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International Religious Freedom Report 2003
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (18.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (26.12.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.org - The Basic Law (Constitution) provides for religious freedom, and the Government generally respects this right in practice; however, discrimination against minority religious groups remains an issue.
There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by this report, and government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The Government does not recognize Scientology as a religion, viewing it instead as an economic enterprise; federal and state classification of Scientology as a potential threat to democratic order has led to employment and commercial discrimination against Scientologists in both the public and private sectors. The Government extended its immigration exclusion (refusal to issue a visitor visa) against the leaders of the Unification Church, Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, based upon the Government's view of the Church as a "cult." A federal court upheld a ban on the wearing of Muslim headscarves by teachers in public schools.
The generally amicable relationships among religions in society contributed to religious freedom. Members of minority religions, including Scientologists, reported an improving climate of tolerance. Government officials have begun for the first time to talk directly with Scientologists and have granted the Church of Scientology partial tax-exempt status. However, the state governments of Bavaria and Hamburg have proposed new measures to limit Scientologists' activities, and the Lutheran Church has continued its information campaign against Scientology and other alleged "cults." These actions contributed to persistent negative public attitudes toward members of minority religions.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government in the context of its overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of 137,821 square miles, and its population is approximately 82 million. There are no official statistics on religions; however, unofficial estimates and figures provided by the organizations themselves give an approximate breakdown of the membership of the country's denominations. The Evangelical Church, which includes the Lutheran, Uniate, and Reformed Protestant Churches, has 27 million members, who constitute 33 percent of the population. Statistical offices in the Evangelical Church estimate that 1.1 million members (4 percent of the membership) attend weekly religious services. The Catholic Church has a membership of 27.2 million, or 33.4 percent of the population. According to the Church's statistics, 4.8 million Catholics (17.5 percent of the membership) actively participate in weekly services. According to government estimates, there are approximately 2.8 to 3.2 million Muslims living in the country (approximately 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent of the population). Statistics on mosque attendance were not available.
Orthodox churches have approximately 1.1 million members, or 1.3 percent of the population. The Greek Orthodox Church is the largest, with approximately 450,000 members; the Romanian Orthodox Church has 300,000 members; and the Serbian Orthodox Church has 200,000 members. The Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate has 50,000 members, while the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad has approximately 28,000 members. The Syrian Orthodox Church has 37,000 members, and the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church has an estimated 35,000 members.
Other Christian churches have approximately 1 million members, or 1.2 percent of the population. These include Adventists with 35,000 members, the Apostolate of Jesus Christ with 18,000 members, the Apostolate of Judah with 2,800 members, the Apostolic Community with 8,000 members, Baptists with 87,000 members, the Christian Congregation with 12,000 members, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) with 39,000 members, the Evangelical Brotherhood with 7,200 members, Jehovah's Witnesses with 165,000 members, Mennonites with 6,500 members, Methodists with 66,000 members, the New Apostolic Church with 430,000 members, Old Catholics with 25,000 members, the Salvation Army with 2,000 members, Seventh-day Adventists with 53,000 members, the Union of Free Evangelical Churches with 30,500 members, the Union of Free Pentecostal Communities with 16,000 members, the Temple Society with 250 members, and the Quakers with 335 members.
Jewish congregations have approximately 87,500 members and make up 0.l percent of the population. According to press reports, the country's Jewish population is growing rapidly; more than 100,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union have come to the country since 1990, with smaller numbers arriving from other countries as well. Not all new arrivals join congregations, resulting in the discrepancy between population numbers and the number of congregation members.
The Unification Church has approximately 850 members; the Church of Scientology has 6,000 members; Hare Krishna has 5,000 members; the Johannish Church has 3,500 members; the International Grail Movement has 2,300 members; Ananda Marga has 3,000 members; and Sri Chinmoy has 300 members.
Approximately 21.8 million persons, or 26.6 percent of the population, either have no religious affiliation or belong to unrecorded religious organizations.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Basic Law (Constitution) provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice; however, discrimination against minority religious groups remains an issue.
Religion and State are separate, although historically a special partnership exists between the State and those religious communities that have the status of a "corporation under public law." If they fulfill certain requirements, including assurance of permanence, size of the organization, and no indication that the organization is not loyal to the State, religious organizations may request that they be granted "public law corporation" status, which among other things, entitles them to levy taxes on their members that the State collects for them. Organizations pay a fee to the Government for this service, and not all public law corporations avail themselves of this privilege. The decision to grant public law corporation status is made at the state level. In 2000 the Federal Constitutional Court passed a groundbreaking ruling in which it found the condition of "loyalty to the State" to be a violation of the constitutionally mandated separation of religion and State. Therefore this condition is inadmissible in the catalog of conditions imposed on religious organizations. Many religious groups have been granted public law corporation status. Among them are the Lutheran and Catholic Churches, as well as the Jewish community, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Baptists, Methodists, Christian Scientists, and the Salvation Army.
