The latest about German Home Educators from HSLDA
| 17 November 2007 – WND – POLICE STATE, GERMANY |
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58751
POLICE STATE, GERMANY
Court: Homeschooling is ‘child endangerment’
Gives 2 kids to government, castigates social workers for letting family flee
——————————————————————————–
Posted: November 17, 2007
? 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A court decision that categorized homeschooling as “child welfare endangerment” has assigned custody of two children to the government and criticized a social services agency for allowing a family to flee Germany, where homeschooling remains illegal.
The decision from the Federal High Court in Karlsruhe, Germany’s highest court, was reported by the German edition of Agence France-Presse, as well as Netwerk Bildungsfreiheit http://www.netzwerk-bildungsfreiheit.de/html/pe_erlangen_en.html, an organization that advocates for homeschoolers against the repression in Germany.
The report did not directly identify the family involved, but described the case of two children from a homeschooling family from Paderborn.
The court found the city and its social services agencies were “obviously unsuited” to the task of enforcing mandatory public school attendance and rather than protecting against “child welfare endangerment,” the city allowed the family to move to Austria where the two children now are being educated by an “uncertified” mother.
An internet blogger’s site http://principleddiscovery.com/?p=695, Principle Discovery, which monitors some such situations, also translated the report and said the Paderborn case specifically involved issues of religious belief, but the decision also could impact another homeschooling case, from Bremen, on which WND has been reporting http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58704.
In that case, the parents have been battling the government over their children’s education for educational, competency, and cultural reasons, not necessarily religious reasons, but now have been relegated to begging a public court system for their own money to use for groceries after authorities froze both personal and business bank accounts to pay a fine for homeschooling.
Dagmar Neubronner, who with her husband, Tillman, runs a home-based publishing business and homeschools sons Moritz, 10, and Thomas, 8, told the Home School Legal Defense Association http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/default.asp the couple recently got word of the lock on the accounts.
“After the bailiff/marshal could not find possessions to take away from us, today we received news that our accounts have been blocked to impound the penalty payment of 4,500 euros,” she wrote. “So our work as a publishing house is blocked, too, and we cannot withdraw money to buy food.”
As WND has reported http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58542, the fine is being imposed because the couple is unwilling to subject their sons to the grind of the daily school requirements in Germany.
Government officials determined to stamp out “parallel societies” are adamantly opposed to homeschooling in Germany, and the Neubronners case is one of the latest in a string of incidents in which the HSLDA has gotten involved. In this case, the organization that promotes homeschooling worldwide already has written to Mrs. Senatorin Renate Jurgens-Pieper in Bremen, asking for a continuation of previous permission for the Neubronner family to teach their children at home.
The report on the Paderborn case said although the family now resides in Austria and is homeschooling according to Austrian law, their legal residence remains in Germany, and the report noted the decision of the German court applies no matter where the family lives within the European Union.
The blogger reported that although the family’s name was left out of the report, the circumstances align with the case involving the “R” family. The blog reports that family made a dramatic exit from their home in Germany and now is living at a Christian resort in Austria which has helped homeschooling families flee Germany in the past.
The state intervened in the family’s education because of its expressed interests in their social development, and questioned whether the family was allowing the children to exercise the right to develop “his or her own personality.”
WND has reported previously http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57830 how German officials targeted an American family of Baptist missionaries for deportation because they belong to a group that refuses “to give their children over to the state school system.”
A teenager, Melissa Busekros http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55730, also returned to her family months after German authorities took her from her home and forcibly detained her in a psychiatric facility for being homeschooled.
And WND has reported http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55151 on other families facing fines, frozen bank accounts and court-ordered state custody of their children for resisting Germany’s mandatory public school requirements, which by government admission are assigned to counter “the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views. http://gottsegnet.blogspot.com/2007/02/updates-on-busekros-family.html”
In the case involving Melissa, a German appeals court ultimately ordered legal custody of the teenager who was taken from her home by a police squad and detained in a psychiatric hospital for being homeschooled be returned to her family because she no longer is in danger.
