Center:

Trigger is often movies or television mystery series

Increased interest in Satanism and the Occult

Essen, Germany
May 5, 2000
Neue Ruhr Zeitung

Essen (dpa/lnw). More and more people are having problems with Satanism or the Occult, according to a statement by the Sect Info Counseling Center of Essen. The number of those seeking counselling in 1999 almost doubled from the previous year, and is up to 675.

Movies and television series like "X Files" stimulate interest in such practices, mainly with youth, said Sabine Riede of Sect Info Essen on Friday. It is also often difficult for the young audience to differentiate between reality and fiction in those situations, she said.

Mainly youth in difficult life situations are at risk. "Something, like after their mother dies, trying to get into contact with the deceased person," said Riede. Sect-Info Essen is the only center of this kind for counseling and assistance across the state to specialize in problems with sects and other destructive cults. On the whole, the number of inquiries decreased in 1999 from 3,313 to 2,910.

The number of inquiries about Scientology is in decline, said the counselor. Ever since the organization is under observation by Constitutional Security, it is "no longer so present." Interest has also dropped in fundamentalist Christian groups, which brought attention to themselves as early as 1998 with their visions of doomsday.

Aachen, Germany
as of April 22, 2000
http://194.245.36.141/karlspreis2000/preistraeger.htm

The Winner of the Award

This year, American President Bill Clinton will receive the International Charlemagne Award at Aachen. Presentation of the award will take place on June 2, 2000.

Bill Clinton is receiving the Charlemagne Award "for his special personal merits in cooperation with the European States, for the maintenance of peace, freedom, democracy and human rights in Europe, as well as for his support in the expansion of the European Union." In addition, he will be distinguished - it says in the foundation of the directorate of the association for presentation of the Charlemagne Award - "for his brave intervention - also while the military was deployed - in keeping to the rules and ethical standards as well as to the domination of justice." Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo made it clear that the European Union is not capable of functioning collectively, in any case not without American participation.

In the foundation statement, selected mention is made of his efforts for resolution between Greece and Turkey, as well as his endeavors for a lasting solution of the Cypress and the North Ireland conflict. The outlook for a final peace treat in the Near East in also one of Clinton's personal accomplishments.

After the fall of the Wall, his politics contributed to stabilizing the local internal political situation somewhat in a Russia that was still wavering and endangered. "By doing that he helped to avoid disputes not only between the peoples of the former Soviet Union, but also between Russia and its neighboring states."

The Charlemagne Award Directorate, in honoring the President of the United States, wants to honor an award winner "who has proven himself in difficult and often changing political times as guarantor of American-European community values."

In doing that he is a representative for all American people.

The granting of the award is also a special thanks from the European, especially the German people, to the American people, thanks "for the construction of democracy, freedom and prosperity after 1945, for partnership in NATO, for the assistance in forming the European Union, for a stable politic around the Mediterranean Sea, for the enduring support in the process of reunification and in regard to the settlement of militant conflicts between European populations, cultures and religious communities." The Charlemagne Award 2000 has merited "the positive, pro-European involvement of several American Presidents, Secretaries of State and politicians.

The Charlemagne Award is regarded as one of the most important European awards. Since 1950, it has been bestowed upon personalities who have worked for the unification of Europe. The last award winner was British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Previous award winners include Konrad Adenauer (1954), the Commission of European Communities (1969), Spanish King Juan Carlos I (1982), Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl (1988), Vaclav Havel (1991), Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands (1996) and in 1997, Federal President Roman Herzog.

Bill Clinton is the first American President who has received the Charlemagne Award. In previous years two American Secretaries of State have received the Award, George C. Marshall in 1959 and Henry A. Kissinger in 1987.

