ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BERLIN
SOURCE: The Washington Post
A feud between German authorities and the Church of Scientology has escalated into a trans-Atlantic conflict in the wake of accusations by American celebrities accusing that the Bonn government is oppressing members of the group in the same way that the Nazi regime persecuted Jews.
A letter, signed by 34 figures in the U.S. entertainment industry and published last week in the International Herald Tribune, was the latest salvo in a campaign waged by Scientologists and their supporters. The church has been comparing the treatment of its members in contemporary Germany with that of Jews in Adolf Hitler's day.
The letter, which included the names of actors Dustin Hoffman and Goldie Hawn, director Oliver Stone, novelists Mario Puzo and Gore Vidal, and TV talk show host Larry King, declared the signatories could not look the other way while Scientologists are marginalized and vilified in a manner reminiscent of the intolerance practiced by Hitler.
Germany has barred Scientology members from belonging to the main political parties, and the state of Bavaria has started screening all applicants for civil service jobs to determine if they are members of the group.
Last summer, the youth wing of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Christian Democratic Party tried unsuccessfully to mount a nationwide boycott of the movie ``Mission Impossible'' because its star, Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist. In 1995, the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg blocked a performance by jazz pianist Chick Corea because he is a member.
The letter accused the government of excluding children of Scientologists from public schools and drew a parallel between efforts to boycott performances by actors and musicians who are Scientologists to the book-burnings staged by Nazis in the 1930s. It urged Kohl ``to bring an end to this shameful pattern of organized persecution.''
``These acts are intolerable in any country that conceives of itself as a modern democracy,'' it said. ``This organized oppression is beginning to sound familiar like the Germany of 1936 rather than 1996. It should be stopped - now, before it spreads and increases in virulence as it did before.''
Kohl responded by denouncing the celebrities as hopelessly ignorant about the true situation in his country: ``They don't know anything about Germany, and they don't want to, either. Otherwise, they wouldn't have talked such rubbish.''
In Los Angeles, Scientology President Heber Jentzsch called Kohl's reaction ``typical of the contempt and indifference shown by high-handed German officials to the church's complaints of discrimination.'' He said the actions and statements by Kohl and other German officials ``make the comparisons with the Nazi era stick.''
In a rare display of unity, leaders of Germany's Jewish community and German politicians of every ideological stripe rallied around Kohl in denouncing the advertising blitz as a gross distortion of history that offends the dignity of those who died in the concentration camps.
``To compare our efforts to expose the machinations of Scientology with the methods of Hitler is nothing more than a display of coarse tastelessness toward the victims of Auschwitz,'' Labor Minister Norbert Bluem said.
Ignatz Bubis, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that conditions in modern Germany bear no resemblance to the Nazi era and that any attempt to link them is ``insulting to the memory of the victims.''
Ever since the American-based movement founded by science fiction writer L.Ron Hubbard established its first branches here in 1970, Scientologists have been embroiled in clashes with the German state that have raised questions about tolerance and free expression.
The Scientologists, who have recruited about 30,000 followers here, insist they represent a godless religion that strives for spiritual growth and self-improvement. But German authorities contend it is a dangerous cult that brainwashes its members and forces them to pay enormous sums of money for what amounts to thought control. The interior ministers of all 16 German states have urged a tougher crackdown on Scientology.
In December, Kohl's government said it was setting up a central office to coordinate federal and state efforts against the movement. One such step was the possibility of placing it under round-the-clock surveillance as an extremist organization with global political aims.
While the United States has grudgingly granted tax-exempt religious status to Scientology, the German government still classifies it as a ``youth cult.''
Its measures against Scientology have elicited criticism and charges of human rights violations from the United Nations and some foreign governments, including the United States. But German officials say they are acting within the bounds of their post-war constitution, which allows the state to take action to prevent the growth of coercive or totalitarian movements that are deemed a threat to the country's democracy.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB