Stern-TV, 11-18-1998, Transcript of the documentary part of the show
(The second part is part of a talk show)
Off Screen speaker (OS): Bernhard Aigner in front of the Munich Scientology Center. The 38 year old Bavarian is at his wit's end. He has nightmares, he can't sleep. One and a half years ago his brother collapsed in these rooms. Acute shortness of breath, coma. For 22 years, Konrad Aigner was a member of Scientology; the psycho-sect turned him into a mental wreck. He popped vitamin pills by the handful; he thought he would never get sick. Nevertheless Konrad Aigner died after being in a coma for three weeks.
Bernhard_Aigner: My completely clear opinion about it is: if he would not have been with the Scientologists, if he would not have been a Scientologist, then he could still be alive.
OS: Konrad Aigner was a man of the earth, happy, a true Bavarian, family man with six brothers and sisters. He came from Ruhmannsaigen, a sleepy little village with seven houses close to the Austrian border. Here, everyone is devoutly Catholic. What Konrad could have been looking for in Scientology, the family could never understand.
The Aigner matriarch: I was always asking him, Konrad, you don't need them. You have a mind of your own. Successful is what he wanted to be, he strove for success. You already have that . . . You're young and healthy. I was not able to do anything.
OS: After his death, disaster struck his family. Konrad Aigner only left debts behind.
B_Aigner: That was a shock to us. We were well aware that he was a Scientologist, but we didn't know how deep he was into it.
OS: That wasn't the worst of it. After Konrad's death, his family found very peculiar documents in a storage area near his room: records in which two Scientologists described how they wanted to get at Konrad Aigner's money. Terms and symbols which the family did not at first understand.
Document Excerpt: "Konrad Aigner has been in Scientology for 16 years + has not yet managed to go clear, that is, to go up the bridge, but is always falling off the bridge . . ."
OS: "Clear", that is, according to the promises of the psycho-sect, a higher state of awareness. The way there is called the "Bridge" and it consists of dozens of expensive courses in which one must subject himself to questionable psychological techniques. Two examples are intensive interrogation and hours of sitting and staring. We inquired as to which status Konrad Aigner had in Scientology, and were granted a rare interview.
Interviewer (I): Had he really obtained the status of "clear"?
Johann Altendorfer, Scientology Speaker Munich: No.
I: But he had it at one time?
Altendorfer: No.
I: I've seen a certificate which stated he had the status of "clear".
Altendorfer: My understanding is that he didn't have it.
OS: Peculiar: In Konrad Aigner's estate Scientology had certified that not only was he actually "clear", but had been since 1984. In spite of that, the Scientologists were able to talk him into thinking that he had to reach this status again, although he had already paid for many expensive courses.
Document Excerpt: "Konrad needed 37,000 to clear,... Konrad had the problem that he did not want his parents finding out anything about the matter. I told him that we would go to them + that we would tell them that it was for SCN + that we would handle them . . . Konrad did not want that + was totally afraid that all hell would break loose with his family."
OS: That was because Konrad Aigner was responsible for the money. In 1985, his father had naively put him in charge of the family's estate.
B_Aigner: Our father had signed over the estate and property over to him in 1985 because he was the most down-to-earth, the most manually gifted of all of us, and this was the reason he could also take out loans on these properties.
OS: Only one month after the estate transfer took place, Konrad Aigner went to the bank and took out a 50,000 DM [1.6 deutchmark approx. = $1]. Today Scientology pretends that only small sums of money were involved.
Altendorfer, Scientology Munich: Konrad Aigner was in Scientology about 22 years, and if you calculate that out, then he may have paid 500-600 DM per month.
OS: In only six months in 1989, over 70,000 DM were taken in, according to the sect's own accounts. Right after his military service, Aigner worked as a switchman and bus driver with the transportation department. During that time he made contact with Scientology. Presumably, he was fascinated with the promises of L. Ron Hubbard:
L Ron Hubbard: If one knows certain things and applies them, it improves the intelligence of a person.
OS: But Konrad Aigner only earned 2,000 DM net pay. When he ran out of money again, the Scientologists had an idea for him.
Document Excerpt: "We then went to Raiffeisenbank in Triftern + they had immediately declared themselves ready to lend 200,000 DM on the property, but in order to get it Konrad's parents had to have their signatures notarized."
OS: And Konrad Aigner actually took out a 200,000 DM mortgage [Grundschuld] at the notary's. After his death, his brothers and sisters had to pool their money together just to be able to save their parents' house. Pastures, fields and woods had to be sold. Today the 76 year old matriarch has to operate a small beverage store, otherwise there wouldn't be enough money. She recalls how much pressure her son was under in the early 1990's:
Aigner Matriarch: "Mama," he said, "I have learned something, that if I were to tell you what it was, you would fall down dead." Well, what was that supposed to mean. I didn't ask him about it any more. I thought I would do that some other time. That was not exactly the right point in time.
OS: Aigner also confided in his friend, Dr. Stephan Gemen. The country doctor was supposed to help Aigner get out.
Stephen Gemen: I was supposed to write up an attestation. And as to my question what he wanted to do with that, he said: Yes, he would like to get out. And he could really only do that if he could proved to them up there - that is how he called them - that he had changed for the worse.
OS: However the sect did not want to let him go. Again and again Scientologists sought out contact with Aigner, even people he had never met before showed up looking for him.
Excerpt from letter: "Unfortunately I only know you from our rolodex but would like to meet you once in person."
OS: Aigner changed entirely, it was as if he had put on a completely different personality. For hours he lay around apathetically on the sofa.
B_Aigner: He used to be the life of the party. He was a happy person, full of vitality, and then he became the opposite. He would just lie around on the couch without taking part in anything, brooding, laid around the whole day, was no longer into things. It looked as if he was in a different time zone.
OS: July 21, 1997. As an independent bus driver, Aigner was just making ends meet. He often drove for Scientology, as he was doing on this day. After returning from a trip he collapsed in the Munich Center. For three weeks he lie in a coma in intensive care. Then one organ after the next failed. Aigner died of multiple organ failure. It had been thought that he was robust and healthy. The police searched the Scientology buildings and investigated for a year, but there were no poisons in Aigner's body. The witnesses, Scientologists, told the police that they had taken immediate action as soon as it was a recognizable emergency. The proceedings were suspended.
Konrad Aigner's room in Ruhmannsaigen, empty and desolate. However, his family will not get over his death for a long.
B_Aigner: His destruction was complete in every regard: psychologically, financially, . . . he was at rock bottom. And the Scientologists are still saying: "I would rather have you dead than incapable." That is how I see what happened to my brother.
Return
Stern-TV
November 18, 1998
Transcript of the documentary part of the show
Off Screen speaker (OS): Bernhard Aigner in front of the Munich Scientology Center. The 38 year old Bavarian is at his wit's end. He has nightmares, he can't sleep. One and a half years ago his brother collapsed in these rooms. Acute shortness of breath, coma. For 22 years, Konrad Aigner was a member of Scientology; the psycho-sect turned him into a mental wreck. He popped vitamin pills by the handful; he thought he would never get sick. Nevertheless Konrad Aigner died after being in a coma for three weeks.
Bernhard_Aigner: My completely clear opinion about it is: if he would not have been with the Scientologists, if he would not have been a Scientologist, then he could still be alive.
OS: Konrad Aigner was a man of the earth, happy, a true Bavarian, family man with six brothers and sisters. He came from Ruhmannsaigen, a sleepy little village with seven houses close to the Austrian border. Here, everyone is devoutly Catholic. What Konrad could have been looking for in Scientology, the family could never understand.
The Aigner matriarch: I was always asking him, Konrad, you don't need them. You have a mind of your own. Successful is what he wanted to be, he strove for success. You already have that . . . You're young and healthy. I was not able to do anything.
OS: After his death, disaster struck his family. Konrad Aigner only left debts behind.
B_Aigner: That was a shock to us. We were well aware that he was a Scientologist, but we didn't know how deep he was into it.
OS: That wasn't the worst of it. After Konrad's death, his family found very peculiar documents in a storage area near his room: records in which two Scientologists described how they wanted to get at Konrad Aigner's money. Terms and symbols which the family did not at first understand.
Document Excerpt: "Konrad Aigner has been in Scientology for 16 years + has not yet managed to go clear, that is, to go up the bridge, but is always falling off the bridge . . ."
OS: "Clear", that is, according to the promises of the psycho-sect, a higher state of awareness. The way there is called the "Bridge" and it consists of dozens of expensive courses in which one must subject himself to questionable psychological techniques. Two examples are intensive interrogation and hours of sitting and staring. We inquired as to which status Konrad Aigner had in Scientology, and were granted a rare interview..
Interviewer (I): Had he really obtained the status of "clear"?
Johann Altendorfer, Scientology Speaker Munich: No.
I: But he had it at one time?
Altendorfer: No.
I: I've seen a certificate which stated he had the status of "clear".
Altendorfer: My understanding is that he didn't have it.