The lower court’s ruling had ordered police officers to take Melissa?? then 15?? from her home, if necessary by force, and place her in a mental institution for a variety of evaluations. She was kept in custody from early February until April, when she turned 16 and under German law was subject to different laws.
At that point she simply walked away from the foster home where she had been required to stay and returned home.
Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, has commented on the issue on a blog http://gottsegnet.blogspot.com/2007/02/updates-on-busekros-family.html, noting the government “has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion or motivated by different world views and in integrating minorities into the population as a whole.”
Drautz said homeschool students’ test results may be as good as for those in school, but “school teaches not only knowledge but also social conduct, encourages dialogue among people of different beliefs and cultures, and helps students to become responsible citizens.”
The German government’s defense of its “social” teachings and mandatory public school attendance was clarified during an earlier dispute on which WND reported http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53457, when a German family wrote to officials objecting to police officers picking their child up at home and delivering him to a public school.
“The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling,” said a government letter in response. “… You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. … In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement.”
For the links below click here:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58751
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“The Little Book of Big Reasons to Homeschool”
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Previous stories:
Parents to beg for their own grocery money
Homeschoolers facing $6,300 fine
American missionaries targeted for deportation
Courts offer homeschoolers zilch, expert says
Court gives Melissa back to family
Western homeschoolers need political asylum from democracy3 families face fines, frozen accounts
‘Youth worker’ lies about homeschool student
5 ‘well-educated’ kids put in state custody
Girl, 15, begs to return to homeschooling parents
Psych tests ordered for homeschooling parents
3rd Reich homeschool prohibition defended
Homeschool family told to give up 5 other kids
Homeschooler’s parents allowed 1 visit a week
Court-ordered foster care replaces psych ward
Homeschool student disappears from psych ward
‘Psych ward’ homeschooler case goes international
Campaign launched on behalf of German teen
Police take home-taught student to psych ward
German homeschool advocate says Nazis have returned
Government declares war on homeschooling parents
‘Pesky religion freedoms obstruct German society’
Achtung! Germany drags homeschool kids to class
Court upholds Nazi-era ban on homeschooling
Campaign to overturn law that jailed homeschool mom
Constitution threatened by homeschool case
Homeschool entrepreneurism catches fire
U.N. making homeschooling illegal?
Oprah acknowledges homeschoolers
Oprah’s essay contest excludes homeschoolers
Charges against homeschoolers dropped, plainclothes cop fired
Funds raised for arrested homeschoolers
Abuse case prompts rethink of homeschool laws
Germany continues targeting homeschoolers
Homeschooled chess champ illegally truant?
7 homeschooling dads thrown in jail
Judges try to snatch homeschoolers
District sorry for homeschooler-terrorist link
Homeschoolers portrayed as terrorists
Homeschoolers hit campaign trail
Survey: Homeschoolers new political force
| Help the Neubronners Family |
Dear Homeschool Leaders,
I am writing to ask for your help once again on behalf of a German homeschooling family. And we are asking you to send this message on to your state-wide email lists.
We are not giving up on trying to help our fellow homeschoolers suffering for their conviction to homeschool against extreme pressure from the unyielding German government!
As you know, homeschoolers in Germany are denied the fundamental human right to decide what the best form of education of their children is. Many Germans who would homeschool face threats of huge fines, jail, and the loss of custody of their children. Some families have fled Germany under this intense pressure.
The Neubronners are a homeschooling family who live in the city-state of Bremen. After being allowed to homeschool in Bremen last year they are now being threatened with dire consequences. There is a lawsuit that is in the German courts but in the meantime German School authorities continue to apply coercion to stop them from homeschooling their children. As of today the Neubronners have been fined 4500 Euros (nearly $7,000). The authorities have the power to put a lien on their home which German authorities have done to homeschoolers in recent years. The government can even force a sale of their home if they don’t pay the fine. The Neubronners are just an average family and can’t afford such a high fine. Even if they could, they would not send their children to government school!
