The following comes from an August 30 report from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association.
At 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 29, 2013, in what has been called a “brutal and vicious act,” a team of 20 social workers, police officers, and special agents stormed a homeschooling family’s residence near Darmstadt, Germany, forcibly removing all four of the family’s children (ages 7-14). The sole grounds for removal were that the parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, continued to homeschool their children in defiance of a German ban on home education.
The children were taken to unknown locations. Officials ominously promised the parents that they would not be seeing their children “anytime soon.”
HSLDA obtained and translated the court documents that authorized this use of force to seize the children. The only legal grounds for removal were the family’s continuation of homeschooling their children. The papers contain no other allegations of abuse or neglect. Moreover, Germany has not even alleged educational neglect for failing to provide an adequate education. The law ignores the educational progress of the child; attendance—and not learning—is the object of the German law.
Judge Koenig, a Darmstadt family court judge, signed the order on August 28 authorizing the immediate seizure of Dirk and Petra Wunderlich’s children. Citing the parents’ failure to cooperate “with the authorities to send the children to school,” the judge also authorized the use of force “against the children” if necessary, reasoning that such force might be required because the children had “adopted the parents’ opinions” regarding homeschooling and that “no cooperation could be expected” from either the parents or the children.
In October 2012, state youth officials had been granted formal legal custody of the Wunderlich children by a German court based solely on the fact that the family was homeschooling. German lawyer Andreas Vogt sought appellate relief on behalf of the Wunderlichs and was able to forestall immediate removal of the children. But, yesterday, as the family quietly began their homeschool day, a ringing at the door signaled the interruption that turned their lives upside down.
Dirk Wunderlich described the frightening turn of events.
“I looked through a window and saw many people, police, and special agents, all armed. They told me they wanted to come in to speak with me. I tried to ask questions, but within seconds, three police officers brought a battering ram and were about to break the door in, so I opened it,” he told HSLDA.
“The police shoved me into a chair and wouldn’t let me even make a phone call at first,” he said. “It was chaotic as they told me they had an order to take the children. At my slightest movement the agents would grab me, as if I were a terrorist. You would never expect anything like this to happen in our calm, peaceful village. It was like a scene out of a science fiction movie. Our neighbors and children have been traumatized by this invasion.”
Over the past four years, HSLDA has reported on the Wunderlichs’ saga as they have moved from country to country in the European Union looking for a place to call home where they could freely homeschool their children. Although they found refuge from homeschool persecution, Mr. Wunderlich was unable to find work, and last year the family had to return to Germany.
The family resettled near Darmstadt, just 25 miles south of Frankfurt, with some trepidation. It is mandatory that all residents of Germany register with their local municipal authorities. Within days of the family registering their presence in the town, authorities initiated a criminal truancy case, and just months later the “Youth Welfare Office” was granted legal custody of the children. However, the court left the children in the residence with the parents since they were being well treated and otherwise cared for by their parents (see also: “Come Peacefully Now or by Force Later”).
Authorities even took the children’s passports, making it impossible for the family to escape—a violation of a number of human rights guaranteed to them by the European Convention of Human Rights, said HSLDA Chairman and Founder Michael Farris.
“The right to homeschool is a human right,” said Farris. “So is the right to freely move and to leave a country. Germany has grossly violated these rights of this family. This latest act of seizing these four beautiful, innocent children is an outrageous act of a rogue nation.”
The right of parents to decide how children are educated is a human right of the highest order, said Farris.
“The United States Constitution is not alone in upholding the right of parents to decide how to educate their children. Germany is a party to numerous human rights treaties that recognize the right of parents to provide an education distinct from the public schools that so that children may be educated according to the parents’ religious convictions. Germany has simply not met its obligations under these treaties or as a liberal democracy,” Farris said. “HSLDA and I will do whatever we can to help this family regain custody of their children and ensure that they are safe from this persecution. This case demonstrates conclusively why the Romeike asylum case is so important. Families in Germany need a safe place where they can educate their children in peace.”
….Wunderlich said that his 14-year-old daughter Machsejah had to be forcibly taken out of the home.
“When I went outside, our neighbor was crying as she watched. I turned around to see my daughter being escorted as if she were a criminal by two big policemen. They weren’t being nice at all. When my wife tried to give my daughter a kiss and a hug goodbye, one of the special agents roughly elbowed her out of the way and said—‘It’s too late for that.’ What kind of government acts like this?”
After the children were taken away, the family was “invited” to a meeting with the senior social authority in charge at the scene, Mr. Behnis. The Wunderlichs agreed to the meeting and were joined by their attorney, Andreas Vogt, who came as soon as he was notified, traveling hours by train.
When the parents asked when they could seek a hearing to contest the seizure of their children, they were told they would have to wait until the regular judge returned from vacation….
To read entire report, click here.
We are living in times when the governments of the world are becoming more and more powerful and are using that power to bully, intimidate, and crush the little people. This happening in America, where the government is consolidating its power and becoming an authoritarian, rouge, police state. They listen to our phone calls, read our emails, monitor and record our Internet sessions, install spy-ware in our computers, mandate that spy-ware be installed in new cars, and track our movements. They threaten businesses in a very authoritarian manner if the owners of that business believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. They drag those business into court. They issue issue mandates that affect mostly Catholic institutions and back up those mandates with draconian fines. They pass exemptions to the statue of limitations that target mostly the Catholic Church with punitive lawsuits. The IRS uses political profiling to target people for auditing, harassment, and authoritarian threats. They force everyone onto a government run health care system and ration health care for the elderly. There is no doubt that political profiling will come into play when determining who is allowed to get health care. Despite all of this, the Bishops think the police state loving politicians are such swell guys and do everything they can to make sure they always win elections.
That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell, skiven. And there’s no good ol’ US of A to fly to anymore…we were the last great hope. Maybe someone should warn all those poor illegals what they’re in for.
I’ve been mentioning Germany’s fascist actions against Christians here every so often…I don’t think Americans know much about Germany’s intolerance and police state tactics. That’s why the German family that immigrated here and sought protection were so desperate to stay and obama’s heartless decision to prevent them from being sent back, even though they’d been granted permission to come here was unconscionable. Sweden is just about as bad…I saw an interview with a Swedish convert on Coming Home one night and she said until recently Catholics couldn’t hold certain jobs, etc. and were set apart…just one of those dirty little secrets in all these so-called liberal states. I know you have to notify the police if you move in Germany,etc/ * But hey, they have long vacations and big fat paychecks, right?
*yes, I’ve said it before. I think they should deal directly with Chancellor Angela Merkel…isn’t she a Catholic?
Dana: For the record, Angela Merkels the daughter of a Protestant minister.
um, so???
YFC: Dana asked the question whether Angela Merkel was a Catholic. My response was meant to clarify the issue. Your remark was a gratuitous insult.
Well, no help there! Thanks, Anton
So, has the old German Nazi Party suddenly been resuscitated in Der Homeland, and now we can all look forward to the Nazi-Fascist “progressives” now surfacing in most countries and re-asserting their insane egalitarian totalitarian ways as they attempt to hammer all us square pegs into the socialist hellhole of round holes? Is this really what Angela Merkel and her bunch have achieved? The beginnings of the top-down paradise ruled by hideous incipient despots just itching to give us all a taste of “fair & just” collectivism? God help us all. God Bless, Markrite
Welcome back Markrite. We all are better for some time away, no? I thought either you were on vacation or taken in by the NSA for thought conditioning at a camp in Utah. haha. Don’t forget Pope Francis wants us to fast and pray this Saturday for peace in Syria.
Skai has not posted here in a while. They could have taken him into custody and started waterboarding him.
Not worried, Skaiven, I’m sure you will channel his spirit here on CCD.