OS: Peculiar: In Konrad Aigner's estate Scientology had certified that not only was he actually "clear", but had been since 1984. In spite of that, the Scientologists were able to talk him into thinking that he had to reach this status again, although he had already paid for many expensive courses.
Document Excerpt: "Konrad needed 37,000 to clear,... Konrad had the problem that he did not want his parents finding out anything about the matter. I told him that we would go to them + that we would tell them that it was for SCN + that we would handle them . . . Konrad did not want that + was totally afraid that all hell would break loose with his family."
OS: That was because Konrad Aigner was responsible for the money. In 1985, his father had naively put him in charge of the family's estate.
B_Aigner: Our father had signed over the estate and property over to him in 1985 because he was the most down-to-earth, the most manually gifted of all of us, and this was the reason he could also take out loans on these properties.
OS: Only one month after the estate transfer took place, Konrad Aigner went to the bank and took out a 50,000 DM [1.6 deutchmark approx. = $1]. Today Scientology pretends that only small sums of money were involved.
Altendorfer, Scientology Munich: Konrad Aigner was in Scientology about 22 years, and if you calculate that out, then he may have paid 500-600 DM per month.
OS: In only six months in 1989, over 70,000 DM were taken in, according to the sect's own accounts. Right after his military service, Aigner worked as a switchman and bus driver with the transportation department. During that time he made contact with Scientology. Presumably, he was fascinated with the promises of L. Ron Hubbard:
L Ron Hubbard: If one knows certain things and applies them, it improves the intelligence of a person.
OS: But Konrad Aigner only earned 2,000 DM net pay. When he ran out of money again, the Scientologists had an idea for him.
Document Excerpt: "We then went to Raiffeisenbank in Triftern + they had immediately declared themselves ready to lend 200,000 DM on the property, but in order to get it Konrad's parents had to have their signatures notarized."
OS: And Konrad Aigner actually took out a 200,000 DM mortgage [Grundschuld] at the notary's. After his death, his brothers and sisters had to pool their money together just to be able to save their parents' house. Pastures, fields and woods had to be sold.
Today the 76 year old matriarch has to operate a small beverage store, otherwise there wouldn't be enough money. She recalls how much pressure her son was under in the early 1990's:
Aigner Matriarch: "Mama," he said, "I have learned something, that if I were to tell you what it was, you would fall down dead." Well, what was that supposed to mean. I didn't ask him about it any more. I thought I would do that some other time. That was not exactly the right point in time.OS: Aigner also confided in his friend, Dr. Stephan Gemen. The country doctor was supposed to help Aigner get out.
Stephen Gemen: I was supposed to write up an attestation. And as to my question what he wanted to do with that, he said: Yes, he would like to get out. And he could really only do that if he could proved to them up there - that is how he called them - that he had changed for the worse.
OS: However the sect did not want to let him go. Again and again Scientologists sought out contact with Aigner, even people he had never met before showed up looking for him.
Excerpt from letter: "Unfortunately I only know you from our rolodex but would like to meet you once in person."
OS: Aigner changed entirely, it was as if he had put on a completely different personality. For hours he lay around apathetically on the sofa.
B_Aigner: He used to be the life of the party. He was a happy person, full of vitality, and then he became the opposite. He would just lie around on the couch without taking part in anything, brooding, laid around the whole day, was no longer into things. It looked as if he was in a different time zone.
OS: July 21, 1997. As an independent bus driver, Aigner was just making ends meet. He often drove for Scientology, as he was doing on this day. After returning from a trip he collapsed in the Munich Center. For three weeks he lie in a coma in intensive care. Then one organ after the next failed. Aigner died of multiple organ failure. It had been thought that he was robust and healthy. The police searched the Scientology buildings and investigated for a year, but there were no poisons in Aigner's body. The witnesses, Scientologists, told the police that they had taken immediate action as soon as it was a recognizable emergency. The proceedings were suspended.
Konrad Aigner's room in Ruhmannsaigen, empty and desolate. However, his family will not get over his death for a long.
B_Aigner: His destruction was complete in every regard: psychologically, financially, . . . he was at rock bottom. And the Scientologists are still saying: "I would rather have you dead than incapable." That is how I see what happened to my brother.
Return
It seems as though Scientology will continue to be observed by German domestic intelligence agents (Verfassungsschützer)
From: "Yahoo! Headlines Politics"
Sonntag, 15. November 1998, 11:17 UhrMunich (AP) The Constitutional Protection agency favors the continued surveillance of the Scientology organization, according to the "Focus" news magazine. The paper referred to a report made the previous Sunday in an interim report by the secret service agents, who are to address the Interior Ministry Conference at the end of the week.
In their report the agents stated that after one year of surveillance there were still gaps in their findings, for instance in the activities of the organization in political areas, reported "Focus." Scientology had anticipated the surveillance, for example, and party members had been told not to reveal their connections with Scientology. Therefore reliable statements about the influence of the Scientologists in state offices are not yet possible. There is also a further need for clarification as to the financing and the operations of the Scientology intelligence service, OSA, in Germany.
AP-Nachrichten - The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved[Note: German surveillance of Scientology does not include opening of mail or tapping of telephones.]
FOCUS Press Release
November 15, 1998Interim Report of the Constitutional Protection Agency
confirms constitutional enmity of the Scientology organizationMunich. "Scientology is hostile to the fundamental order of liberal democracy." The program and operations of the Scientology organization has, as its goal, "the removal, fundamentally and permanently," of constitutional order. The Constitutional Protection Agency came to this conclusion after one year's surveillance, reported the news magazine FOCUS, referring to the interim report, which will be presented the end of this week at the Interior Minister's Conference.
From the perspective of the constitutional agents the area of "activities in politics" has not yet been satisfactorily researched. Scientology had prepared itself for the surveillance. Scientologists in political parties had been told not to reveal their membership in Scientology. Therefore, reliable statements as to what share the Scientologists have in party offices are not possible.
The constitutional agents also see a need for further explanation as to the financing of the organization and the operations of the Scientology intelligence service, OSA, in Germany. The agents believe that from a "technical perspective", further surveillance is indicated.
© by FOCUS Magazin-Verlag GmbH
[Note: German surveillance of Scientology does not include opening of mail or tapping of telephones.]
Infiltration fails
State Security: Scientology not able to gain ground in Germany
From: "Süddeutsche Zeitung - 23.09.98, Politik"
September 23, 1998The widely reported attempt by the Scientology sect to systematically infiltrate politics and the economy in Germany never got off the ground. According to a states security agency internal report, the Scientology infiltration of the civil service failed. Of the 3.2 million public employees, only 48 of them are Scientology members, according to the report. 14 separated from the service because of their membership in the sect; three were furloughed. For 16, membership could not be confirmed in the sect which maximizes profits and which has been categorized by German politicians as despising people. Things appear similar in the economy. Nationwide only 150 small companies are influenced by Scientology. The report, which has not yet been published, came to the conclusion, "It is hardly likely that there is a systematic infiltration of the German economy by Scientology."
Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg were particularly involved in the sect's surveillance, which had been decided upon nationwide a year ago. Domestic security agents determined who most of the members were. There is reported to be about 2,000 in the south and the southwest; compared to that only 25-30 Scientologists live in the new German states as far as the observing agencies can tell. In all of Germany, the total number lies "significantly under 10,000," according to the report.
Heber Jentzsch, the American President of the Scientology enterprise, has been telling his members for years to build "personal communication lines" with influential members of society such as politicians, judges and state attorneys, banks and artists. They were also to attain positions in companies and then take "control over this area." State security sees a significant discrepancy between the grandiose expansion announcements of the Scientologists and reality. So many branches of the sect are plagued by debt that expansion is out of the question. The most important theory of the Scientologists does seem to function, "Make money, make more money." In any case, the sect denies financial difficulties.
According to what state security has seen, only three Scientologists have gained access to the parties: two to the CDU, and one to the FDP. These parties are moving to exclude them. Scientologists occasionally show up in the police or in schools. A teacher used sect material in her class and was replaced as a result. Even the sect's personal secret service, OSA, which had previously been categorized as dangerous, does not appear particularly fearsome to state security. The Bavarian security agency reported on OSA members who had been trained in intelligence methods and who were attempting counter-surveillance. The professional security agents came to the conclusion that their "use was dilettantish and was not able to negatively influence state surveillance work." The sect secret service appears "to act as a kind of plant security for the Scientology business."
Annette Ramelsberger
Record of Destruction
A Look Into the
Secret Personnel Records
of ScientologyFrom: "Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin"
August 21, 1998The Extended Suffering of Konrad Aigner
How Scientology Destroys People.
A Case Study with Deadly Consequence.by Michaela Haas
1. "We would rather have you dead than incapable."
HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE, OCTOBER 12, 1985For his friends from earlier, Konrad Aigner lives on as if nothing had ever happened. Hardly a week goes by in which he does not receive mail from Scientology. Several days ago, according to Konrad's brother, Bernhard, a letter addressed to Konrad came which proclaimed, "Please share your greatest Scientology success with us." Bernhard Aigner said, "I sent them a copy of Konrad's obituary after I wrote on it, 'Your greatest success was my death on August 11, 1997,' we want to finally mourn in peace."