The Neubronners are prepared to face these threats and to go to jail if necessary. They will not send their children to the public school. They are firm in their conviction that homeschooling is the best option for their children. They are convinced that their government is wrong in its application of its laws to deny them the basic human right of choosing what the best form of education for their children is.
For more information and details you can read the November 6 World Net Daily article:??Homeschoolers facing $6,300 Fine ?? at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58542.
We are not asking for your financial support but rather to take a few moments to write a letter to the German authorities.
ACTION REQUESTED:
We are asking you to send letters, emails and faxes to the officials in Bremen, urging them to permit the Neubronners to homeschool and to change their regulations to allow other residents in Bremen to homeschool their children.
For a sample letter you can see what HSLDA President Mike Smith wrote by going to http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/Germany_Sample_Letter.pdf.
1. Send a fax:
You can fax the Director of the Bremen Department of Education by dialing 011-49-421-361-15542.
2. Send a letter:
The address for mail is:
Frau Senatorin Renate Jurgens-Pieper
Senatorin für Bildung und Wissenschaft
Rembertiring 8-12
D-28195 Bremen
Germany
3. Send an email:
Because emails are easy to delete, they should be sent in addition to the other methods listed above to:
renate.juergens-pieper@bildung.bremen.de.
Please blind copy the Neubronners on your emails at:
info@genius-verlag.de.
Thank you for helping our fellow homeschoolers!
Christopher J. Klicka
Senior Counsel
Home School Legal Defense Association
Also from another source:
Yes, send the Senator a letter but what the Neubronners have actually asked for (apart from financial support to their lawyer) is for everyone to contact their local media.
Dagmar, Tilman and the boys have already appeared on German TV after the first bailiffs visit this week; and have since received the increased imposed fine upon their return.
The contact forms and email address for the 2 major newspapers, 2 major magazine and 2 major tv stations in Germany are in this post, along with the names of the other Education Department officials who have signed some of the ‘orders’.
http://educatinggermany.7doves.com/eg_stub.php/2007/11/08/neubronner_6
The Neubronners local newspapers are erroneously reporting that they will be leaving the country. They want to stay and do believe that with international help they can change the status quo.
Changing it in Bremen may set the precedent that the rest of the states need to re-interpret the Basic Law.
Can you help?
| POLICE STATE, GERMANY |
American Missionaries Targeted for Deportation (For Homeschooling)
by Esther Ruth
POLICE STATE, GERMANY
American missionaries targeted for deportation Government says such Christians don’t give children to state schools
Posted: September 26, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh
? 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
The German government is targeting an American family of Baptist missionaries for deportation because they belong to a group that refuses “to give their children over to the state school system,” according to an international homeschool support organization.
The Home School Legal Defense Association works worldwide for the benefit of those who wish to teach their own children themselves. Officials there, and at several other international organizations, have been fighting for several years to convince the German government to recognize the well-established rights of parents to do that.
Michael Farris, cofounder of Home School Legal Defense Association
However, there’s been little headway, and HSLDA cofounder Michael P. Farris has told WND Germany is taking an “incredibly hard-line approach” against homeschooling.
In fact, authorities in Germany earlier declared war on homeschoolers, taking one young girl to a psychiatric ward for the offense of being homeschooled.
In the newest case, the attack has been turned against a family of American Christians who arrived in Germany to provide services to the public.
According to a report from the HSLDA, Clint Robinson, his wife Susan and their three children arrived in Germany in March after they sold their possessions in the U.S. and left to work as missionaries.
When they arrived, they applied for a residency permit, required by the government, according to the HSLDA and its affiliated German organization, called Schulunterricht Zu Hause.
But local authorities implied that such permission never would be granted to independent missionaries, “as they were already aware that these missionaries refuse to give their children over to the state school system.”
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57830…
| German Prosecutor Wants Homeschooling Parents in Jail |
http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/200709200.asp
A new situation representing the plight of homeschoolers in Germany is developing in the state of Hesse.
The Dudeks, a homeschooling family of eight, were tried, convicted and fined 900 euros (about $1,200) in May for not sending their children to school. Hessian law allows for an exception to compulsory school attendance in??compelling cases. ?? But, as a matter of practice, homeschooling is not tolerated.
Following the trial, state prosecutor Herwig Mueller told Mr. Dudek that he needn’t worry about the fine.??You won’t have to pay it, ?? said Mr. Mueller,??because I am going to send you and your wife to jail. ??
Additionally, the local Youth Welfare Office in Hesse filed a case against the family in the local Family Court. But at a July 3 hearing, a judge ruled the Dudeks could keep custody of their six children.
In the neighboring state of Bavaria, similar authorities in January took Melissa Busekros from her family under an escort of 15 police officers. In Zitau, the Brause family was forced to flee Germany after the Family Court in their state took custody of their children because they were homeschooling. Other families have fled under similar pressure ??just because they were homeschooling.
The Dudeks are determined to resist this repressive authoritarianism rather than leave their homeland.
??We are simple, peaceable people. We are not trying to harm anyone or create a parallel society. We simply wish to educate our children in the best way for them ??just like millions of other families all over the world, ?? said Mr. Dudek.
You can send a note of encouragement to the Dudeks at Freiderichstr, No. 6, 37293 Archfeld, Germany.
The plight of German homeschoolers will not improve until authorities in the state governments make changes to the laws and regulations to stop bureaucrats from persecuting homeschooling families. Home School Legal Defense Association calls upon the Hessian government and other states in Germany to create the necessary administrative rules specifying the procedure for families who want to homeschool.
Sadly, German courts approve this persecution because, say judges, homeschooling might lead to so-called??parallel societies. ?? Hundreds of countries all over the world have found that homeschooling does not create parallel societies. Rather, homeschooling produces excellent academic results and students who are emotionally and socially mature ??ready to take their places as productive members of society.
HSLDA is engaged in a broad-based effort to support Germans who are working to change laws and regulations to allow homeschooling. HSLDA provides aid to families and groups by funding studies, conferences, and legal battles for the most intensely persecuted families. It is our goal to help Germans change their internal laws and regulations through financial, legal, political and moral support.
| ??Home School Heartbeat’: Dark Shadows ??Germany’s Homeschool Law |
http://www.hslda.org/docs/hshb/75/hshbwk3.asp
??Home School Heartbeat’: Dark Shadows ??Germany’s Homeschool Law
Is the homeschooling situation in Germany casting dark shadows on the American future? On this week’s??Home School Heartbeat, ?? Michael Farris explains the struggle of German homeschoolers to change their leaders’ prejudice against homeschooling.
and
Chairman’s View By Michael P. Farris
http://www.hslda.org/courtreport/V23N3/V23N303.asp
| German Family face gaol for Home Schooling |
Here is the information for contacting the German Ambassador in New Zealand:
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany:
HE Mr Jörg Zimmermann, Ambassador
Street Address 90-92 Hobson Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Postal Address PO Box 1687, Wellington
Telephone +64 4 473 6063 Facsimile +64 4 473 6069
Email:
German.Embassy@iconz.co.nz
Website:
http://www.wellington.diplo.de/Vertretung/wellington/en/Startseite.html
Office Hours Mon-Thur 0730-1615 hrs, Fri 0730-1500 hrs Consular Mon-Fri 0800-1200 hrs
http://irdial.com/blogdial/?p=726
German Family face gaol for Home Schooling
May 18th, 2007 by irdial
A German network of home educators have asked us to please write to the minister below and put international pressure on them.
