| 1990s Two youths entered a Scientology center and threatened Mr. Clausen with a knife, asking him if he was afraid of being killed. Mr. Clausen threw the intruders out. Shortly afterward, the youths returned, breaking the front window, pushing over bookshelves and strewing books about the center. When Mr. Clausen attempted to stop the hoodlums, he received a face full of tear gas. |
espite being faced almost daily with bigotry and violence, Otto Clausen continues to stand up for his religious convictions.
After graduating from a German university in 1980, Mr. Clausen held a responsible and satisfying position as a mechanical engineer. He later became a Scientologist and found much of value in the simple and workable principles of the religion.
Thus, it was hard for him to understand why some sought to denigrate Scientology and why he would be attacked for supporting a religion that had so improved his own life, and which could obviously be applied to better the existence of others.
The discrimination against him started at work. Without warning, employees who had earlier been warm and friendly began to snub him. He received anonymous hate mail and was ostracized. He soon realized his decision to be a Scientologist had become a matter of personal integrity.
“Years ago I used to reproach my father and grandfather for the fact that they had remained silent in the face of discrimination against the Jews and other minorities,” he said. “Fear gripped the nation and no one wanted to stand up for their convictions, no matter how valuable.
“I knew that I could not travel this same road.”
Unlike his father and grandfather, Mr. Clausen did not remain silent. He decided to become a staff member at the Church of Scientology in Hamburg and work to combat the bigotry he saw by informing the public of the truth about Scientology—a decision not without price.
In May 1992, while delivering a public lecture on Scientology in Bad Oldeslohe, his car—which bore a Dianetics sticker on the bumper—was vandalized with red paint.
Later that year, while conducting a public survey on the streets of Hamburg, he was stopped by city officials who attempted to deny him the right to do a survey because he was a Scientologist. In an effort to intimidate the Hamburg Church of Scientology itself, the same officials illegally levied heavy fines against the Church for this activity.
The assaults soon became even more personal.
Working late one night at the Hamburg Church’s public center in the suburb of Eppendorf, Mr. Clausen was confronted by two youths who entered the center and pretended to be interested in Scientology. Suddenly, one of them pulled a knife and asked Mr. Clausen if he was afraid of being killed.
Not intimidated, Mr. Clausen threw the intruders out and dismissed the incident as a regrettable example of teen-age unruliness. But shortly afterward, the youths returned, breaking the front window, pushing over bookshelves and strewing books about the center.
This time when Mr. Clausen attempted to stop the hoodlums, he received a face full of tear gas. He was only able to call the police after the effects wore off.
He has since witnessed similar incidents of hatred and violence. On one occasion, a large sign outside the Hamburg Church was destroyed. On another, Church booths and bookstands were knocked over and destroyed.
Despite the violence, threats and discrimination, Mr. Clausen continues his campaign to tell people the truth about Scientology and continues to work as a staff member in the Hamburg Church of Scientology.
He still will not, he says, remain silent in the face of oppression.