The State provides subsidies to some religious organizations for historical and cultural reasons. Some Jewish synagogues have been built with state financial assistance because of the State's role in the destruction of synagogues in 1938 and throughout the Nazi period. Repairs to and restoration of some Christian churches and monasteries are undertaken with state financial support because of the expropriation by the State of church lands in 1803 during the Napoleonic period. Having taken from the churches the means by which they earned money to repair their buildings, the State recognized an obligation to cover the cost of those repairs. Subsidies are paid out only to those buildings affected by the 1803 Napoleonic reforms. Newer buildings do not receive subsidies for maintenance. State governments also subsidize various institutions affiliated with public law corporations, such as religious schools and hospitals.
In January, the Government signed a "State Agreement on Cooperation" with the Central Council of Jews, allowing the Jewish community, along with Lutherans and Catholics, to have such an agreement for cooperation "in all areas that affect the public good and which fall under the authority of the Federal Government." Parliament later ratified the Agreement. According to the Agreement, approximately $3,396,300 (3 million euros) will be provided annually to the Central Council of Jews, which in turn will provide the Government with an annual report on the use of the funds. The Agreement emphasizes that the Central Council of Jews is open to all branches of Judaism.
Religious organizations are not required to register. Most religious organizations are registered and treated as nonprofit associations, which enjoy tax-exempt status. State-level authorities review registration submissions and routinely grant tax-exempt status. Organizations must register at a local or municipal court and provide evidence, through their own statutes, that they are a religion and thus contribute socially, spiritually, or materially to society. Local tax offices occasionally conduct reviews of tax-exempt status. Following legal action by the Church of Scientology, which challenged the Government's refusal to grant the Church the tax-exempt status enjoyed by other religious communities, a Cologne court compelled the Finance Ministry to grant the Church an exemption from taxes on license fees paid to U.S.-based Church of Scientology organizations for copyrighted materials.
Most public schools offer religious instruction in cooperation with the Protestant and Catholic churches and offer instruction in Judaism if enough students express interest. A nonreligious ethics course or study hall generally is available for students not wishing to participate in religious instruction. The issue of Islamic education in public schools has become topical in several states. In 2000 the Federal Administrative Court upheld previous court rulings that the Berlin Islamic Federation qualified as a religious community and as a result must be given the opportunity to provide religious instruction in Berlin schools. The decision drew criticism from the many Islamic organizations not represented by the Berlin Islamic Federation, and the Berlin State Government expressed its concerns about the Islamic Federation's alleged links to Milli Gorus, a Turkish group classified as extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC). However, after another court decision in favor of the Islamic Federation in August 2001, Berlin school authorities decided to allow the Islamic Federation to begin teaching Islamic religious classes in several Berlin schools starting in September 2001. In 2000 Bavaria announced that it intended to offer German-language Islamic education in its public schools starting in 2003.
In July, the Berlin State Government approved the offering of Buddhist religious education in public schools by the Berlin Buddhist Society, a member of the German Buddhist Union. Under Berlin's public education system, 90 percent of the cost of approved religious education, as well as provision of facilities, is publicly funded.
The right to provide religious chaplaincies in the military, in hospitals, and in prisons is not dependent on the public law corporation status of a religious community. The Ministry of Defense was considering the possibility of Islamic clergymen providing religious services in the military, although none of the many Islamic communities has the status of a corporation under public law.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
Government policy continued to contribute to the generally free practice of religion.
In August 2002, the Federal Interior Ministry extended its immigration exclusion (refusal to issue a visitor visa) against the founder of the Unification Church, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and his wife, Hak Ja Har Moon. The couple have been refused entry to the country (and through Schengen Treaty visa ineligibility, to other Schengen countries as well) since 1995, when the Chief Office for Border Security issued a notice of refusal of entry for an initial period of 3 years. The Government refused entry based on its characterization of Reverend Moon and his wife as leaders of a "cult" that endangers the personal and social development of young persons. Citing this original justification, the Government extended its refusal of entry for another 2 years in August 2002 and was the only Schengen country to do so. The Unification Church asserts that Reverend and Mrs. Moon's personal presence at certain ceremonies is a crucial part of the Church's doctrine and has sought legal remedies to the refusal of entry. However, federal courts have ruled that the exclusion does not infringe upon church members' freedom to practice their religion.
In 1997 the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin upheld the Berlin State Government's decision to deny Jehovah's Witnesses public law corporation status. The court concluded that the group did not offer the "indispensable loyalty" towards the democratic state "essential for lasting cooperation" because it forbade its members from participating in public elections. The group does enjoy the basic tax-exempt status afforded to most religious organizations. In 2000 members of Jehovah's Witnesses appealed, and the Constitutional Court found in their favor, remanding the case back to the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin. For the first time, the Constitutional Court had examined the conditions for granting the status of a public law corporation and found that for reasons of the separation of religion and State, "loyalty to the State" cannot be a condition imposed on religious communities. The Constitutional Court tempered the victory for Jehovah's Witnesses by instructing the Berlin Administrative Court to examine whether Jehovah's Witnesses use coercive methods to prevent their members from leaving the congregation and whether their child-rearing practices conform to the country's human rights standards. In May 2001, the Federal Administrative Court referred the case back down to the Higher Administrative Court in Berlin to address the open questions. The Higher Administrative Court had not yet decided the case at the end of the period covered by this report and gave no indication that it intends to take action to decide the case in the near future.