The Scientologists would have to realize the fact of the matter, because it was in their Munich branch on Beich Street that Konrad collapsed on July 21, 1997. The emergency doctor came about 10 o'clock at night, and three weeks later Aigner died in the Schwabinger Hospital without ever coming out of the coma again. Even though he was a chain smoker and a coffee drinker, it was unusual and puzzling to the doctors that one organ failed after the next without responding to treatment in a 43 year old man. Normally, only elderly people die of this "multi- organ failure." The doctors immediately ordered an autopsy. The result of this was that Aigner had died of an infectious disease. The state attorney will not be more specific because of privacy law. It is a diagnosis which is as ambiguous as it is vague. On February 10, 1998, 130 police and 4 state attorneys searched the Munich Scientology Center to answer, among other things: why did Konrad Aigner die?
The Aigner family perceives derision in a sentence from an instruction of the Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, "We would rather have you dead than incapable."
2. "Make money, make more money."
L. RON HUBBARDKonrad Aigner was in Scientology for 23 years. That is the controversial psycho-business which calls itself a church, and which counts only 10,000 members in Germany since domestic intelligence put it under surveillance. Scientology puts the number of its members at more like 30,000. When Konrad Aigner died, he left behind a legacy which his family had not counted on: debt in the amount of six digits. His parents found piles of "donation receipts" of the organization in his room - and two extraordinary documents: hand-written records from 1990. In those, two Scientologist women detailed on thirty pages, step by step, how they tried to borrow money for a total of 200,000 marks - an exemplary document never before published in the German press which shows how Scientologists rip off their members. The report begins in the artificially cryptic speech which is typical for Scientology:
Konrad Aigner grew up with six brothers and sisters in Ruhmannsaigen, a small hamlet by Pfarrkirchen in Lower Bavaria. Little of an organization by the name of Scientology had been heard in this ultra Catholic, firmly established community. It was not until the mid 1970's that Konrad happened upon the psycho-business when he moved to Munich to work for the department of transportation as a bus driver - as did many others in this time frame, long before Scientology's humanly contemptible methods were known to the public. Made curious by his brother's narratives, Bernhard Aigner, 37 years old at the time, also visited the Munich Center. "I took one of those personality tests that Scientology uses to snare people," he said. "There were loud, friendly people there, many young, good-looking women, it was easy to be dazzled in there [literally: "you could go blind in there"]. Konrad was a good-natured, gullible farmer's boy - the ideal victim for Scientology."Konrad Aigner has been in Scientology for 16 years + has not yet got it together with going clear, that is, going up the bridge, rather, he is always falling from the bridge and has drunk alcohol, etc. We (G. + I) have therefore decided several weeks ago to help him get it together and finally get him up the bridge. Konrad Aigner has some property (pastureland, forests + acreage + farmhouse) in Lower Bavaria which belongs to him, but his parents live there and have usage rights (or something like that) to these properties. Several years ago, Konrad had already borrowed 50,000 marks on this land + put it on his account in Copenhagen. His parents had to co-sign and Konrad lied to them at the time + said he took the money "if something needed doing around the house."
Konrad Aigner was brimming with humor, always so raucous and gleefully happy, that his best friend, a doctor by the name of Stephan Gemen, occasionally became skeptical. The two had gotten to know each other while in the Federal Defense Force. He had often asked himself, said Gemen, how much, behind his [cheerful] facade, it bothered Konrad that he was not the best-looking guy with his small, thick stature and thinning hair. He was as anti-soldier as Schweik [a fictional draftee of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire]. He tried so hard, but he just could not do it."
Scientology did not only promise money, success and recognition to the bus driver, who was still young at the time, and who was happy neither in work nor in love. The organization had something higher in mind for him. They wanted to make a "clear" out of him, a perfect, psychically purged "super-human." The training, however, cost more money than the bus driver made in the civil service.
Konrad needed 37,000 more marks to clear, therefore we went to his bank in Augsburg + asked if we could borrow 37,000 more on the properties. (...) From the start, Konrad had the problem that he did not want his parents to know anything about the matter. I told him that we would go to them + that we would tell them that it was for Scientology + that we would handle them for him. I told him that I was there to help him. (I had already done that frequently), Konrad did not want that + had total fear of the devil for his family.
"We had thought," said his 76 year old mother, Anna, "that Konrad was paying membership fees, but we had no idea that they wanted so much money." The seven family members had always agreed, "Konrad is the most honest, most solid, most manually gifted, he should take over the farm."
Today, Berhard Aigner knows, "We were fooling ourselves." On the same day that his father signed the farm over to Konrad, Konrad secretly surrendered the land. He took out a loan. Bills prove that he had signed over more than 85,000 marks to the organization in the first six months. For an "intensive of auditing" which is a type of interrogation, Scientology charged 6,750 marks (about $5,000). Bernhard Aigner has calculated that his brother must have signed over about 600,000 marks altogether. "He never took a vacation, he could never afford anything, and he still left nothing behind but debt."
3. "Clears do not get colds."
L. RON HUBBARDThere was an open argument between Konrad and his family a single time. On April 2, 1997, there was a broadcast on television about the mysterious deaths of seven Scientologists. The case of the 36-year-old Lisa McPherson from Florida, who also had wanted to leave the organization, was described. After several peculiar episodes, one of which was a traffic accident, McPherson fell into a coma and died. The cause of death was listed as a bacterial infection. The American police were investigating as to whether Scientology was giving the young woman high doses of vitamin preparations instead of effective medication - high enough doses which, if taken over a long period of time without medical supervision, could have caused internal organ damage. Konrad Aigner did not want to sit through the entire broadcast; he angrily left the room saying, "How good they can act!"
On Thursday, July 17, 1997, Konrad Aigner received a call sometime after 9 p.m. "Yes, yes, that's clear, I'll come immediately." With beads of sweat on his forehead, he packed his things, and shortly before midnight he and his bus were on their way to Munich, said his brother. At that point, he had a slight cold, but was otherwise, in the opinion of his family, healthy. On Sunday, a colleague reached him on the bus telephone. Aigner sounded as if he could not stand up or talk straight, is what the man recalls. "All out," is all Aigner said, "I can not explain to you, all out."
On the same day, he caused an accident with his bus. Whether that was before or after the phone call could not be determined afterwards. On Monday he was supposed to drive several Scientologists to Frankfurt for a demonstration "for religious freedom." On Sunday evening, accompanied by two other Scientologists, he hectically rented two new busses. The car rental agent was the last non-Scientologist to see Konrad Aigner before his collapse. He said that Konrad had appeared as though he was under pressure, "He was cut and dried."
There was another traffic accident with one of the rented busses, which was driven by a 19 year old. After that, a room waiter in a hotel in Frankfurt allegedly noticed that Konrad was not at all doing well. Nevertheless, the Scientologists later drove together with him back to Munich. Neither Konrad's condition nor who drove the vehicles is clear - the Scientologists refused to give details. Around ten o'clock at night, Aigner collapsed in the Scientology center. "No acute event," noted the emergency doctor who had to report the collapse in the final days.
For Bernhard Aigner, Scientology is responsible for the death of his brother, "help was called too late, after nothing more could have been done. That is why I am going after them, because they let the whole weekend go by. If they noticed on Sunday morning that he was not doing well, then he needed help - help from a doctor, not from Scientology. ' If he had not been with them, he could have still been alive."
Konrad Aigner no longer had any medical insurance. He believed that Scientology could protect him from illness. In his most sold book, "Dianetics," (first edition 1950), Hubbard promised his adherents that arthritis, allergies, ulcers and a long list of other complaints would be "healed without exception" "with the help of Dianetic therapy", which means Scientology teachings. It alleged "a fact proved by research: clears do not get colds."
As a rule, the "therapy" consists of expensive counseling, vitamins, and going into the sauna for four to eight hours at a stretch. In Konrad's belongings, the state attorney's office found not only the records and invoices, but also boxes of high dosages of vitamin preparations, addresses of Scientology drug stores, and pages of instructions for the so-called "purification rundown," which is supposed to detoxify body and spirit. It states that after one hour of jogging, "then spending about 4 hrs. in the sauna, during which time the heat is gradually increased. (...) (There) are salt tablets and also potassium available, if necessary, in case one detects physical difficulties such as faintness or nausea in the sauna."
In the weeks following, Bernhard Aigner repeatedly drove down to see the Munich Scientologists. "If nothing else, those were the people who had been together with Konrad during his last days. I wanted to know what had happened on that weekend, but I never got any information."
Scientology denies any responsibility. Never, asserted Johann Altendorfer, press representative of the organization, had anyone "advised Konrad to buy or consume pills or other preparations." In order to legally insure themselves, Scientology has their members sign a form before undergoing the torture of the purification rundown. As though Hubbard had never given his promise of eternal health, it states on the form, "I understand that Scientology is not intended to handle or cure physical illnesses. I and my heirs hereby renounce and abandon forever all foreseeable and non-foreseeable claims and specifications, actions, demands, rights, damages, injustices, expenses and losses against persons or owners of Scientology.