Thank you Leslie
Dear Friends,
we want to inform you that again a homeschooling family in Germany is under severe pressure. The Dudek family from German state of Hesse is threatened to be send to prison because of homeschooling their children. Different from most of the other German states in Hesse, homeschooling fulfills the facts of a criminal offence. In most of the other states it is only an administrative offence.
The following information is a translation of an article which appears yesterday in the local newspaper. Especially consider the last sentence in the article. It is striking. We will keep you informed about the case. Perhaps we need again international help.
It is embarrassing that German officials put parents into jail whose children are well educated and where the family is in good order. We personally know the Dudeks as such a family.
The responsible minister of education of Hesse is:
Hessisches Kultusministerium
Mrs. Karin Wolff
Luisenplatz 10
65185 Wiesbaden
06151/17120
E-Mail: ministerin@hkm.hessen.de
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Joerg Grosseluemern
Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit – Network for Freedom in Education
Dudek family to go before court once again.
By Harald Sagawe
Prosecutor Herwig Muller has appealed against the verdict in the case of Rosemarie and Jürgen Dudek. The couple from the German town of Archfeld in Herleshausen was sentenced to fines at the beginning of May. In the meantime the prosecutor in Kassel has applied for jail sentences of three months each, without probation, for the parents of six children.
Rosemarie and Jürgen Dudek were sentenced because they did not send their children to school, for religious reasons. The parents, Christians who closely follow the bible, teach their children themselves. Two years ago the court had also dealt with the Dudeks. That case, dealing with the payment of a fine, had been dropped. An application for the approval of a state-recognised private school – which, according to experts, has no chance of success at any rate – has still not been decided by the school authorities.
“It’s a terrible thing, to lock up a family that hasn’t done anyone any harm,” says the accused, Jürgen Dudek.
The prosecutor, Herwig Müller, is currently on vacation. Chief prosecutor Hans-Manfred Jung confirmed the veto, but could not say anything about the reasons.
Jürgen Dudek is horrified at the idea that the prosecution wants to see him and his wife behind bars. “It’s a terrible thing, to lock up a family that hasn’t done anyone any harm,” he says, “especially now, with the legal situation looking the way it is.” He regards the matter as absurd.
The judge’s job is to pronounce a verdict and not mix himself up in administrative matters, says Arno Meissner, director of the education department. Meanwhile he makes it clear that his office will by no means leave the family in peace, not even temporarily. “We will enforce compulsory school attendance against the family as promptly as possible. First his office intends to talk with the family, then to set a time limit and if this is not met, it will once again open a criminal case against them. Not even the announcement of a move by the family will settle the matter, declared Meissner.
Meissner dismissed the criticism made by Peter Höbbel, the judge of the juvenile court, against his department. We won’t let ourselves be admonished by a judge in that way, he said. “His duty is to make a judgement when the prosecutor brings a charge and to stay out of administrative matters.” Höbbel had rebuked the education department because it has been sitting on the Dudeks’ application for the approval of a private school for two and a half years, with no decision having been made about it.
| Court gives Melissa back to family- Germany |
Court gives Melissa back to family- Germany
| EXCLUSIVE: Meet German Homeschool Family whose Daughter was Taken by Gov’t |
Go into the link below to see a video of the family.
I met recently with the Busekros family in Erlangen, Germany. This Christian family had their 15-year old daughter Melissa taken from them in a SWAT style raid because the Youth Welfare office in the city of Erlangen thinks this home is a dangerous environment for children. Officials also think the father, Hubert, has too much influence over the thinking of his daughter.
Melissa, who was being homeschooled at the time, was taken from her parents and put in this mental hospital in neighboring Nuremberg for what officials said was??school-phobia. ?? She is now in a foster home at a secret location while a court battle continues. Some fear the Busekros could lose their other children, as well.
Homeschooling is usually not allowed in Germany and is widely considered to be harmful to children. I’ve interviewed German homeschooling parents who have been fined and thrown into jail.