The Church of Scientology, which operates 18 churches and missions, remained under scrutiny by both federal and state officials, who contend that its ideology is opposed to the democratic constitutional order. Since 1997 Scientology has been under observation by the federal and state OPCs. In observing an organization, OPC officials seek to collect information, mostly from written materials and firsthand accounts, to assess whether a "threat" exists. More intrusive methods would be subject to legal checks and would require evidence of involvement in treasonous or terrorist activity. Federal OPC authorities stated that no requests had been made to employ more intrusive methods nor were any such requests expected.
Within the federal system, the states showed large differences with respect to their treatment of the Church of Scientology. Two states, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, did not monitor Scientology, stating that Scientology does not have an actively aggressive attitude towards the Constitution, the condition required by the states' laws to permit OPC observation. Bavaria, on the other hand, announced in November 2002 that it may seek to ban Scientology based on recommendations of a report and indicated that it would ask the Federal Interior Ministry to consider a federal ban. Bavaria has cited medical malpractice associated with Scientology's "auditing" techniques as one possible basis for the ban. At a convention of state interior ministers in March, Bavaria found no support among other states, except for Hamburg, for the idea of a ban against Scientology. Other organizations under OPC observation are right-wing extremist, left-wing extremist, or foreign extremist and terrorist groups; Scientology is the only religious community under OPC observation, and Scientologists contend that inclusion in the list of totalitarian and terrorist groups is harmful to the Church's reputation.
The federal OPC's annual report for 2002 concluded that the original reasons for initiating observation of Scientology in 1997 remained valid but noted that Scientology had not been involved in any criminal activity. When the issue of OPC observation was discussed at the annual gathering of state interior ministers in Bremen in December 2002, the ministers also acknowledged that Scientology had not been involved in illegal activities.
Several states have published pamphlets detailing the ideology and practices of minority religions. States defend the practice by noting their responsibility to respond to citizens' requests for information about these groups. While many of the pamphlets are factual and relatively unbiased, some groups fear that inclusion in a report covering known dangerous cults or movements could harm their reputations. Scientology is the focus of many such pamphlets, some of which warn of alleged dangers posed by Scientology to the political order and free market economic system and to the mental and financial wellbeing of individuals. The Hamburg OPC published "The Intelligence Service of the Scientology Organization," which outlines its claim that Scientology tried to infiltrate governments, offices, and companies and that the Church spies on its opponents, defames them, and "destroys" them. The Bavarian State Government funded a report published in November 2002 that warned of alleged dangers posed by the religion and recommended further restriction of the Church's activities. The Hamburg State Parliament passed a resolution in April encouraging the State Government to back Bavaria's position.
In January, the Hamburg Administrative Court ruled for the Church of Scientology Germany and the Church of Scientology Hamburg against the City of Hamburg and the Hamburg Ministry of Interior. In a public decision, the court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Interior Ministry from allowing Ursula Caberta, head of the Ministry's "Working Group Scientology," from repeating certain public statements of a false and derogatory character about the Church. The court criticized the Interior Ministry for its failure to reprimand Caberta for violating her duty of neutrality as a government employee by accepting a personal loan of $75,000 (approximately 66,250 euros) with no terms of repayment from a private individual funding anti-Scientology litigation. An earlier criminal investigation into this matter resulted in Caberta being fined approximately $8,490 (7,500 euros) in June 2002; however, the Hamburg Interior Ministry made no requirement that she pay back the $75,000 loan.
Until 2001, the Government required firms bidding on government contracts to sign a declaration stating that neither the firm's management nor its employees were Scientologists. In March 2001, the Economics Ministry persuaded the federal and state interior ministries to accept new wording that would only prohibit use of the "technology of L. Ron Hubbard" in executing government contracts. Firms owned, managed by, or employing Scientologists could bid on these contracts. The private sector on occasion required foreign firms that wished to do business in the country to declare any affiliation that they or their employees may have with Scientology. Private sector firms that screen for Scientology affiliations frequently cited OPC observation of Scientology as a justification for discrimination. The Federal Property Office barred the sale of some real estate to Scientologists, noting that the Finance Ministry had urged that such sales be avoided if possible.
Since 1996 employment offices throughout the country have implemented an Economics and Labor Ministry administrative order directing them to enter an "S" notation next to the names of firms suspected of employing Scientologists. Employment counselors are supposed to warn their clients that they might encounter Scientologists in these workplaces. Scientologists have claimed that the "S" notations violate their right to privacy and interfere with their livelihood.