YFC, you might think nothing of channeling spirits, but it is against Catholic teaching. I am not surprised that you would suggest such a thing. Some of us want to get to heaven.
Or worse, playing old videos of obama speeches. That would make anyone crack!
Bureaucracy run amok! They will not get away with this outrage! Germany carries too much baggage from her last dictatorship to let this stand. The State of Hesse now stands accused of a serious violation of civil and human rights. I expect the German Federal Authorities will have the final word. This is too reminiscent of Hitlerite totalitarianism, giving the Federal Republic a gigantic black eye.
Well, every so often, it seems like these little clamp downs have a way of resurfacing in Germany…remember the routing out of Catholics in the 19th century? Chancellor Otto von Bismarck forged an alliance with secular liberals in 1871–1878 Kulturkampf (literally, “culture struggle”) to destroy the power of the catholic Church Their loss was our gain. Western Ohio has dozens of little towns built by these honest, hardworking Germans…they call the area the land of Cross-tipped Churches and many people make pilgrimages to the various churches and Maria Stein (Mary of the Rock) has (I think) the second largest collection of Holy Relics in the country at a shrine there.
Dana, I have been there. It is an inspiration how so many amazing Catholic Churches dot the countryside which is still farmland today! The Catholic German immigrant farmers who built them did not have much money, but they had ingenuity and love for God and His Church. They pooled together the money they earned on the farm to build their churches. Many of the altars and stained glass windows were imported from Germany. I myself am a descendant of those immigrants. In fact the nearby town were my mother grew up was founded by a German Catholic Priest and his brother. My understanding is that they found the cheapest farmland they could buy (the area was swampy and had to be drained and trees cleared) and brought over the parishioners from Germany to start a new life where they could practice their Catholic faith in freedom. Of course, they built a beautiful church!
You are correct that Maria Stein is home to the second largest collection of relics in the USA. The relic chapel is gorgeous.
Thanks Tracy! Now I know why you’re such a nice person. haha
You’re absolutely right about all the hard work etc. Amazing, really…right out in the middle of farmland are lovely churches….many of the towns are entirely Catholic . Several of our friends are artists/teachers at high schools there and donate their time and creativity for making Stations of the Cross,etc. for local churches. Thanks so much for sharing that!
Please watch the true story of Father Jerzy from Poland, he was beautified in 2010….there will tell of his story and his persecution during hardships with how Poland leadership was corrupt. Now in Germany they are corrupt too and we need to keep this family in our prayers.
“There is another figure whom I would like to recall: Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, priest and martyr, who was proclaimed “Blessed” just last Sunday in Warsaw. He exercised his generous and courageous ministry alongside those who worked for freedom, for the defense of life and its dignity. His work in the service of goodness and truth was a sign of contradiction for the regime that governed Poland at that time. The love of the Heart of Christ led him to give his life, and his witness was the seed of a new springtime in the Church and society. If we look at history we can observe that so many pages of authentic spiritual and social renewal have been written by the contribution of Catholic priests, animated only by the passion for the Gospel and for man, for his true religious and civil liberty. How many initiatives of integral human promotion have begun in the intuition of a priestly heart!”
~ Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, 6/13/10 ~
How horrible for any parent to have to endure and watch one’s children be taken away for no good reason. Next time anyone in Germany wants to have children, they have to have sex with the government too, because they want to be in bed while the couple conceives so if a child is conceived, they can say that it belongs to them as well and that they will dictate how this child should be raised. Yes it’s an big ORGIE party….they are all entitled to your children.
Same goes here in the USA…they decide as well what should be indoctrinated as well. But the difference is, well if your child gets in trouble, then you are responsible for any damages they may have caused but the government takes God out of the picture and morals so they feel that that they have no job to pay for the bad influences that children have learned from the secular but in terms of laws, they can suppress and take away more rights from parents…..just as long as you pay the bill….