Watch for my story on the 700 Club, Newswatch, Christian World News and here on CBNNews.com.
Melissa’s mother Gudrun asked us if we would share their thank you to everyone around the world who has written the Busekros family and prayed for them.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/112474.aspx
| There is an interview with Melissa by CBN now that she is back home. |
There is an interview with Melissa by CBN now that she is back home.
| Homeschool student disappears from psych ward – Authorities don’t let parents, lawyer know her new location |
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54223
“Homeschool student disappears from psych ward
Authorities don’t let parents, lawyer know her new location
“The case involving a 15-year-old homeschool student in Germany who suddenly was snatched from her home by a SWAT team of police officers and sent to a psychiatric ward for her “school phobia” suddenly has taken a turn for the worse. …”
**********
“Officials with HSLDA warned “what is happening in Germany today may be knocking on our door tomorrow.” The group now is tracking the circumstances of about 40 families in Germany with court cases in various stages.”
**********
We have much reason to be concerned here in New Zealand if Section 59 gets repealed or amended. We have Cindy Kiro’s 4 tests: at birth, upon entering school, end of primary school and end of secondary school plus McCormack’s “parent licensing” which will involve 7 tests during the child’s life including a social worker assigned to each child. These could become law and it will be easier for authorities to push them through if Section 59 gets through. Then we will be at the mercy of the social worker and that person’s world view. You can be sure that they will not like Home Educators because they can’t see what is happening in our families. They can’t influence the world view of our children. We have much to be concerned about.
We need to fight what is happening in Germany and we need to do all that is within our power to stop Section 59 being repealed or amended.
Here is the information for contacting the German Ambassador in New Zealand:
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany:
HE Mr Jörg Zimmermann, Ambassador
Street Address 90-92 Hobson Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Postal Address PO Box 1687, Wellington
Telephone +64 4 473 6063 Facsimile +64 4 473 6069
Email:
German.Embassy@iconz.co.nz
Website: http://www.wellington.diplo.de/Vertretung/wellington/en/Startseite.html
Office Hours Mon-Thur 0730-1615 hrs, Fri 0730-1500 hrs Consular Mon-Fri 0800-1200 hrs
| German addresses for us to be writing to: |
Email from Bruce Shortt with German addresses for us to be writing to:
TO EVERYONE, THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT IS AGAIN PERSECUTING HOMESCHOOLING FAMILIES. PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING EMAIL AND WRITE A QUICK [OR LONG] NOTE TO THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES AT THE EMAIL ADDRESSES PROVIDED. GOD’S PEACE BE WITH YOU, BRUCE
JT1217@aol.com wrote:
Dear Bruce,
(If you could get these addresses out to your network it would be incredible what pressure we can generate. Thanks, brother!)
As I shared with you over the weekend, German officials have taken fifteen year old Melissa Busekros from her family. All of the facts surrounding this outrageous action of German legal and police authorities can be found in English at
http://www.netzwerk-bildungsfreiheit.de/html/pe_erlangen_en.html
The State’s action clearly goes beyond what is justifiable. They took unreasonable measures for which they had no basis. They intimidated the family with a SWAT team of 15 police officers to take captive a 15 year old unsuspecting girl early in the morning, taking her to a state psychiatrist. The psychiatrist, after hours of interrogation, wrote a report which claimed that Melissa had delayed educational development of 1 year and school phobia. The judge, basing her decision on this report, gave the custody of the child over to the state and placed the child in a psychiatric ward. This was all done in a sped up action taking only four days. The family is devastated and has immediately appealed the judge’s decision. They are asking for your support.
We are asking you, and everyone you know, to take action and send an email to the officials listed below. Your email should let them know that you do not support their actions which violate religious liberties and parental rights laws around the world, including in Germany . Then ask the official to please use the authority of their position to have Melissa released back into the custody of her parents. Also, email the court and ask them to reinstate the custody rights of the Busekros parents.