Records of Destruction
A Look Into the
Secret Personnel Records
of ScientologyFrom: "Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin"
August 21, 1998The Extended Suffering of Konrad Aigner
How Scientology Destroys People.
A Case Study with Deadly Consequence.by Michaela Haas
1. "We would rather have you dead than incapable."
HUBBARD COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE, OCTOBER 12, 1985For his friends from earlier, Konrad Aigner lives on as if nothing had ever happened. Hardly a week goes by in which he does not receive mail from Scientology. Several days ago, according to Konrad's brother, Bernhard, a letter addressed to Konrad came which proclaimed, "Please share your greatest Scientology success with us." Bernhard Aigner said, "I sent them a copy of Konrad's obituary after I wrote on it, 'Your greatest success was my death on August 11, 1997,' we want to finally mourn in peace."
The Scientologists would have to realize the fact of the matter, because it was in their Munich branch on Beich Street that Konrad collapsed on July 21, 1997. The emergency doctor came about 10 o'clock at night, and three weeks later Aigner died in the Schwabinger Hospital without ever coming out of the coma again. Even though he was a chain smoker and a coffee drinker, it was unusual and puzzling to the doctors that one organ failed after the next without responding to treatment in a 43 year old man. Normally, only elderly people die of this "multi- organ failure." The doctors immediately ordered an autopsy. The result of this was that Aigner had died of an infectious disease. The state attorney will not be more specific because of privacy law. It is a diagnosis which is as ambiguous as it is vague. On February 10, 1998, 130 police and 4 state attorneys searched the Munich Scientology Center to answer, among other things: why did Konrad Aigner die?
The Aigner family perceives derision in a sentence from an instruction of the Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, "We would rather have you dead than incapable."
2. "Make money, make more money."
L. RON HUBBARDKonrad Aigner was in Scientology for 23 years. That is the controversial psycho-business which calls itself a church, and which counts only 10,000 members in Germany since domestic intelligence put it under surveillance. Scientology puts the number of its members at more like 30,000. When Konrad Aigner died, he left behind a legacy which his family had not counted on: debt in the amount of six figures. His parents found piles of "donation receipts" of the organization in his room - and two extraordinary documents: hand-written records from 1990. In those, two Scientologist women detailed on thirty pages, step by step, how they tried to borrow money for a total of 200,000 marks - an exemplary document never before published in the German press which shows how Scientologists rip off their members. The report begins in the artificially cryptic speech which is typical for Scientology:
Konrad Aigner has been in Scientology for 16 years + has not yet managed to go clear, that is, go up the bridge, rather, he is always falling from the bridge and has drunk alcohol, etc. Therefore, we (G. + I) decided several weeks ago to help him get it together and finally get him up the bridge. Konrad Aigner has some property (pasture land, forests + acreage + farmhouse) in Lower Bavaria which belongs to him, but his parents live there and have usage rights (or something like that) to these properties. Several years ago, Konrad had already borrowed 50,000 marks on this land + put it on his account in Copenhagen. His parents had to co-sign and Konrad lied to them at the time + said he took the money "if something needed doing around the house."
Konrad Aigner grew up with six brothers and sisters in Ruhmannsaigen, a small hamlet by Pfarrkirchen in Lower Bavaria. Little of an organization by the name of Scientology had been heard in this ultra Catholic, firmly established community. It was not until the mid 1970's when he moved to Munich to work for the department of transportation as a bus driver that Konrad happened upon the psycho-business - as did many others in this time frame, long before Scientology's humanly contemptible methods were known to the public. Made curious by his brother's narratives, Bernhard Aigner, 37 years old at the time, also visited the Munich Center. "I took one of those personality tests that Scientology uses to snare people," he said. "There were loud, friendly people there, many young, good-looking women, it was easy to be dazzled in there [literally: "you could go blind in there"]. Konrad was a good-natured, gullible farmer's boy - the ideal victim for Scientology."
Konrad Aigner was brimming with humor, always so raucous and gleefully happy, that his best friend, a doctor by the name of Stephan Gemen, occasionally became skeptical. The two had gotten to know each other while in the Federal Defense Force. He had often asked himself, said Gemen, how much, behind his [cheerful] facade, it bothered Konrad that he was not the best-looking guy with his small, thick stature and thinning hair. He was as anti-soldier as Schweik [a fictional draftee of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire]. He tried so hard, but he just could not do it."
Scientology did not only promise money, success and recognition to the bus driver, who was still young at the time, and who was happy neither in work nor in romance. The organization had something higher in mind for him. They wanted to make a "clear" out of him, a perfect, psychically purged "super-human." The training, however, cost more money than the bus driver made in the civil service.
Konrad needed 37,000 more marks to clear, therefore we went to his bank in Augsburg + asked if we could borrow 37,000 more on the properties. (...) From the start, Konrad had the problem that he did not want his parents to know anything about the matter. I told him that we would go to them + that we would tell them that it was for Scientology + that we would handle them for him. I told him that I was there to help him. (I had already done that frequently), Konrad did not want that + had total fear of the devil of his family.
"We had thought," said his 76 year old mother, Anna, "that Konrad was paying membership fees, but we had no idea that they wanted so much money." The seven family members had always agreed, "Konrad is the most honest, most solid, most manually gifted, he should take over the farm."
Today, Bernhard Aigner knows, "We were fooling ourselves." On the same day that his father signed the farm over to Konrad, Konrad secretly surrendered the land. He took out a loan. Bills prove that he had signed over more than 85,000 marks to the organization in the first six months. For an "intensive of auditing" which is a type of interrogation, Scientology charged 6,750 marks (about $5,000). Bernhard Aigner has calculated that his brother must have signed over about 600,000 marks altogether. "He never took a vacation, he could never afford anything, and he still left nothing behind but debt."
When the Augsburg Bank raised objections because of the money I had the idea that we go to a bank in Lower Bavaria which was closer to the properties + was familiar with them, then we would have a better chance. So we went to Raiffeisen Bank in Triftern and they stated they were immediately ready to loan 200,000 marks for the properties, but Konrad's parents would have to sign in front of a notary public.
(2nd record:) In the meantime we had to handle Konrad again, because he needed the signatures of his parents to raise the mortgage, which he was not able to confront. First we went to the bank, I went in with Konrad and he introduced me as an acquaintance. I had taken off my wedding band so that they could have taken me for Konrad's fiance.
(1st record:) Konrad had called up his parents + told them to go to the notary public + said he would need the money "in order to get something done around the house etc." + they had signed. He had also told the same story to the bank. (...) Well good, that was the first cycle.
(2nd record:) It was a win all the way down the line.
Again and again, Konrad wanted to leave. He told his mother, "Mama, I want to leave them. I have experienced something so terrible, that if I were to tell you, you would fall down dead." Before the records were produced in March, 1990, these references abounded. To his friend, Stephan Gemen, Konrad Aigner appeared "turned around 180 degrees: oppressed and depressed. Aigner asked the doctor for an attestation which confirmed that he had changed for the worse, "so that I can prove to them that they have not kept the promises they made to me." He talked about his debts and said, "I have finally seen through that group. I want out of there." Gemen advised his friend to leave immediately. After that discussion, Aigner did not appear for a long time. When Stephan Gemen asked him about it later, Aigner brusquely brushed him off. "I had the impression that they had prohibited him from having contact with me. It seemed to me like his judgment had been altered. [literally: brainwashed]"
The records also document that Konrad Aigner protested again and again. After the bank had approved the first loan, the two Scientology women urged Aigner to borrow still more money and lend another financially strapped Scientologist 50,000 marks.
He was very bitter, he spit venom at us like an adder. We found out (...) that he had counter-intentions with the plan. R. put his head on straight for him.
When the bank became suspicious after more loan applications and demanded proof of the alleged renovations of his parent's house, the two Scientologist women finagled him some faked documents:
Then we managed to get two bills for Aigner, 1 from H. Transporte for a small shipment and (20,000.-) 1 from my husband for renovation work (50,000.-). We were as cool as could be.
The bank finally informed the parents, and the father prevented any more loans until his death in 1993. However, Konrad Aigner needed more and more money for new courses. Therefore, he gave notice at his civil service job and worked as an independent bus driver. "You'll see," he told his family, "now things are going to skyrocket for me very quickly. Money does not have anything to do with it." Konrad hardly slept any more. His brothers and sisters heard him running to and from his room until three or four o'clock in the morning. "He was under brutal pressure," recalled his brother. "Whenever the telephone rang, he would always come to a start. It was as if he was always being pursued. I was always sorry for him." Whenever anybody mentioned this to Konrad Aigner, he brushed them off; he did not want to talk about it.