Scientologists continued to report instances of societal discrimination; however, there were fewer incidents during the period covered in this report than in previous reporting periods. Bavaria required applicants for state civil service positions to complete questionnaires detailing any relationship they may have with Scientology. Currently employed civil servants were not required to provide this information. The questionnaire specifically stated that the failure to complete the form would result in the employment application not being considered. However, previous court cases have ruled in favor of employees who have refused. According to Bavarian and federal officials, no one in Bavaria lost a job or was denied employment solely because of association with Scientology; Scientology officials confirmed this. A number of state and local offices shared information on individuals known to be Scientologists. There were numerous reports from Scientologists that they were denied banking services when the account was to be opened under the name of the Church of Scientology and that they were denied the right to rent facilities to hold meetings and seminars.
In April, after a year of legal proceedings, the Bavarian Supreme Administrative Court upheld Munich's refusal to issue a permit to the Church of Scientology to conduct a 1-day exhibition in the city's Odeonplatz. In their decision, the judges stated that they were not convinced that Scientology was a religious community.
A July 2002 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court clarified the Government's "warning" function with respect to nontraditional religions. In a case pending since the 1980s involving the "Bagwan/Osho Spiritual Movement," the Court ruled that the Government is allowed to characterize such nontraditional religions as "sects," "youth religions," and "youth sects" and is allowed to provide accurate information about them to the public; however, the Government is not allowed to defame them by using terms such as "destructive," "pseudo-religion," or "manipulative."
In June 2002, an administrative court upheld a 1998 ban in the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemburg on Muslim teachers wearing headscarves in the classroom. In July 2002, the Federal Administrative Court affirmed the lower court's ruling. A Muslim teacher affected by the ruling appealed the decision to the Federal Constitutional Court, which held its first reading of the case in May, the first time the country's highest court has considered this issue. A decision is expected by the end of 2003. Muslim students remain free to wear headscarves in the classroom.
The Government banned the Evangelical Christian DeMoss Foundation's television and radio broadcasts, as well as its billboards, based upon the official prohibition of broadcast advertising for religious, political, or ideological causes.
Difficulties sometimes arise between religious groups and the State over tax matters and zoning approval for building places of worship.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society continued to contribute to religious freedom.
The country is becoming increasingly secular. Regular attendance at religious services is decreasing. After more than 4 decades of Communist rule, the eastern part of the country had become far more secular than the western part. Representatives of religious groups note that only 5 to 10 percent of eastern inhabitants belong to a religious organization.
Following a rise in the incidence of anti-Semitic crimes and an increase in public criticism of the Israeli Government's actions in the Middle East, Jewish community leaders expressed disappointment in the leaders of other religious communities, as well as in some local and national politicians, for not speaking out more forcefully against anti-Semitism. In addition, several Jewish groups accused the print media of pro-Palestinian bias in their reporting of the situation in the Middle East and expressed concern that this alleged bias could increase anti-Semitic attitudes.
The Lutheran Church employs "sect commissioners" to investigate "sects, cults, and psycho-groups" and to publicize what they consider to be the dangers of these groups to the public. The Lutheran sect commissioners are especially active in their efforts to warn the public about supposed dangers posed by Scientology, as well as the Unification Church, Bhagwan-Osho, and Transcendental Meditation. The printed and Internet literature of the sect commissioners portrays these as "totalitarian," "pseudo-religious," and "fraudulent." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Christ, Christian Scientists, the New Apostolic Church, and the Johannish Church are characterized in less negative terms but nevertheless are singled out as "sects." The Catholic Church also employs sect commissioners, who generally restrict their activities to providing counsel to individuals who have questions about sects.
In the 1990s, three of the country's major political parties--the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP)--banned Scientologists from party membership. These bans, which have been challenged unsuccessfully in courts by excluded Scientologists, are still in effect.
With an estimated 4 million adherents, Islam is the third most commonly practiced religion in the country after Catholicism and Lutheranism. All branches of Islam are represented, with the vast majority of Muslims coming from other countries. At times this has led to societal discord, such as local resistance to the construction of mosques or disagreements over whether Muslims may use loudspeakers in residential neighborhoods to call the faithful to prayer. There also remain areas where the law conflicts with Islamic practices or raises religious freedom issues. In 2000 the Government published a comprehensive report on "Islam in Germany" that examined these issues in response to an inquiry from Parliament.
Reports continued of opposition to the construction of mosques in various communities around the country. The opposition generally centered on issues such as concern about increased traffic and noise that would result from new construction.
In October 2001, two young men of Arab origin were convicted of aggravated arson in association with an attack on a synagogue in Duesseldorf that month, which caused slight damage to the building. Police found Nazi symbols and related items in the suspects' homes. The synagogue remained under around-the-clock police protection at the end of the period covered by this report.
Authorities run a variety of tolerance-education programs, many focusing on anti-Semitism. The programs receive input and assistance from Jewish organizations. Participation in the June 2003 OSCE Special Conference on Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region is expected to lead to new government initiatives in this area.