The German government is a short time ahead of our own in this regard, in my opinion. The idea is not just mandated attendance at state controlled schools, it’s state control of children taking away the parents’ rights to raise their children as they see fit. It’s all about creating compliant subjects, not educated free people. It’s here in the United States as well. That is the goal of our so-called state education establishments throughout the country.
I though America’s teachers unions were bad, but I had never heard of this kind of law in Germany. Sieg heil!
I know. Just look at all the horrible stuff happening in Russia too.
Ruski Tooski
Unlike the lamesteam media censorship of the LARRY BRINKIN Racist Pederast Rape Ring apparently run from Frisco’s‘in-human rights’ commission, the Ruskieez will at least talk about preventing such Evil…
Nyet 4 ‘our’ bought and paid for ‘free press’, who not to mess with the GAYSTAPO:
**Gay couple accused of sexually abusing 7-1-13 (Russia Today)
An American pedophile has been convicted to 40 years in prison for years of sexual abuse of adopted Russian boy.
His boyfriend = members of the pedophile porn exchange ring Boy Lovers network
US Judge Barker explained that Mark Newton was tried at district court level to save a jury from seeing the images produced by the defendants: “‘What can be said? What can be done to erase some of the horror of this?’’
‘‘Personally … I think this is probably one of the worst [pedophile] rings … if not the worst ring I’ve ever heard of,’’ Brian Bone of the US Postal Inspection Service
“Russian orphans always attracted foreign perverts because of accessibility.
The foreigners were simply coming and taking children for money,” Russian Ombudsman for Children’s Rights Pavel Astakhov
Russia has recently adopted two laws on adoption of Russian children
‘Dima Yakovlev Law’ banning American citizens from adopting Russian children… an amendment that bans the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples from abroad.
“In forbidding foreign adoptions we put a barrier against scoundrels,” Astakhov said – he knows a number of similar cases when foreigners adopted children with solely sexual intent.
Wow, peter, you are right. Horrible things are happening in Russia. I am so sad for those children.
Putin recently spoken out against Christian persecution in the middle east. How ironic is that?
The pedophiles rings do this to Mexican and Asian children, too. The Russians are smart to protect their children. When will the others “get with it” and stop such horrible crimes.
St. Nicholas pray for and help all these children.
Ah, the Germans — never far from Ol’ Adolf! What, you say, what about the USA? What about the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the ban on reparative therapy, because the blatantly political CA legislature passed some law (as pressured by homosexual sex groups)? When the State is the arbiter of virtually anything beyond public defense and safety, and some infrastructure development, things go quickly bad. Germany is autocratic, although one wonders where the wonderful German Catholic Church is when all of this is happening? Possibly singing the “Horst Wessel” song, perhaps at Mass, led by the planned Womyn-Deacons branch of the new clergy there. What happened in Germany (and is happening in Sweden and other EU countries) is child abuse, and a crime against humanity. Of course, no one will say this, as too many people distrust the family, and its sacred power (homosexuals especially, which is why they try to establish their disgusting version of a “family,” kind of like worshipping at a Black Mass). Americans must fight to maintain the family as the sancrosanct center of the country, and of faith. Parents must be seen as the best and first teachers that they are. The growth of State power must be opposed.
Who said the Facist state in Germany is Dead?
(I’m Ron Genini, Roberta’s husband):
This is the worship of authority that permeates the German character and assisted Hitler and all previous German rulers. A hundred years ago it was the same: child obeys parents, policeman, clergyman and teacher, and each of these obeys the man over him, with mother obeying the father and father his boss at work, policeman his sergeant and sergeant his captain, clergyman his pastor and pastor his bishop, teacher his principal and principal his superintendent, etc etc all the way up to Der Kaiser who doesn’t have to obey anyone else. With the Nazis it was the same. With the post-WW2’s de Nazification of Germany we thought that was over but the spirit lives on and on, I guess. Ja wohl herr kommandant! [with a heel click]