The family often talked about it and came to the conclusion that Konrad was worried because of his financial independence. It was not until after his death that the degree of the financial damage was evident. The Aigners had to sell all their property holdings in order to pay off Konrad's debts. "We were only able to save the house." Anna, the 76 year old mother, works the day long in the beverage market in her house, "because otherwise we would not have enough money."
The state attorney's office had weighed pressing charges against both of the writers of the records with coercion and fraud, but the investigation had to be discontinued at the end of July: the statute of limitations had already run out. However, there is no doubt as to the authenticity of the records. In Scientology, according to the internal regulations of the business, these type of "knowledge reports" have to be submitted to the so-called "ethics officer" if a Scientologist finds himself in a "non-optimal situation." The person being written up receives a copy and is invited to express his opinion. What can that prove before the court? After all, Konrad Aigner is the one who signed his own credit application.
It is your own fault if you let somebody rip you off - with that attitude, says Jurgen Keltsche, more people such as Aigner are sentenced to be victims. The long-term district attorney and judge is qualified as ministerial counsel to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior and as a member of the sects Enquete Commission for Scientology. "The Scientologists assimilate you into their system as in obedience training. The point of it is that they deprive you of your internal control and your will." That has nothing to do with belief or religion. "The difference between a religious community and Scientology is that in Scientology you will be methodically drilled on the basis of modern, pedagogical fundamentals. Your will power becomes restricted. Anybody who knows how these techniques work can quite easily defend himself. If you do not, sit tight." Keltsche talks about "psychology as a weapon," applicable in Hubbard's sense, "make money, make more money." "You can produce euphoria in a person using certain psychological techniques. In that moment they take people to the bank so they can borrow more money for the next course. I think that is unethical."
3. "Clears do not get colds."
L. RON HUBBARDThere was an open argument between Konrad and his family a single time. On April 2, 1997, there was a broadcast on television about the mysterious deaths of seven Scientologists. The case of the 36-year-old Lisa McPherson from Florida, who also had wanted to leave the organization, was described. After several peculiar episodes, one of which was a traffic accident, McPherson fell into a coma and died. The cause of death was listed as a bacterial infection. The American police were investigating as to whether Scientology was giving the young woman high doses of vitamin preparations instead of effective medication - high enough doses which, if taken over a long period of time without medical supervision, could have caused internal organ damage. Konrad Aigner did not want to sit through the entire broadcast; he angrily left the room saying, "How good they can act!"
On Thursday, July 17, 1997, Konrad Aigner received a call sometime after 9 p.m. "Yes, yes, that's clear, I'll come immediately." With beads of sweat on his forehead, he packed his things, and shortly before midnight he and his bus were on their way to Munich, said his brother. At that point, he had a slight cold, but was otherwise, in the opinion of his family, healthy. On Sunday, a colleague reached him on the bus telephone. Aigner sounded as if he could not stand up or talk straight, is what the man recalls. "All out," is all Aigner said, "I can not explain to you, all out."
On the same day, he caused an accident with his bus. Whether that was before or after the phone call could not be determined afterwards. On Monday he was supposed to drive several Scientologists to Frankfurt for a demonstration "for religious freedom." On Sunday evening, accompanied by two other Scientologists, he hectically rented two new busses. The car rental agent was the last non-Scientologist to see Konrad Aigner before his collapse. He said that Konrad had appeared as though he was under pressure, "He was cut and dried."
There was another traffic accident with one of the rented busses, which was driven by a 19 year old. After that, a room waiter in a hotel in Frankfurt allegedly noticed that Konrad was not at all doing well. Nevertheless, the Scientologists later drove together with him back to Munich. Neither Konrad's condition nor who drove the vehicles is clear - the Scientologists refused to give details. Around ten o'clock at night, Aigner collapsed in the Scientology center. "No acute event," noted the emergency doctor who had to report the collapse in the final days.
For Bernhard Aigner, Scientology is responsible for the death of his brother, "help was called too late, after nothing more could have been done. That is why I am going after them, because they let the whole weekend go by. If they noticed on Sunday morning that he was not doing well, then he needed help - help from a doctor, not from Scientology. If he had not been with them, he could have still been alive."
Konrad Aigner no longer had any medical insurance. He believed that Scientology could protect him from illness. In his most sold book, "Dianetics," (first edition 1950), Hubbard promised his adherents that arthritis, allergies, ulcers and a long list of other complaints would be "healed without exception" "with the help of Dianetic therapy", which means Scientology teachings. It alleged "a fact proved by research: clears do not get colds."
As a rule, the "therapy" consists of expensive counseling, vitamins, and going into the sauna for four to eight hours at a stretch. In Konrad's belongings, the state attorney's office found not only the records and invoices, but also boxes of high dosages of vitamin preparations, addresses of Scientology drug stores, and pages of instructions for the so-called "purification rundown," which is supposed to detoxify body and spirit. It states that after one hour of jogging, "spend about 4 hrs. in the sauna, during which time the heat is gradually increased. (...) (There) are salt tablets and also potassium available, if necessary, in case one detects physical difficulties such as faintness or nausea in the sauna."
In the weeks following, Bernhard Aigner repeatedly drove down to see the Munich Scientologists. "If nothing else, those were the people who had been together with Konrad during his last days. I wanted to know what had happened on that weekend, but I never got any information."
Scientology denies any responsibility. Never, asserted Johann Altendorfer, press representative of the organization, had anyone "advised Konrad to buy or consume pills or other preparations." In order to legally insure themselves, Scientology has their members sign a form before undergoing the torture of the purification rundown. As though Hubbard had never given his promise of eternal health, it states on the form, "I understand that Scientology is not intended to handle or cure physical illnesses. I and my heirs hereby renounce and abandon forever all foreseeable and non-foreseeable claims and specifications, actions, demands, rights, damages, injustices, expenses and losses against persons or owners of Scientology.
German officials bring heavy artillery to bear upon Scientology
Office of Constitutional Protection, "Hotline" and "Scientology-ToeV"
German officials bring heavy artillery to bear upon Scientology
Critics doubt their effectivenessby Boris Reitschuster
Munich, June 19, 1998 (AFP) - For the one is it a "witch hunt," for the other is it an effective battle against a dangerous sect. In the dispute with the Scientology organization, the German officials are bringing their heavy artillery to bear. The Office of Constitutional Protection has the organization under surveillance. In Bavaria there is a "Scientology-ToeV" for which civil officials and the labor office must denote businesses connected with the organization by placing an "S" next to their position announcements. Scientology sees this as "discrimination," and critics doubt that this strict procedure is effective. Bavaria's Secretary of the Interior, however, believes the hard line has been effective. Last Friday, the Bundestag's Enquete Commission also mentioned that Scientology should continue to be observed by the Office of Constitutional Protection.
Scientology itself describes this as a "campaign of instigation" and a regular persecution of its own members. The organization criticizes the German officials by saying that they are proceeding against Scientology with "alarmist methods." Of all the German states, the "Free State" [of Bavaria] has taken the hardest line. Critics believe that Bavaria is using the wrong means. The Greens gripe that the secret service is not the right way to conduct the battle against Scientology. They believe that if members of the organization are violating rights in Germany, then an agency to handle rights violations should be put in place, and not the Office of Constitutional Protection.
Bavaria's Secretary of the Interior states that the surveillance by the Constitutional Protection agents has been effective. The authorities have now finally gotten exact findings about the structure of Scientology. More Scientology members now have the courage to leave [the organization] because of the office's "information offensive" and reports, says Christoph Hillenbrand, speaker for the Ministry of Interior. "previously one could write off the whole thing as lies. Thanks to the surveillance we know how fatal the [Scientology] system is."
The effectiveness of the measures taken by the authorities have even shown up in the top management of the organization, reports Hillenbrand. For instance, the income for Scientology has fallen in Germany, which promptly led to the recall of the former [Scientology] chief back to the USA. For these reasons the intervention of the authorities are "not overdone," but "appropriate," says Hillenbrand. Scientology itself stands clear: "They blow a lot of hot air about our measures, but they have not lodged a complaint against them, even though we would like to see a deciding judgment. They fear an independent judicial decision as the devil fears holy water."
The Free State has been making headlines with its regular "Scientology-ToeV" for officials: recruits and some long-term officials are being asked about their membership. "It has to do with the avoidance of conflict of interests," says Hillenbrand. He has not yet heard of a case in which a job applicant has been turned down because of membership in Scientology. Nevertheless, critics call this a constitutionally objectionable job prohibition. Other German states, such as Baden-Wurttemberg, also do not value "Scientology-ToeV." The Stuttgart Interior Ministry states that it would prefer to make a decision after the results of the Constitutional Protection surveillance are known.
Berlin is also making headlines in matters of "Scientology-ToeV." A police director there was relieved of duties because he is said to be a Scientology member - according to a anonymous letter. The police director contests the allegations. The Office of Constitutional Protection had bad luck with their investigation. According to press reports, an official is said to have paid a Scientologist 5,000 marks for "new findings" in the case. He is not likely to get anything for his money, as the man he paid has informed Scientology headquarters about the recruitment attempt.
brr/jes
The politician was giving a speech. One of the listeners commented, "Yesterday be was better!"