Recent anti-Semitic incidents indicate that Arab youths are increasingly behind attacks on and harassment of the country's Jews. In May, an American orthodox Jew in Berlin was attacked by a group of teenagers who appeared to be of Arab origin. The attack was the fourth in a series of similar incidents in which Arab youths would verbally harass, spit on, and physically assault a person who appeared Jewish. Authorities strongly condemned the attacks and devoted significant investigative resources to the cases.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government in the context of its overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights.
In response to anti-Semitic crimes, members of the U.S. Mission closely followed the Government's responses and officially expressed the U.S. Government's opposition to anti-Semitism. Mission officers maintained contacts with Jewish groups and continue to monitor closely the incidence of anti-Semitic activity.
The status of Scientology was the subject of many discussions during the period covered by this report. The U.S. Government expressed its concerns over infringement of individual rights because of religious affiliation and over the potential for discrimination in international trade posed by the screening of foreign firms for possible Scientology affiliation. Mission officers facilitated contacts between the country's Scientologists and government officials as they took the first steps toward a dialog and encouraged the Government to designate an ombudsman, or central point of contact, for Scientology matters with whom U.S. officials and Scientologists themselves can carry on a more intensive dialog on the status of Scientology. The U.S. Government consistently maintained that the determination of whether any organization is religious is for the organization itself to make.
Germans wake up to the call of the muezzinby Bertrand BenoitFinancial Times (04.11.2003)/ HRWF Int. (05.11.2003) Email info@hrwf.net - "In our constitution religious communities are not subject to state surveillance, nor are they being registered as such. It is not the role of the state to scrutinise spiritual practices."
This remark, in the preamble to a 93-page document, came from the German government three years ago in response to questions raised by parliamentarians keen to know more about the country's 3.2m Muslims. Almost a year later, in 2001, Germans were shocked when it emerged that three of the four hijack pilots behind the September 11 attacks in the US - and one of the suspected masterminds - had been Hamburg residents. A community that had been left to its own devices has since become an object of unprecedented scrutiny. It is a political U-turn that is building a wall of distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims and, some say, could end up fuelling extremism.
"We are being observed, we are being harassed. The general sentiment for many loyal citizens is one of increasing discomfort," says Nadeem Elyas, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), the most politically active of the four large federations of Muslims in the country. For Cornelie Sonntag-Wolgast, the Social Democratic chairman of the interior committee in parliament, the feeling of estrangement is reciprocal. "A lot of efforts went into the Muslim- Christian dialogue right after September 11. But we have grown disillusioned. I would like to see clearer gestures coming from our Muslim partners." Of Germany's main religions, Islam is the most recent import. Judaism appeared with the Romans, followed by Christianity's gradual extension up to the 9th century, but there were only a few thousand Muslims by the end of the second world war. Since 1961, however, when the first Turkish "guest workers" arrived to help power the country's economic renaissance, Islam has become Germany's third largest denomination after Protestantism and Catholicism - a development that, until two years ago, had drawn little interest. In a paper written just before the September 11 attacks, Ursula Spuler-Stegemann, author of Muslims in Germany - side by side or together?, warned: "In the past few years, almost unnoticed, a self-sufficient Muslim parallel society has developed in nearly all areas of life." The attacks shook Germany, she says, and justified more aggressive interference in the affairs of minorities - something the constitution and Germany's postwar trauma had previously prevented. "It has become much easier to go after extremists without being branded a xenophobe," she says. "There is a realisation that by refusing to act you do a disservice to the silent majority of liberal Muslims."Two bills adopted in the past two years have boosted security. They include the legalisation of profiling and the capacity to shut religious organisations. Since their enactment, the ZMD claims 80 mosques and 400 offices and apartments have been searched. According to the interior ministry, three nationwide organisations were banned between December 2001 and January this year."The state has a duty to look after security," says Dr Elyas, who was born in Mecca in 1945 and has lived in Germany since 1964. "But it must be done in a way that does not push the large majority of law-abiding Muslims on to the other side." Most conflicts involving the Muslim community are still resolved by Germany's consensual approach. The King Fahd Academy, a school financed by Saudi Arabia, was allowed to continue operating last week despite evidence that inflammatory preaching had taken place there. The school will have to have its syllabus approved and ban fundamentalists from its teaching staff. Last month work resumed on what should become Berlin's largest mosque, on a site belonging to Turkey. The striking Ottoman-style building was almost 10m higher than allowed by local planners. Rather than being destroyed, the mosque paid a fine. The current debate about Muslim headscarves in state schools could prove harder to defuse, however, especially since the German state - while guaranteeing religious freedom - entertains close relationships with the dominant Christian churches, on whose behalf it collects taxes.The constitutional court ruled in September that while the state of Baden-Wrttemberg had no grounds to ban Fereshta Ludin, an Afghan-born teacher, from wearing a headscarf in school, it was free to enact legislation to this effect. Five states have since said they will legislate to ban Islamic headscarves while continuing to allow yarmulkes (skull caps), crucifixes and habits."For many people the scarf is an expression of fundamentalist principles. The yarmulke is not," says Karl Feller, deputy Bavarian minister for religious affairs. "And. . . the Bavarian constitution says state schools should reflect Christian principles." Critics say the bills will probably be struck down by the constitutional court for being discriminatory. Advocates note that secular Turkey, where two-thirds of Germany's Muslims have their roots, bans headscarves from universities, schools and the civil service.