In 2000, the International Charlemagne Award of Aachen celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Aachen, Germany
as of April 22, 2000
http://194.245.36.141/karlspreis2000/begruendung.htm

The Foundation

Foundation of the Directorate of the Association for the Granting of the International Charlemagne Award of Aachen to the President of the United States of American

William Jefferson Clinton

I.
The completion and the consolidation of the extended European Union, the maintenance of peace and security, as well as a peaceful and constructive part in world politics are based on the community of Europe and the United States of America.

II.
After the United States of American intervened to determine the outcome of the two great world conflicts in the first half of the twentieth century, it built a foundation for reconstruction and the increase of democracy in Europe. After the appearance of the East-West conflict, war-torn Germany and the countries of western Europe who had been victims of National Socialist aggression turned from needy welfare recipients into capable partners in cooperation for security politics. The NATO treaty of 1949 formalized this expectation and, at the same time, honored it with a promise of assistance from the USA.

It was the goal of the United States of American to re-establish the self-confidence of the Europeans in their own political future and in their own power. In the last century, George Marshall (Charlemagne Award Winner 1959) became a symbolic figure for the values deserved well of the United States in Europe. The USA supported western Europe in the process of political, military and economic unification, in particularly in the founding of the European economic community. Western Europe became economically significant and mutually decisive in world politics.

American consistently supported Germany in the reunification, mainly through work in political conviction in regards to the Soviet Union and the other world powers as well as through the guarantee that Germany would respect the boundaries in Europe and would promote the integration of the security treaty. America contributed decisively so the so-called "Two plus Four" negotiations could be wrapped up between the two separate German states of the time and the four former victor and occupation forces of the Second World War.

The roots and the power of the close association between Europe and the USA lie in the agreement in the convictions of human dignity, freedom, justice and open democratic society. The example given by America and Europe spurs people in many parts of the world to implement their own culture and form of life into a common being with democracy and freedom.

III.
The International Charlemagne Award at Aachen will be awarded in the year 2000 to American President Bill Clinton for his special personal merits in the cooperation with the European states, for maintaining peace, freedom, democracy and human rights in Europe as well as for his support in the expansion of the European Union.

Additionally, President Bill Clinton will be commended for his courageous intervention - also while military were deployed, for keeping to the rules and ethical standards as well as his mastery of justice. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo visibly demonstrated that the European Union is not sufficiently capable of dealing collectively, in any case, not with American participation. He has done just as much for the reconciliation between Greece and Turkey has he has for an enduring future solution to the Cypress and North Ireland conflicts.

The outlook for a final peace treaty in the Near East, for which he has done so much all these years, is Clinton's personal gain.

The Award is also a thank you from the Europeans, the German people in particular, to the American people for the construction of democracy, freedom and prosperity after 1945, for partnership in NATO, for the help in forming the European Union, for a stable Mediterranean Sea politic, for the consistent support in the reunification process and regarding the settlement of martial conflicts between European peoples, cultures and religious congregations.

The International Charlemagne Award of the year 2000 also honors the positive pro-European involvement of several American presidents, secretaries of state and politicians.

Bill Clinton has demonstrated partnership in Europe.

After the fall of the Wall, he contributed to a still wavering, endangered Russia with his politics to stabilize the local interior political situation to some degree. By doing that, he helped to avoid potential disputes not only between the peoples of the former Soviet Union, but also between Russia and it neighboring European states.

Americans and Europeans today, in an alliance of free people, bear special responsibility for a new world order. Winston Churchill, (Charlemagne Award winner 1955) once said, An award of this size is called responsibility." We know how great the burden of responsibility is that the USA bears together in Europe.

IV.
Bill Clinton was born August 19, 1946 in Hope, Arkansas. He was Secretary of Justice of Arkansas, later governor. On January 20, 1993, he took office as the 42nd President of the United States of America. His indisputable success in foreign and economic politics, and also his social and interior politics, contributed to his being re-elected for a second term of office as President of the United States in 1997.

Bill Clinton has been married with Hillary, nee Rodham, since 1975. The couple has one daughter, Chelsea.