"But yesterday he didn't talk at all!"
"Yep."
Beckstein accuses Scientology of using Secret Police (Stasi) Methods
From: "Yahoo Schlagzeilen" June 4, 1998, 14:11
"Involuntary Hypnosis possible" - Psychology used as weapon - Telephone terrorism against critics
Munich (AP) According to new information gathered by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the Scientology organization terrorizes critics by using wartime psychology methods, as had been previously used by the former secret police (Stasi). Besides that, the sect uses hypnotic techniques with which people can be involuntarily, ideologically manipulated. On Thursday, Secretary of the Interior Gunther Beckstein told reporters in Munich that Scientology has created a secret service which uses "the dirtiest methods" of psychology as a weapon. The similarities to the battle psychology of the former East German State Security Service are overwhelming.
In addition, the CSU politician [Beckstein] reported on terroristic measures being taken against Scientology critics, primarily in the USA. It is feared that the former chief of Scientology Hamburg at the time was called to account in America, and had to count on being tormented or receiving her "marching orders to the prison camp." "There are grounds for concern," said Beckstein. A newspaper editor in Germany, of the "Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung" also received serious threats after writing a report critical of Scientology. Beckstein reported of intimidation using telephone terrorism, murder threats, and the killing of house pets.
The measures taken by the state have met with great success, so that the organization has been more careful when it comes to committing punishable offenses in Germany. Nevertheless, Scientology still has the "goal of seizing power" and world domination. The system approves and orders punishable acts. According to what Beckstein says, there are "clear signs that the Scientology organization wants to do away with the democratic legal system entirely."
Doctor describes hypnotic techniques
The leading head physician of the Erlangen District Hospital, Gert Tauber, told about his experiences with Scientology victims. According to him, the sect has the potential of using hypnotic techniques even on critics against their will "to transform their perceptions.". The victim is placed in a condition in which they have full consciousness, but can be uncritically influenced. For instance, a person can be brought to feel no more sympathy. He is not familiar with any comparable perfected system of misuse in therapeutic psychology. The doctor also reported on deep psychological disturbances and "displacement depression" up to the point of nervous breakdown in former members.
The Bavarian Secretary of the Interior distributed two brochures which have information about the constitutional hostility and the system of the organization. Besides that, a victims advisory board will be established next month, where former members and their relatives can seek help.
Beckstein confirmed that a Scientology member was working in the Bavarian Ministry of Culture as a senior consultant. He is working in an area in which he could not be politically or ideologically active. A speaker for the Ministry of Culture stated that it was a mid-level official with 20 years of service, and that he "would never hurt a fly."
(From the editors: The brochures, "The Scientology System" and "Scientology - a constitutionally hostile effort" are available from the Ministry. On the internet, the brochures are available in full text [in German] at http://www.innenministerium.bayern.de/scientology.)
FOCUS: Bavaria intensifies the fight against Scientology
May 25, 1998
Munich. The Bavarian administration is intensifying its fight against Scientology. As reported by the news magazine FOCUS, the cabinet in Munich will permit the continuation of the extensive study of the psycho-sect: four professors are supposed to research the methods of Scientology and their effects upon people up through the end of the year. The experts should, among other things, state whether "illicit exploitation of the practice of healing" can be substantiated against the sect, and along with that, an offense of the medical laws. It will also be researched as to whether the Scientology methods stand in conflict to "the image of mankind and ethical claims of basic law." If this were the case, the sect could be prohibited as constitutionally hostile.
In any case the Bavarian cabinet will give the go ahead for a governmental "starting point from which advice to victims of Scientology" can be given. A sect expert and a psychologist will advise those harmed, relatives of victims and concerned parents and direct them to the appropriate assistance. Until now, only Hamburg had a state Scientology commissioner.
Beckstein: Scientology wants to bring the German Republic under its control
Munich, March 20, 1998 (AFP) - According to the interpretation of the Bavarian Provincial government, the Scientology organization pursues the goal of bringing the German Republic and other nations worldwide "under their influence." Scientology wants to establish a system of rights in which all of its own members are to be recognized as citizens, explained Secretary of the Interior Gunther Beckstein (CSU) on Friday in Munich at the presentation of the Bavarian Constitutional Protection report. Democracy and the multi-party system are to be removed, according to the plans of the organization.
According to Beckstein's statement, Germany has about 10,000 members. World-wide the German Scientology members do not reach a high rank in the internal hierarchy of the organization, stated the CSU politician. The command center for the German Scientologists is in England or Denmark. The Office of Constitutional Protection will continue to "remain an important means in the discussion of this organization", announced Beckstein. The measures in Germany against Scientology are, according to the interpretation of the UNO, not a transgression against rights nor against the order of tolerance.
Scientology regards itself as a religious society, but is categorized in Germany as a commercial enterprize with totalitarian goals.
Death of a Scientologist
Studio Time: From Religion and Society
March 11, 1998
DLF
A Broadcast by Claudia Sanders
Length: 19 minutesNarrator:
Scientology: The controversial organization has been leaning increasingly toward politics in the past few years. The psycho-group has been under surveillance by the Office of Constitutional Protection since the summer of 1997. Some think this to have been an overreaction on the part of the State, others would rather ban Scientology, because the group, to them, appears to be dangerous. In this discussion it is easy to lose sight of the future of Scientology victims. According to the statement of the organization there are about 30,000 members in Germany. In the past year, one of these members died, Konrad A., under mysterious circumstances. The Munich Chief District Attorney's office is now investigating. In response, Scientology refuses any responsibility for the death of the man, and is designated by the the police investigation as a "malevolent third party under suspicion." Hear the story of the death of Konrad A. from his brother's side. "Deadly Career - in the Clutches of Scientology": a broadcast by Claudia Sanders
1. VOICEOVER: In a car.
Narrator: A two hour drive from Munich. The farm house lies somewhat off the road. In the front garden, across from the front door, stands a small devotional picture, with red roses, and candle, and a photo of Konrad. He died this past summer, after he lie in a coma for three weeks. The 43-year-old was a Scientologist. Today his family is still puzzled by the cause of Konrad's death, who outwardly appeared hale and hearty.
2. VOICEOVER: In a large City.
Narrator: (Cutback:)
Fall 1974. Konrad had just finished his military service, he lived in Munich and received training with the Department of Transportation. This is when he encountered Scientology. They promised him outright miracles if he would use the Scientology technology - called Dianetics. They referred their novice to the standard work of the Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard: "Dianetics - the Textbook for Human Understanding." That is where Konrad, then 20 years old, found the following, and more, about Dianetics:
3. VOICEOVER/Quotation
"It enables a plane of ability and rationality for people which is far over the average, and it does not destroy his life force or personality, but raises it."
Narrator:
Scientologists, according to the standard text of the organization, have at their disposal a higher degree of intelligence, become less sick, and they do not even catch colds. This is what Konrad believed. Even if he hardly spoke with his family about it. Perhaps he was aware, because of his strong Catholic environment, that it would have branded him as an outsider. Konrad's brother Bernd recalls:
4. VOICEOVER:
The topic of Scientology was always off-limits with us. One knew full well that he had contact with Scientology, but that was not a topic of discussion with us. He had not brought up the subject spontaneously, therefore he had tried neither to bring one of us into SC nor to recruit for SC, nor had he expressed himself about SC in any way, there was nothing like that.
Narrator.
It is really unusual that a Scientology member not recruit for the organization. Even if Konrad himself had no interest in recruiting his family, he would still have been under pressure to take as many courses and buy as many books as possible. He had given Scientology almost all of his money:
5. VOICEOVER:
We found piles and sacks of bills, the so-called donations to SC, they were so scattered about, we could have bundled them together in a large bag, that's how many there were. And books, all the books there were, and other documents, everything that could have had to do with SC, there you found it, in the room where Konrad lived.
Narrator:
In spite of his long-term membership, Konrad's career as a Scientologist did not run a smooth course: as soon as he would reach his Scientology course goal, he would find out that he would have to start all over again, and would have to take more expensive courses. Naturally all of this was done with the promise that one was only trying to help him to lead a successful life.
Finally Konrad made what was to be for him a fateful decision: He had a lifetime position; he worked as a bus driver. He gave it up: be became an independent bus driver - Scientology would help him with that:
6. VOICEOVER:
He made himself independent, so around 3 years ago and for the past 2 years his personality was very, very much changed. He had always been the life of the party, he was eager, was very open, the last 2 years he became visibly more thoughtful, more depressive, absent. We all thought that had to do with his self-employment, but in hindsight I see it differently now. He had other problems.
Narrator:
In particular, financial problems. Because in order to make more money for Scientology, Konrad did not hesitate to take out loans, even on his parents' house. His mother signed the contract, she believed her son, that he would pay everything back -- an investment in the future. That was the point of Scientology's discussion with the family.