"But we live in Germany. Let us not discuss what the headscarf means in Turkey or in Afghanistan. It is irrelevant," says Dr Elyas. "What Bavaria is contemplating I call a provocation."
A German court accepts teacher's head scarf
By Mark Landler
The New York Times (25.09.2003)/ HRWF Int. (29.09.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - Treading into a debate that has flared across Europe, Germany's highest court ruled today that a Muslim teacher cannot be forbidden to wear a head scarf in a public school.
The decision by the Federal Constitutional Court ended a protracted legal battle involving an Afghan-born woman, Fereshta Ludin, who was barred from teaching at a school in Stuttgart because she refused to shed her scarf.
But the ruling may do little to resolve what has become an anguished, murky debate in Germany, France and other European countries over how much freedom to give their growing Islamic minorities to express a religious identity in schools and other secular institutions.
In ruling for Ms. Ludin, the court said only that there was no law prohibiting her from wearing a scarf. The panel of eight judges, voting 5 to 3 with a strongly worded dissent by the minority, left it up to the southern state of Baden-Wrttemberg to decide whether to pass such a law.
"It is not the task of the local authorities and courts to decide such a question," the court said. "It is the task of the legislator."
Several German states, including Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Hesse, announced they would enact such laws.
In France, where laws forbid placing religious symbols like crosses in classrooms, the government has appointed a commission to consider what to do about head scarves. Most school districts ban them but many look the other way, whether they are worn by students or teachers.
In Germany, the separation between church and state is less strictly defined than it is in France or the United States. Students learn religion in public schools, while the state collects taxes to finance churches.
Still, the constitutional court has drawn a line in previous cases, ruling in 1995 that the Bavarian government could not require schools to hang crucifixes in classrooms. Some legal scholars complained that this time, the court ducked the thorny constitutional questions.
"I think the explanation given in the court's ruling is not conclusive," said Christian Starck, a professor of law at the University of G?ttingen. "It's in contradiction with the crucifix ruling."
The ruling drew a withering response from other observers, including the weekly paper, Die Zeit, which said in an advance release of a commentary scheduled for Thursday that the judges had been "cowardly."
Defenders of the court, however, said it was right to distinguish between a woman wearing a head scarf as an expression of personal religious conviction, and the authorities hanging a cross in a public building.
"A classroom does not have basic rights," Ms. Ludin's lawyer, Hans-J?rg Melchinger, said. "A person has basic rights."
In August, the constitutional court ruled that a Turkish shop assistant had been wrongly dismissed for expressing a desire to wear a head scarf at work. Her boss claimed it would drive away customers.
With such prejudices deeply ingrained here, some people said Germany needed a public debate, not court rulings, about the role of Muslims in society. There are 3.5 million Muslim immigrants in Germany, 2.6 million of them Turkish, which has fanned the anxiety of many Germans.
People on both sides of the political spectrum have argued that the head scarf is an instrument to suppress women. They warned that a favorable ruling would allow a small minority in Germany to create a sort of parallel society here, with Islamic law and restrictive rights.
"The debate is very much about the dangers of Islam," said Mathias Rohe, an expert on Islamic minorities at the University of Erlangen. "People view the head scarf as a symbol of these fears."
In Ms. Ludin's case, she was denied a teaching job because officials in Baden-Wrttemberg, where Stuttgart is located, said her head scarf would have had a negative religious influence on students.
Ms. Ludin, the daughter of an Afghan diplomat who came here as a teenager and is married to a German, said she had no plans to indoctrinate her students. The head scarf is merely a personal preference.
Speaking to reporters today, swathed in a yellow scarf, Ms. Ludin said: "For years in all the court cases, I felt stigmatized because I wear a head scarf. The decision is a big relief for me."
Ms. Ludin has taught at a Muslim school in Berlin during the four years that her case wended its way through the courts. Now, her lawyer said she hoped to return to Stuttgart to teach at a public school.
Latest developments of Islam in Germany
French Embassy in Berlin: Weekly Review of the German Press (15-22.08.2003)/HRWF Int. (27.08.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Relationships between the authorities and the Muslim community in Germany have been in the media spotlight in recent weeks with regard to two topics: the introduction of Islamic religious classes in public schools of the state (Land) Low Saxony and the issue of wearing the veil in the workplace.
Children of eight primary schools in Low Saxony, who went back to school on August 21, 2003, were the beneficiaries of the state decision to include a religious class on Islam in this years curriculum. Despite the lack of any Muslim teacher, the view has been, as indicated by the Sddeutsche Zeitung, that the L?nder certainly could have waited until such a partner emerged, but they preferred to go forward without waiting.
