Germany/Report on Hitler's birthday
by Richard Guenther, Director of Schuzh (German Legal Homeschool
Organization) April 20, 2005
Today, two mothers were taken to prison in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen.
They were not homeschoolers but were charged with keeping their
children from fulfilling the mandatory school attendance laws
of their state. Their crime? They refused to allow their children
to participate in a very, very ungodly school theater piece. First
they received fines. When they refused to pay the fines they were
taken to jail. One mother's husband is in the hospital for a very
serious lung operation. He like the other father will face jail
when his wife finishes her punishment in prison. When she was
brought to the police station the officer in charge told her to
go home and not tell anybody. Why? Because she was brought to
prison with her baby. She still nurses her baby. The other mother
remains in jail. She has 12 children. The last step is to take
the children away!
The grandson of Germany's most respected German Chancellor of
all time, Konrad Adenauer (who was home-educated!), Sven Adenauer,
a politician himself and the county administrator of Guetersloh,
was quoted in a news article to say that "fundamentalist
Christians, i.e., Russian-German Baptists, should leave the country."
He, like his grandfather, is a member of Germany's conservative
party, the CDU. It is becoming harder and harder to distinguish
between the two parties, the SPD (Democrats) and the CDU (Republicans).
"Germany is no place for fundamentalists".
The background for his statements are the "troubles"
these Baptist families cause in the state schools.
A professor of Bielefeld University, Christoph Gusy, was quoted
in a news article to confirm the state policy. "Private schools
have to prove that they are able to provide the state educational
goals. All forms of education that do not enforce these goals
are inherently unlawful." "The duty to attend public
school does not reserve the right of individual decisions of basic
rights." This means that private schools in Germany must
carry out the state's dictates and that the mandatory school attendance
is not limited by the basic rights found in the German constitution.
In other words, religion and conscience as well as parental rights
according to the constitution do not supersede in any way the
mandatory school attendance law. There are articles in our constitution
that guarantee religious freedom, freedom of conscience and parental
rights but no article that dictates a mandatory school attendance!
There is only the duty of supervision of school matters given
to the government. Never-the-less: Schulpflicht ueber alles! (mandatory
school attendance above all else)
Yesterday, in Hamburg, a 9 year old girl's muslim parents contested
before the court that their little girl should be made to wear
a swim suit to attend the co-ed swim course in her school - which
they believed to be a sin. The state argued that it was in the
best interest of the child to learn to swim. The
judge ruled that the state is principally entitled to "follow
its own educational goals independent from the beliefs and wishes
of the parents."
Paderborn - Regional governor, Andreas Wiebe said that the Baptist
homeschool-parents of Paderborn were abusing their children as
hostages to force through their ideology. "They come from
thousands of kilometers away (Russia) and want to force their
will on us. They must adjust themselves in Germany and the mandatory
school attendance belongs to that. If they don't want to comply
then they should go back to their homeland. Fundamentalists don't
have any business being here." Germany is their homeland!
They were brutally persecuted under communism because they were
Germans and Christians. Now they are persecuted in Germany because
they are Russians and Christians. They only want to preserve their
children for the faith their fathers died for in Russia! Nothing
else.
Teachers complain that children of "fundamentalists"
(Bible-believing Baptists) tell their catholic and protestant
school mates about their faith. In this context teachers charge
that a minority of fundamentalists in Paderborn are bullying the
majority. For such parents who are not complying with the state's
education goals, the teachers demand that the state take away
the children benefits that these parents receive from the state.
The teachers' union of Nordrhein-Westfalen complained bitterly
about the state's education minister because she supported the
law that allows parents to apply for exemption from class excursions,
especially overnight excursions, for religious reasons. They say
that this gravely undermines the mandatory school attendance law
and that they cannot cope with a reduced number of children on
their field trips. Schulpflicht ueber alles!
East Germany was named Deutsche Democratic Republic (DDR). They
regarded themselves as a democracy? What is happening here now
in Germany is similar to what happened in East Germany under communism
and even worse, because they are going so far that they take away
the children from the parents. For the sake of the common good
of the German society!? The forced school attendance was initiated
by Hitler's democratic school law in 1939. It criminalized homeschool
parents for the first time in German history. This is the same
law we still have today, 60 years after WWII.
It doesn't get much worse than when, like last week, a judge
with two social workers visited a Baptist family in Paderborn
in an attempt to force them to send their child back to school.
He came to evaluate the possibility of
giving the custody of their home-educated boy to the state.
One of our attorneys was present at this visit and cited in support
of parental rights among other laws the article of the German
constitution that would allow this family to homeschool their
child for religious reasons. The judge retorted that he didn't
want to hear about laws. This shows again clearly that it is not
about keeping the law and about the well-being of the child but
all about state-prescribed social agenda.
The government is pursuing charges against me and my wife, Ingrid.
In one interview, for example, she was asked whether the incriminated
Baptist parents and children of Paderborn feel that the children
had suffered in school (they were charged with non-compliance
to the school laws because they teach their children at home).
She gave the parent's view. When the interview was printed, the
teachers' union attacked her saying that she insulted the teachers
(who in Germany are government officials) and called on the government
to protect them. Now some of them are said to be in need of professional
counseling! It has gone so far that criminal charges from teachers
and even the head of the teachers' union are being brought against
Ingrid. The funny thing is that she had not even mentioned teachers
or schools in the interview. The aggressive emancipatory sexual
education without norms was spoken of. And that the parents and
the children feel that the content of such mandatory explicit
sexual education is against the human dignity of children.
Today we received news from a Christian member family that a
school would not enroll their child. In the previous school, the
child was terribly beaten in the schoolyard and mobbed on many
occasions until the parents finally acted and took the child out
of school. In the process, their attorney advised them to place
the child for a time in another school until their case would
be heard. This was to avoid further legal complications. The new
school refused to take the child because, as the principal said,
they had taken their child out of school for religious reasons.
But this was the story of the principal of the first school -
not the reason the parents had given. Next, the family's doctor
now refuses to treat the family because they took their child
out of school for religious reasons! Tomorrow they will be interrogated
by the local police. This is religious persecution!
Yesterday, we received news of a Christian member family in Saxony
that the court took away the custody of their children, giving
it to the state to ensure their school attendance. The state
then takes over during school hours - the parents may have their
children for the rest of the day. These are truly brave families
who teach their children at home in spite of the draconic measures
from the state. We tell them that when it goes so far that they
are about to lose their children then they must leave the country.
They are looking now for a place in another state to register
their child. If any of you know of a church who is interested
to help these families, please ask your pastor to contact us.
If any of you have not heard my interview with Bob Enyart at
[www.kgov.com] then you might tune in to get some idea of what
is going on here in our schools.
These news items I share with you knowing that many of you experienced
these kinds of things in the past in America and yet stood your
ground. Would that God continue to give us the strength and the
means to continue our work in Germany and give us victory.
Contacts:
Schulunterricht zu Hause (German homeschool)
Buchwaldstrasse 16
D-63303 Dreieich
Germany
Phone +49 1805-724894
FAX +49 700-48368435
Website www.german-homeschool.de
e-mail r.guenther@schuzh.de
Donations:
You can donate online to Homeschool Foundation, Virginia, earmarked
for Schuzh, Germany:
https://secure.hslda.org/HSF/support.asp?GFD=German%20Homeschooling
Or transfer directly to
Schulunterricht zu Hause e.V.
BIC: Genode51DRE
IBAN: DE68 5059 2200 0006 6391 19
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