In Spring, 1997, a news story appeared on television about the mysterious death of an American Scientologist, Lisa McPherson. Apparently she wished to leave the organization before she got into an accident with her car. Then she came into the headquarters of Scientology, in Clearwater, Florida. She remained there for 17 days, until she was delivered dead to a hospital. The autopsy revealed that the 36-year-old was heavily de-hydrated and had lain in a coma for days before her death. The Scientologists had prescribed high doses of vitamins for her. Konrad's reaction to this show:
7. VOICEOVER
While the show was running, my mother said to him, look at that, what kind of thing is going on there, and he was terribly amused, he laughed. He only laughed and said that what the media was doing was a horrible injustice, nothing like that had happened, it was all made up in order to do away with SC, the people are all actors, the whole thing is made up, and I haven't seen a funnier show in a long time. That's how he reacted.
Narrator:
Konrad did not realize that his death would prove to be parallel to that of the American.
Several weeks later, it was July 17, 1997:
8. VOICEOVER:
That was on Thursday evening about 9 o'clock, I would guess, or 9:30, when the call came, Konrad was lying on the couch here, then he got the call, there were three or four of us. Here on the table is where he took the call, and you could tell right away that that was a call which deeply affected him. He got shaky right away, started sweating, he was very nervous and he used sentence fragments, he couldn't even speak right, that's how nervous he was, and, in closing, he said, "yes is good, I'll do that," or "yes I'm coming", I don't know any more. He then hung up, packed his things and a half hour later he drove away with the bus and we could tell by the sound of his engine that he was headed for Munich.
Narrator:
How Konrad spent the last days of his life has not been fully explained. Bernd had found out that his brother apparently received the assignment to drive Scientologists to Frankfurt am Main. They demonstrated there on July 21 for "religious freedom" and against the "suppression of Scientology" in Germany. On the way there, but still in Munich, Konrad got into an accident with his bus - a moving violation - as the police reported. No mention was made in the report, according to Bernd, of his brother being hurt. Konrad left the bus there and several Scientologists drove with their own cars to Frankfurt. Konrad rented a car, which again, -- sometime later -- was involved in a slight accident. The driver was not Konrad, but a woman, apparently also a Scientologist. The trip continued nevertheless, at least that is apparently what a Scientologist told Konrad's brother later on. Arriving at a Frankfurt hotel, a waiter allegedly noticed that Konrad was not doing well. The 43-year-old is said to have then been brought to Munich.
9. VOICEOVER:
The emergency doctor was notified about 10:30 at night, he drive down Bergstrasse, since that is the location of SC and the emergency doctor had then said, when I talked with him later, a couple of days later, he had said, that my brother was hardly breathing when he arrived, he was with the Scientologists, be was barely still breathing, he had to resuscitate him immediately, brought him to the hospital which was two kilometers [about a mile and a quarter] away, the Scientologists drove with him and went with him into the hospital where he then fell into a coma towards one o'clock in the morning. And stayed in a coma for three weeks and never woke up again.
Narrator:
The doctors were faced with a dilemma - no therapy could be recommended for the patient.
10. VOICEOVER
The course of the illness, such as the story in the hospital, was very atypical as far as the doctors were concerned, so they recommended or asked us, that my brother should have an autopsy, and we agreed, because we were also of the opinion, from the start, that something about the matter had not gone properly... It was determined at the autopsy, that Konrad had very, very poor organs.
Narrator:
Bernd researched some more on his own -- he wanted to know what role Scientology had played in the death of his brother. Not least of all, he tried to understand what had so fascinated his brother about this organization -- which is described by critics as a "cartel which despises people."
11. VOICEOVER:
I drove there in anger, constant anger, because I knew that there was something which the Scientologists knew that they would not tell me about my brother's last hours or days. They appeased my anger, showed sympathy, sympathy which I never see today, where this sympathy came from, that was very unique at the time. I was down there four, five times to find something out, information about my brother, but I basically learned nothing concrete.
Besides the documents and books which Bernd found in the room of his dead brother, there is little else left over. Bills indicate that Konrad had been taking mega-doses of vitamin preparations for years. Scientologists are supposed to take vitamins when they receive auditing. This auditing is a procedure invented by Scientology. The adherents are supposed to be freed from psychic problems by a constant stream of questions and answers. The Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) has been describing this auditing as brainwashing since the Seventies.
Scientologists also take vitamins when they undergo a purification process -- a so-called "rundown." A rundown is necessary, according to Scientology text, if someone has taken drugs. The use of drugs is prohibited in Scientology. However, for Scientologists, not only alcohol and other narcotics, but also medication -- even aspirin -- is viewed as a drug. How many of these "cures" Konrad had undergone is still unclear. It is also not clear what effects come about when someone takes high doses of vitamins for years at a time. It is known that a long-term overdose of certain vitamins can cause serious internal organ damage. How much this explains the fact that Konrad's organs were in such poor shape is uncertain.
What is certain is that Konrad believed that Scientology-Dianetics technology could prevent illnesses. It was for this reason that he, as a self-employed person, did without health insurance. How much Scientologists trust the Dianetic ability to heal is contained in the so-called "Book Zero", the first Dianetic writing of the Scientology founder:
12. VOICEOVER/Quotation
Arthritis, dermatitis, allergies, asthma, some heart complaints, eye trouble, sinusitis, ulcers, etc. are just a small sample of the list of psychosomatic illnesses. Peculiar aches and pains, which appear in various parts of the body, are generally of a psychosomatic nature. Migraine is a psychosomatic illness and can, as can all the others, be healed with the help of Dianetic therapy, without exception (and healed in the fullest sense of the word.)
Narrator:
Healing with Dianetics? That and Konrad's death have reached the ears of the Munich State Prosecutor. Is Scientology practicing some kind of treatment that only doctors should be using? This would be a violation of the law against quack doctors. Does this include treatments with vitamin preparations that could cause long-term health problems?
Over a month ago, more than 100 police swept through the Munich Scientology buildings. They confiscated documents by the box full; the information which comes from that is supposed to disclose what actually happened to Konrad before his death. It has not yet been determined whether the district attorney will press charges against Scientologists. It may be weeks before the documents are all appraised. In the meantime, Konrad's family tries to find their way back to a normal life, though that will not be easy for them:
13. VOICEOVER.
Today letters and newspapers from Scientologists arrive daily, letters personally written, such as, "Hello Konrad! How are you doing?" In closing, the letters offer, this week, to sell 6 books by Ron, etc. Mail constantly arrives as if nothing had ever happened. Mail arrives as if he were still alive.
Narrator:
Bernd and his family must pay dearly for the Scientology membership of their brother. Moreover:
14. VOICEOVER.
We had already noticed, before the estate settlement, that we would have to assume a huge debt, the debt to the bank was so large and so high, that we had to sell the land, the farm and the woods, we had to sell it all to settle the debt with the bank (and this mountain of debt is, according to our research, all a result of nothing else but Scientology.)
Narrator:
What has been left to the family is their parents' home only. Bernd estimates that his brother must have given at least 600,000 marks [about $430,000] to Scientology. Add to that the hospital bills of 40,000 marks, which must still be paid.
The family is financially ruined, but much worse are the doubts: why was Konrad with Scientology? Could the family have saved him? Could anyone, after 23 years, have freed Konrad from the clutches of the organization? These are questions which remain unanswered for Konrad's family.
As said, the story of Konrad is a subjective story. And not the half of it is that Scientology denies any responsibility for Konrad's death. Police investigation designates the organization as a "malicious third party under suspicion."
Death of a Scientologist
Studio Time: From Religion and Society
March 11, 1998
DLF
A Broadcast by Claudia Sanders
Length: 19 minutesNarrator:
Scientology: The controversial organization has been leaning increasingly toward politics in the past few years. The psycho-group has been under surveillance by the Office of Constitutional Protection since the summer of 1997. Some think this to have been an overreaction on the part of the State, others would rather ban Scientology, because the group, to them, appears to be dangerous. In this discussion it is easy to lose sight of the future of Scientology victims. According to the statement of the organization there are about 30,000 members in Germany. In the past year, one of these members died, Konrad A., under mysterious circumstances. The Munich Chief District Attorney's office is now investigating. In response, Scientology refuses any responsibility for the death of the man, and is designated by the the police investigation as a "malevolent third party under suspicion." Hear the story of the death of Konrad A. from his brother's side. "Deadly Career - in the Clutches of Scientology": a broadcast by Claudia Sanders
1. VOICEOVER: In a car.
Narrator: A two hour drive from Munich. The farm house lies somewhat off the road. In the front garden, across from the front door, stands a small devotional picture, with red roses, and candle, and a photo of Konrad. He died this past summer, after he lie in a coma for three weeks. The 43-year-old was a Scientologist. Today his family is still puzzled by the cause of Konrad's death, who outwardly appeared hale and hearty.
2. VOICEOVER: In a large City.
Narrator: (Cutback:)
Fall 1974. Konrad had just finished his military service, he lived in Munich and received training with the Department of Transportation. This is when he encountered Scientology. They promised him outright miracles if he would use the Scientology technology - called Dianetics. They referred their novice to the standard work of the Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard: "Dianetics - the Textbook for Human Understanding." That is where Konrad, then 20 years old, found the following, and more, about Dianetics:
3. VOICEOVER/Quotation
"It enables a plane of ability and rationality for people which is far over the average, and it does not destroy his life force or personality, but raises it."