Die Welt also welcomed Low Saxony's initiative favorably which, it stated, will contribute to take the teaching of Islam out of basements, garages and backstreet rooms. This conservative newspaper urges other L?nder to quickly launch similar projects.
Regarding the question of the wearing of the veil in the workplace, the federal constitutional court gave the right to a cashier, dismissed by her employer for having worn the Islamic veil on the grounds that it could not harm business sales.
The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel sees in this decision a strike against economic freedom of the employer, as the image of the business has a value in itself. Die Welt considers, on the contrary, that the courts decision defended the liberties of belief and conscience that are enshrined in the constitution.
The constitutional court will also soon have to make a decision on the case of a teacher who wears the Islamic veil. In this situation, the two newspapers agree that they favor a tolerant verdict that is respectful of individual fundamental rights.
German cause clbre: A teacher's head scarf
The New York Times (30.06.2003)/ HRWF Int. (30.06.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - When Fereshta Ludin completed her training to become a grade-school teacher six years ago, she seemed to be laying the groundwork for a classic immigrant success story.
After coming to Germany at age 14, Ms. Ludin, an Afghan-born Muslim, sailed through the education system, married a German, and earned, at 24, the credentials to teach in the country's public schools. She was even qualified to teach the German language.
But education officials prohibited her from taking a public job because she wears a head scarf. The officials, from the southern German state of Baden-Wrttemberg where Ms. Ludin received her qualifications, contended that the head scarf could have a negative religious influence on schoolchildren.
Ms. Ludin sued. Now, after being rejected by three lower courts, her case is before the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany's highest court. The dispute has divided public opinion and become a touchstone for anxieties about the country's growing Islamic minority. Experts say that the court's decision, which is expected as early as July, could affect German integration policy for years to come.
"The head scarf has become a symbol for the issue of what role Islam can have in Germany," said Mathias Rohe, a professor of law and an expert on Islamic minorities in Europe at the University of Erlangen.
On paper, Ms. Ludin's high court challenge hinges on the extent to which freedom of belief and equal right to public employment do not interfere with the concept of a secular state. Ms. Ludin contends that her head scarf is a matter of personal preference and has no bearing on her ability to teach. Baden-Wrttemberg's education minister, Annette Schaven, contends that Ms. Ludin's head scarf violates "the strict neutrality of public schools in religious issues."
But Ms. Schaven, a Christian Democrat, has made clear that her primary concerns are about Islam. In denying Ms. Ludin a job in 1998, the minister argued that a head scarf was "understood as a symbol of the exclusion of woman from civil and cultural society."
Both conservatives and many on the left here contend that the head scarf is merely a device of social control in Islamic cultures where women do not enjoy equality with men. In an essay in Der Spiegel last week, Alice Schwarzer, a prominent feminist, wrote that a decision in favor of Ms. Ludin could lead to "parallel worlds" in which a small minority was allowed to practice Islamic law and establish a restrictive social system within Germany's borders. "The woman's veil has been the flag of Islamic crusaders," she wrote.
Ms. Ludin, who now teaches at a private Islamic school in Berlin, responds that the German school officials, not her faith, have limited her professional aspirations.
"It amounts to a ban on employment because of my beliefs," said Ms. Ludin, now 31, in an interview. "As a teacher, I am supposed to educate children to become literate and tolerant. But how can I do this when I have to renounce my own identity, and in a democracy where tolerance is considered a cardinal virtue?"
As Ms. Ludin's supporters point out, she makes an unlikely candidate for Islamic crusader. She is the daughter of a diplomat and a schoolteacher. She spent parts of her early childhood in Germany where her father was briefly stationed and in Saudi Arabia, before immigrating as a teenager to Germany.
By Ms. Ludin's own account, she surprised her family when, as a young adult in Germany, she started wearing a head scarf. She describes the decision as a free choice based on her personal faith. "I am just as against the oppression of women and inequality as any other German," she said. "If the head scarf were a political symbol, I would be the first to take it off."
Baden-Wrttemberg officials acknowledge that there is no evidence that Ms. Ludin is trying to bring political Islam into the classroom. "We believe that she doesn't want to be a missionary and that she shares our democratic values," Ferdinand Kirchof, the legal representative of Baden-Wrttemberg, told the Constitutional Court this month. "It has to do with the image that is projected."
The separation of church and state is not as strictly defined in Germany as in the United States. Churches are financed by state-administered taxes, and religious instruction takes place in most German public schools. Nonetheless, the Constitutional Court has placed limits on the use of religious symbols. In a landmark 1995 case, the court forbade hanging a crucifix in a public classroom.
But that ruling, experts point out, related to religious symbols on public buildings, not to personal attire.
Headscarf case goes to German High Court
by Mirjam Mohr
AP (03.06.2003)/ HRWF Int. (05.06.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - A Muslim woman who was barred from teaching in German public schools because she insisted on wearing a headscarf in class took her years-long battle to the country's supreme court Tuesday.
