I Left Germany at Eleven
Bettie remembers being a child in Bavaria when classroom discussions left her eight-year-old sister in tears. Her family also endured estrangement and broken relationships.
- NAME
- BETTIE
- OCCUPATION
- CHILDHOOD WITNESS
“HIS PARENTS SAID HE WAS NO LONGER THEIR SON.”
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TRANSCRIPT
I’m Bettie. I’m from Bavaria and was born in Munich.
I have three sisters. I am the oldest of the three of us. In my fifth or sixth grade, in high school, and in elementary school for my sister, we were told in front of all our classmates how terrible Scientology is and what a bad sect it is. My little sister was eight years old at the time and it really affected her—experiencing that at school and having someone stand in front of the classroom, reading something out loud, talking complete nonsense. She cried and she had to be comforted afterwards for I don’t know how long.
Due to the misinformation about Scientology in Germany, my stepfather was driven out of his hometown. His parents said he was no longer their son. His then-wife divorced him, just because he was a Scientologist. That means that since I was 10, I haven’t had a relationship with my stepsister.
Even as an 11-year-old, I personally experienced that you cannot freely practice your religion in Germany. And I convinced my parents to send me to a boarding school in England where such oppression did not exist. I would not wish on any child or any person what we have experienced over the last 30 years in Germany with regard to Scientology and discrimination.
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