V.
The Directorate for the Bestowal of the International Charlemagne Award in Aachen, in honoring the President of the United States of America, intends to honor an award winner who has proven himself in difficult and volatile political times as a guarantor of American-European community values. In that he is representative of the American people as a whole.

The impressive history of the United States of America's responsibility in world politics in the 20th century also gives reason to hope for a corresponding dynamic in the beginning 21st century.

Apostate Angel on a Campaign of Revenge

Ben Affleck talks about humor, Hollywood and religious satire - "Dogma"

Schwerin, Germany
April 19, 2000
Schweriner Volkszeitung

In his religious satire "Dogma," American producer and specialist comedian Kevin Smith sends his protagonists on a holy crusade which he has cynically sprinkled with unorthodox gags, biting dialogue and subversive humor. In the USA, this provocative comedy movie even kindles protests from religious groups.

The overnight success "Good Will Hunting" made Ben Affleck and Matt Damon instant celebrities. They play two angels in the controversial religious satire "Dogma." "Better to get people worked up than they doze off over their boxes of popcorn." Not everybody reacted as calmly to the film as Ben Affleck. In view of such godless dealings, the Catholic League in the USA went into such a righteous rage that the Disney giant put a low-key apology at the end of the film and gave the credit for the comedy to an independent.

Meanwhile, producer Kevin Smith has been not only a proven talent in film since "Clerks and Mallrats," but also a professed and biblically devout Catholic. "Dogma" unfolds into a hunt for two fallen angels who, after two thousand years in purgatory, seek to join the heavenly hosts by means of truly devilish deeds in Wisconsin. We spoke with Ben Affleck.

You are regarded as the dynamic duo from Hollywood. Do you prefer working as a pair?

No, we're keeping all roads open, but are just at the start of our careers. Matt Damon and I have been friends since childhood. We had the same dreams and know each other's weaknesses and faults. Now this great success has also bound us together. The more so because I have always had someone who knows exactly what I am talking about. Everybody walks their own road, but we also like to appear together before the camera. Our role models there are Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Did the evil, impulsive angel Bartleby suit you exactly right?

Evil creatures are much more fun that the good. Both of the angels are torn within themselves. They are not all bad. But when you have gotten two thousand years of Wisconsin under your belt, you have to figure that in as a mitigating circumstance. In any case, we were completely free in forming our roles. Nobody could talk us into anything, not only that, there is no union for heavenly hosts.

There's already more than enough annoyance about the film ...

What is theater supposed to do?

Okay, it was clear to us that the Pope would not exactly be so thrilled as to fall off his throne. But I don't understand what people are getting so excited about. When the storm of indignation dies down, you will find nothing anti-Catholic in "Dogma." Everything in there was done tongue-in-cheek.

Are you enjoying people's annoyance even a little bit?

I love talking things over controversially. That way one is most likely forced to re-think his own position. As soon as people become dogmatic, I start to provoke them. A controversial film - I accept that as a compliment for our work. What we ought to do next is a film about these New Age fairy tales. Or one about Scientology. But no, that would be too dangerous.

You are getting a $12 million offer. Do that put pressure on you?

Enormous. When it came out that Matt and I were working on a film script, things got totally hysterical. Sometimes I think that I should keep $100,000 and give away the rest.

But you've also played in "Armageddon"?

That was a giant film. One was part of the machinery that resolutely went its own way. I often had the feeling that I had actually landed in one of the films that I loved so much as a child. I was at NASA, even in a real space shuttle. But you can't help but notice that, in the end, you are only one small cog in the operation of this gigantic business strategy.

Interview: Dorothee Lackner

The Week in Aachen

You can rely on Billy Boy

Aachen, Germany
April 14, 2000
http://www.aachener-zeitung.de/

Finally! How many exclamation points should we put behind this word? On June 2, Clinton will let the chain bearing the Charlemagne Award be put over his head. The long awaited "Okay" came from from the White House on the eve [of the award]. "Thank you, Mr. President!" Aachen collectively heaves a big sigh of relief. As if things have not been painful enough in recent weeks.