Please send your emails to:
Youth Welfare Office
Director: Edeltraud Hoellerer
Rathaus
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 (0) 9131 86-2844
Fax +49 (0) 9131 86-2438
Mail: edeltraud.hoellerer@stadt.erlangen.de
Or stadtjugendamt@stadt.erlangen.de
Responsible Official
Monika Muzenhardt
Mail: monika.muzenhardt@stadt.erlangen.de
Mayor of the Town of Erlangen
Dr. Siegfried Balleis
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Fon: +49 [0] 9131 86-0
Fax: +49 [0] 9131 86-26 92
Mail: ob@stadt.erlangen.de
Local Court Erlangen
Family court
Richterin Frank-Daupin
Mozartstrasse 23
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131-782 01
Fax +49 9131/782-361
(No Email address available)
Minister of Justice in Bavaria
Beate Merk
Prielmayerstr. 7
80335 Munchen
Tel. +49 89 5597 1799
Fax +49 89 5597 3580
Email: beate.merk@stmj.bayern.de
Clinic Nuernberg-Nord/Psychatrie
Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1
90419 Nuernberg
chief physician: Prof. Joerg Wiesse
Email: joerg.wiesse@klinikum-nuernberg.de
Assistant Medical Director
Dr. Schanda
(Responsible for the survey of Melissa)
Tel: 0911-398-3877
Fax: 0911-398-3261
Email: KJP_B@klinikum-nuernberg.de
axel.froelich@klinikum-nuernberg.de
You can send your letter of encouragement to Melissa to:
Melissa Busekros
Klinikum Nuernberg-Nord
Haus 48 B
Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1
D-90419 Nuerenberg
GERMANY
Our prayer is that we can work together to end this nightmare for this family. Please know that the International Human Rights Group is working with the family and attorneys to secure and protect the human rights of Melissa and her parents. If you would like to support our work you can send a check to the International Human Rights Group ( 108 Sequoia Drive SE ; Rome , Georgia 30161) which is tax exempt non-profit organization.
Regardless of what else you do, please continue to pray for Melissa and her family.
For His Kingdom,
Joel Thornton
President and General Counsel
the International Human Rights Group
108 Sequoia Drive SE
Rome, Georgia 30161
Telephone +706.266.6836
www.ihrg.org
| Germany continues to be of concern for Home Educators |
Greetings
Germany continues to be of concern for Home Educators. Please see Chris Klicka’s email below.
Here is the information for contacting the German Ambassador in New Zealand:
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany:
HE Mr Jörg Zimmermann, Ambassador
Street Address 90-92 Hobson Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Postal Address PO Box 1687, Wellington
Telephone +64 4 473 6063 Facsimile +64 4 473 6069
Email: German.Embassy@iconz.co.nz
Website: http://www.wellington.diplo.de/Vertretung/wellington/en/Startseite.html
Office Hours Mon-Thur 0730-1615 hrs, Fri 0730-1500 hrs Consular Mon-Fri 0800-1200 hrs
Blessings
Barbara
4 Tawa Street
Palmerston North
New Zealand
Phone: (06) 357-4399 or (06) 354-7699
Fax: (06) 357-4399
web site: https://hef.org.nz
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—–Original Message—–
From: Home School Legal Defense Association
Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2007 8:43 a.m.
To: Barbara Smith
Subject: HSLDA–German Homeschooled Child Sentenced to a Child
Psychiatry Unit
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From the HSLDA E-lert Service…
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February 5, 2007
HSLDA–German Homeschooled Child Sentenced to a Child Psychiatry Unit
Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:
The situation for homeschoolers in Germany is getting worse each week.
Just last Thursday, a 17-year-old homeschooled girl was forcibly removed from her parent’s custody by over 15 police officers. The homeschooled girl has been placed in the child psychiatry unit of the Nuremberg clinic.
