Scientologists Try To Stop German Film

Germany's State Television network denies claims that Until Nothing Remains depicts Scientology as totalitarian and unethical. Until Nothing Remains dramatizes the account of a German family torn apart by its association with Scientology. A young married couple joins the church and as the wife gets sucked deeper into the group her husband who has donated most of his money to the church decides to leave. In the process of leaving the church he loses contact with his daughter who like his wife is being educated by Scientologists.

Scientology leaders have accused Germany`s primary public TV network SRD of crafting a top secret piece of propaganda to undermine Scientology`s already tarnished reputation. The German Scientology leaders are demanding to view the film before it is aired to the public.

Tension reached its peak during the making of Valkyrie, the 2008 film about the plot to assassinate Hitler, when opponents said Scientology leaders had engineered the placing of Tom Cruise, its most prominent member, in the role as Nazi resistance fighter Claus von Stauffenberg, in order to win German supporters. The organisation dismissed the claim.

The filming of Valkyrie sparked numerous clashes between the filmmakers and the government, which initially prevented them from filming on several historical sites, including the Bendler Block where Stauffenberg was hanged, due in part to Cruise's association with Scientology. The ban was eventually lifted.
According to the makers of Until Nothing Remains, the €2.5m (£2.3 m) drama, which is due to air in a prime-time slot at the end of March, is based on the true story of Heiner von Rönns, who left Scientology and suffered the subsequent break-up of his family.

Scientology officials have said the film is false and intolerant. At a preview screening in Hamburg members distributed flyers in which the filmmakers were accused of seeking to "create a mood of intolerance and discrimination against a religious community".
Jürg Stettler, a spokesman for Scientology in Germany said: "The truth is precisely the opposite of that which the ARD is showing." The organisation is investigating legal means to prevent the programme from being broadcast.
Stettler said the organisation was planning its own film to "spread our own side of the story".
ARD's programme director Volker Herres has dismissed the accusations, saying the aim of the drama is to reveal the truth about the organisation.
"We're not dealing here with a religion, rather with an organisation that has completely different motives," he said. "Scientology is about power, business, and building up a network. Its lessons are pure science fiction, it's no religion, no church, no sect."
The film team said it had been "bombarded" with phone calls and emails from the organisation during production. The head of the Southwest German broadcasting organisation, Carl Bergengruen who was involved in the project, said Scientology had "tried via various means to discover details about the film" and that the film crew was even tailed by a Scientology representative.
"We are fearful that the organisation will try to use all legal means to try to stop the film being shown," he said.