Back and forth, to and fro, one slowly got accustomed to the idea of having to send the medal and certificate through the mail to Washington in a padded envelope . . . of course the question of how much of a fee customs would have charged for such an unusual package would have been interesting. All that is water under the bridge. In Aachen - or at least in parts thereof - the hiss of Budweiser cans could be heard on Friday.

Where the whole thing is going to occur, through, is uncertain. In the cathedral? In the ugly Eurogress? Or even in the open air on Katschhof? There is always something new. That would be quite a special challenge for the Secret Service. They would pave and steamroll the sky between the cathedral and town hall; it could rain golf balls (Olli Kahn says hi) or worse. We'll wait and see.

Authoritative bureaucrats of the city - associations, chambers, unions and corporations - are searching for ways to make Aachen and the region fit for the future. The whole thing is then simply and suggestively called the "Aachen Declaration." Who would want to contradict the initiators in their efforts to give the city a boost commercially, technologically and culturally?

But it is proper for well-formulated plans be put into life. Good intentions alone are not enough. One waits to see how the politicians will react. They have to handle it. And that is exactly how such projects, more often than not, fail.

An example of how nothing at all functions on the city scene occurred this past week on Matare Street. There, in grand style, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. For years, parents, teachers and children have been waiting for an acceptable solution. Then, when the plans were finally decided upon and the building had begun, the contractor, IBK, put the icing on the cake and declared bankruptcy. The city is optimistic. This year, the building is supposed to be ready. Another statement of intention is making a repeat appearance.

While we are on a roll about good appearances: improvement in conditions for the city orchestra has been promised for a long time. The musicians are fiddling around in provisional quarters. An "uncompleted work" of the special kind. The magnificent arrangements delivered by the GMD Boncompagni is due not to the current conditions under which they work, but to the quality of the ensemble.

The mineral water producers also got into hot soup this week in a report by the TV magazine "Plusminus." It was said that their refreshing drink is laden with radioactivity. Aachen's water is not tested, yet Kaiser Springs chief Guenter Radermacher has taken the criticism to heart. "Irresponsible rumor-mongering," he raged. Have another taste of Oecher liquid. He says it is even supposed to be healthy, and that this characteristic was once used to advertise for Aachen. Somehow that has all been forgotten. Just like the grandfather who was said to have lived to be a hundred years old because he always hoisted a certain brew at the bar.

He has not been forgotten, just sort of disappeared into oblivion: Aachen's former leading comrade Schinzel. However, the bankruptcy experts will not have been able to erase the name so easily from their minds. Lawsuits over the million mark bust can still go on for another 15 years. This week it was revealed that the debtor can just keep his head above water with a mere 7,000 marks monthly retirement (about $5,000) from his days as representative. Is that reassuring or what?

The Week in Aachen: To start off there was some excitement about the drug scene on Kaiser Square, which apparently has sought out the garage on Adalbertstein Way as Dependance. Thought games there have caused discord; Bendplatz is supposed to be resettled in the direction of the western train station. Hot air before Easter eve, at least nothing came of this statement of intention.

On Tivoli, in turn, there is more than an intention to increase audience capacity with a steel pipe platform. That brings back real nostalgia. There was already a vehicle like that on Krefelder Street, that is where the Alemans played in the 1st Bundes League. Next season, too? One should never look like he has given up hope. In that sense, have a good weekend!

Responses to the Charlemagne Award for Clinton

Aachen, Germany
dates ending March 20, 2000
Aachen Newspaper

Tanja Goebels: Looking at two side of the medal
Erwin Kneip: comparison to clinton
Norbert Schunck: Norbert Schunck
Walter von den Driesch: Time for an emergency escape
Christian Mertens: Yes, so where is he?

Tanja Goebels ( 24 February 2000 )

Looking at two side of the medal

Surely Bill Clinton's accomplishments have contributed to unity i