Homeschooling is not legal in Germany. There are over 40 cases currently in court or being appealed. Christian families are fleeing Germany for safety in nearby countries. The unconscionable treatment of sincere and faithful Christian homeschool families is a sad legacy from Germany’s past. Homeschooling was first banned under Adolf Hitler, and that ban is still enforced today.
Many families who have had their children forcibly taken from their home each day and taken to government school have since fled Germany, but there are ill some homeschoolers. The latest incident involves 17-year-old Melissa Busekros, the girl sent to the Nuremberg psychiatry unit. What is being done to this sensitive girl–just to set an example of enforcing the compulsory schooling at all costs–is reprehensible and causing trauma to unassuming and lovable Melissa.
In the summer of 2005, when Melissa was 15, she was told she would have to repeat the seventh grade at the government school because she was failing math and Latin. She had good grades in the rest of her classes, so her parents tutored her at home for those two subjects.
When the school officials found out they were angry and then expelled Melissa, so the family began to homeschool full time.
However, the Youth Welfare office then took the family to court because they were homeschooling. Then, on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, social workers and police officers came to the Busekros home and forcibly took Melissa to the child psychiatric unit where she was questioned for four hours before she was eturned home. Then two days later, 15 police officers and social workers came to the Busekros home and took Melissa away from her parents by force and placed her in the child psychiatric unit.
According to Melissa’s father, Hubert Busekros, this treatment was justified by the psychiatrist’s finding two days previously that Melissa was upposedly developmentally delayed by one year and that she suffered from school phobia.
Nevertheless, one organization concerned with education expressed outrage at the treatment of Melissa Busekros.
“The Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit [the Network for Freedom of Education] condemns this inconsiderate and totally incommensurate behavior on the part of the officials involved and demands that they give Melissa her freedom and return her to her family immediately,” the group was quoted in an article on its ebsite. To view the site, as well as more information and a photograph of the Busekros family, go to:
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=3697
ACTION
We ask you to take a moment and do two things: First, call or email the German Embassy and give them this message:
“We are shocked to hear of the Busekros’ homeschooled daughter Melissa being removed from the custody of her parents and being placed in a child psychiatric unit. This is an outrage that hearkens back to the Nazi era. We cannot believe a free nation would put a homeschooled child in a psychiatric ward for ‘school phobia.’ The attack on the homeschool families throughout Germany must stop.”
The German Embassy can be contacted at: (See New Zealand information above)
Dr. Klaus Scharioth
Ambassador
German Embassy
4645 Reservoir Road NW
Washington, DC, 20007-1998
(202) 298-4000
The embassy can be emailed from its website:
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=3696.
Second, pray for the German situation. Only God can change the situation for homeschoolers in Germany. Attempts by German homeschoolers to organize or to change the laws through court continue to be lost, but with God all things are possible. We ask that you cry out for the German homeschool families.
BACKGROUND
German parents have been fighting for the right to homeschool for the last seven or more years. However, all efforts have failed in the face of the stubborn German government and their official response that they cannot “allow a counterculture to exist.”
We believe the hope for Germany will be via the international pressure bearing down so that they abandon their witch-hunt after homeschoolers and their terrible treatment of these innocent families.
Homeschoolers remaining in Germany are hoping to legalize homeschooling in one state and thereby make a safe-haven for homeschoolers. However, the German homeschoolers are so few and the attacks so intense that it is hard to make any progress in this area.
If you wish to assist the Germans in their struggle for homeschool freedom, or with many other struggling countries, you can donate to HSLDA’s international fund via the Home School Foundation at http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/.
Your donation will be used to meet the homeschooling needs in Germany.
After meeting the known homeschooling needs in this country, if there are remaining funds, this money will be transferred to the Foundation’s International Fund to meet homeschooling needs in other countries.
Thank you for standing with these families and taking a moment to assist them.
Sincerely,
Christopher J. Klicka
HSLDA Senior Counsel
Director of State and International Relations
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More reasons to join HSLDA…
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1940
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