Narrator:
Scientologists, according to the standard text of the organization, have at their disposal a higher degree of intelligence, become less sick, and they do not even catch colds. This is what Konrad believed. Even if he hardly spoke with his family about it. Perhaps he was aware, because of his strong Catholic environment, that it would have branded him as an outsider. Konrad's brother Bernd recalls:
4. VOICEOVER:
The topic of Scientology was always off-limits with us. One knew full well that he had contact with Scientology, but that was not a topic of discussion with us. He had not brought up the subject spontaneously, therefore he had tried neither to bring one of us into SC nor to recruit for SC, nor had he expressed himself about SC in any way, there was nothing like that.
Narrator.
It is really unusual that a Scientology member not recruit for the organization. Even if Konrad himself had no interest in recruiting his family, he would still have been under pressure to take as many courses and buy as many books as possible. He had given Scientology almost all of his money:
5. VOICEOVER:
We found piles and sacks of bills, the so-called donations to SC, they were so scattered about, we could have bundled them together in a large bag, that's how many there were. And books, all the books there were, and other documents, everything that could have had to do with SC, there you found it, in the room where Konrad lived.
Narrator:
In spite of his long-term membership, Konrad's career as a Scientologist did not run a smooth course: as soon as he would reach his Scientology course goal, he would find out that he would have to start all over again, and would have to take more expensive courses. Naturally all of this was done with the promise that one was only trying to help him to lead a successful life.
Finally Konrad made what was to be for him a fateful decision: He had a lifetime position; he worked as a bus driver. He gave it up: be became an independent bus driver - Scientology would help him with that:
6. VOICEOVER:
He made himself independent, so around 3 years ago and for the past 2 years his personality was very, very much changed. He had always been the life of the party, he was eager, was very open, the last 2 years he became visibly more thoughtful, more depressive, absent. We all thought that had to do with his self-employment, but in hindsight I see it differently now. He had other problems.
Narrator:
In particular, financial problems. Because in order to make more money for Scientology, Konrad did not hesitate to take out loans, even on his parents' house. His mother signed the contract, she believed her son, that he would pay everything back -- an investment in the future. That was the point of Scientology's discussion with the family.
In Spring, 1997, a news story appeared on television about the mysterious death of an American Scientologist, Lisa McPherson. Apparently she wished to leave the organization before she got into an accident with her car. Then she came into the headquarters of Scientology, in Clearwater, Florida. She remained there for 17 days, until she was delivered dead to a hospital. The autopsy revealed that the 36-year-old was heavily de-hydrated and had lain in a coma for days before her death. The Scientologists had prescribed high doses of vitamins for her. Konrad's reaction to this show:
7. VOICEOVER
While the show was running, my mother said to him, look at that, what kind of thing is going on there, and he was terribly amused, he laughed. He only laughed and said that what the media was doing was a horrible injustice, nothing like that had happened, it was all made up in order to do away with SC, the people are all actors, the whole thing is made up, and I haven't seen a funnier show in a long time. That's how he reacted.
Narrator:
Konrad did not realize that his death would prove to be parallel to that of the American.
Several weeks later, it was July 17, 1997:
8. VOICEOVER:
That was on Thursday evening about 9 o'clock, I would guess, or 9:30, when the call came, Konrad was lying on the couch here, then he got the call, there were three or four of us. Here on the table is where he took the call, and you could tell right away that that was a call which deeply affected him. He got shaky right away, started sweating, he was very nervous and he used sentence fragments, he couldn't even speak right, that's how nervous he was, and, in closing, he said, "yes is good, I'll do that," or "yes I'm coming", I don't know any more. He then hung up, packed his things and a half hour later he drove away with the bus and we could tell by the sound of his engine that he was headed for Munich.
Narrator:
How Konrad spent the last days of his life has not been fully explained. Bernd had found out that his brother apparently received the assignment to drive Scientologists to Frankfurt am Main. They demonstrated there on July 21 for "religious freedom" and against the "suppression of Scientology" in Germany. On the way there, but still in Munich, Konrad got into an accident with his bus - a moving violation - as the police reported. No mention was made in the report, according to Bernd, of his brother being hurt. Konrad left the bus there and several Scientologists drove with their own cars to Frankfurt. Konrad rented a car, which again, -- sometime later -- was involved in a slight accident. The driver was not Konrad, but a woman, apparently also a Scientologist. The trip continued nevertheless, at least that is apparently what a Scientologist told Konrad's brother later on. Arriving at a Frankfurt hotel, a waiter allegedly noticed that Konrad was not doing well. The 43-year-old is said to have then been brought to Munich.
9. VOICEOVER:
The emergency doctor was notified about 10:30 at night, he drive down Bergstrasse, since that is the location of SC and the emergency doctor had then said, when I talked with him later, a couple of days later, he had said, that my brother was hardly breathing when he arrived, he was with the Scientologists, be was barely still breathing, he had to resuscitate him immediately, brought him to the hospital which was two kilometers [about a mile and a quarter] away, the Scientologists drove with him and went with him into the hospital where he then fell into a coma towards one o'clock in the morning. And stayed in a coma for three weeks and never woke up again.
Narrator:
The doctors were faced with a dilemma - no therapy could be recommended for the patient.
10. VOICEOVER
The course of the illness, such as the story in the hospital, was very atypical as far as the doctors were concerned, so they recommended or asked us, that my brother should have an autopsy, and we agreed, because we were also of the opinion, from the start, that something about the matter had not gone properly... It was determined at the autopsy, that Konrad had very, very poor organs.
Narrator:
Bernd researched some more on his own -- he wanted to know what role Scientology had played in the death of his brother. Not least of all, he tried to understand what had so fascinated his brother about this organization -- which is described by critics as a "cartel which despises people."
11. VOICEOVER:
I drove there in anger, constant anger, because I knew that there was something which the Scientologists knew that they would not tell me about my brother's last hours or days. They appeased my anger, showed sympathy, sympathy which I never see today, where this sympathy came from, that was very unique at the time. I was down there four, five times to find something out, information about my brother, but I basically learned nothing concrete.
Besides the documents and books which Bernd found in the room of his dead brother, there is little else left over. Bills indicate that Konrad had been taking mega-doses of vitamin preparations for years. Scientologists are supposed to take vitamins when they receive auditing. This auditing is a procedure invented by Scientology. The adherents are supposed to be freed from psychic problems by a constant stream of questions and answers. The Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) has been describing this auditing as brainwashing since the Seventies.
Scientologists also take vitamins when they undergo a purification process -- a so-called "rundown." A rundown is necessary, according to Scientology text, if someone has taken drugs. The use of drugs is prohibited in Scientology. However, for Scientologists, not only alcohol and other narcotics, but also medication -- even aspirin -- is viewed as a drug. How many of these "cures" Konrad had undergone is still unclear. It is also not clear what effects come about when someone takes high doses of vitamins for years at a time. It is known that a long-term overdose of certain vitamins can cause serious internal organ damage. How much this explains the fact that Konrad's organs were in such poor shape is uncertain.
What is certain is that Konrad believed that Scientology-Dianetics technology could prevent illnesses. It was for this reason that he, as a self-employed person, did without health insurance. How much Scientologists trust the Dianetic ability to heal is contained in the so-called "Book Zero", the first Dianetic writing of the Scientology founder:
12. VOICEOVER/Quotation
Arthritis, dermatitis, allergies, asthma, some heart complaints, eye trouble, sinusitis, ulcers, etc. are just a small sample of the list of psychosomatic illnesses. Peculiar aches and pains, which appear in various parts of the body, are generally of a psychosomatic nature. Migraine is a psychosomatic illness and can, as can all the others, be healed with the help of Dianetic therapy, without exception (and healed in the fullest sense of the word.)
Narrator:
Healing with Dianetics? That and Konrad's death have reached the ears of the Munich State Prosecutor. Is Scientology practicing some kind of treatment that only doctors should be using? This would be a violation of the law against quack doctors. Does this include treatments with vitamin preparations that could cause long-term health problems?
Over a month ago, more than 100 police swept through the Munich Scientology buildings. They confiscated documents by the box full; the information which comes from that is supposed to disclose what actually happened to Konrad before his death. It has not yet been determined whether the district attorney will press charges against Scientologists. It may be weeks before the documents are all appraised. In the meantime, Konrad's family tries to find their way back to a normal life, though that will not be easy for them:
13. VOICEOVER.
Today letters and newspapers from Scientologists arrive daily, letters personally written, such as, "Hello Konrad! How are you doing?" In closing, the letters offer, this week, to sell 6 books by Ron, etc. Mail constantly arrives as if nothing had ever happened. Mail arrives as if he were still alive.
Narrator:
Bernd and his family must pay dearly for the Scientology membershi