"I see no discrepancy between Islam and the values of freedom and democracy," Fereshta Ludin, a 31-year-old German of Afghan origin, said as she appeared in a blue headscarf to argue her case at the Federal Constitutional Court.
"I regard myself as German and this is about a combination of people who are trying to exclude me and condemn my way of life," she said.
Ludin has suffered a series of defeats in lower courts over officials' 1998 decision not to hire her.
Although Ludin successfully completed an internship teaching English and social studies at a high school near Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg state education minister Annette Schavan refused to hire her, arguing that the headscarf was political and is "understood as a symbol of the exclusion of woman from civil and cultural society."
"The headscarf is being equated with things I already distanced myself from during my own school years," among them repression of women, Ludin complained Tuesday.
Last year, a federal court upheld previous rulings against Ludin, arguing that while religious freedoms are anchored in the German constitution, the relationship between students and teachers from different religions could be disrupted if teachers display their religious identity.
At the supreme court, Ludin is arguing that the constitution guarantees both freedom of religious expression and unlimited access to public jobs, regardless of religious belief. Ludin now teaches at a private Islamic school in Berlin.
At the end of Tuesday's hearing, she said she might be prepared to consider doing without a headscarf temporarily if it caused serious problems with students and their parents.
A ruling is expected next month. Presiding Judge Winfried Hassemer said Tuesday the supreme court would have to address what effect a headscarf would actually have in a classroom and answer the question of whether it is "just a piece of clothing, a symbol of a religious attitude or a sign of refusal to integrate."
In other cases, courts across Germany also have sided with school officials to prevent teachers from wearing Muslim headscarves.
Last October, however, Germany's federal labor court ruled that a Turkish woman who insisted on wearing a headscarf for her job at a department store had been dismissed illegally. It found that the right to religious freedom outweighs a business's freedom of operation.
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A psychotherapist wins his case against an anti-sect public law corporation
Willy Fautr
HRWF Int. (07.05.2003) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net -The Third Civil Chamber of the Federal Court of Karlsruhe ruled on 20 February 2003 that church anti-sect activists have to take increased precautionary measures before publicizing negative assessments about other people and institutions in so far as these churches have got the status of public law corporation.
The plaintiff was a psychotherapist whose therapies are based on close contact with nature through a number of personal experiences and activities such as horse-riding. The church anti-sect activist repeatedly criticized the activities of the plaintiff in the media, portraying him as a charismatic sect leader and a guru teaching a "pseudo-religious mix-up" to a hierarchically structured group of 200-300 people. He also accused him of extorting huge amounts of money from his clients.
The psychotherapist lodged a complaint on the ground of defamation, loss of reputation and clientle. He denied all the accusations, including the existence of any group around himself and the swindling of his clients. The case was dismissed by the "Land" court and the Nrnberg "Oberland" court on the grounds that words like "obviously a psycho-sect" used to characterise his activity were not an illegal behaviour and were covered by the freedom of expression and religion.
The Federal Court ruled however that such a statement was not factual but contained a judgment of value and recalled that according to the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court "religious public law corporations which have and exert increased influence in the state and in society are more liable than an ordinary citizen in public debates".
"In the exercise of their duties, they must show more neutrality, a balanced degree of precaution, be factual, check the authenticity of the facts," the judgment also said. In this case, the judgment also said, the anti-sect activist should not have issued such a statement with regard to the plaintiff because he failed to substantiate his accusations properly and this concerned the psychotherapist not only as a person but also as an economic entrepreneur.
The Federal Court has also declared the religious public law corporation was responsible for the behaviour of its anti-sect activist in the public space.
Scientologists sue German government over alleged harassment
AFP (01.04.2003) / HRWF Int. (02.04.2003 ) Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The US-based Church of Scientology has sued the German government in a bid to halt alleged surveillance of church activities by the country's state security police.
The suit came as the US Department of State said in its 2002 annual human rights report that members of the controversial church still faced discrimination in Germany where it has 8,000 members.
The German branch of church has asked an administrative court in Cologne to order the country's interior ministry to "cease surveillance of the Church and its parishioners by the state security police," the church said.
It also wants the court "to declare that such 'observation' is illegal," it said in a statement issued from its Los Angeles headquarters.
A parallel suit was filed against the interior ministry of the State of Berlin to end alleged observation of church members by its Office of the Protection of the Constitution (OPC), it said.
The move came after the church, which has been the subject of tough official crackdowns in both Germany and France, last year lodged a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee calling for an investigation into alleged violations of church members' freedom of expression.
The announcement of the suit against the German government came as the State Department said in its human rights report for last year that German authorities, notably the federal and state OPCs, remained wary of Scientology.
"Scientologists continued to report discrimination because of their beliefs," the report said. "A number of state and local offices share information on individuals known to be Scientologists."
The State Department report said the church had been singled out by OPCs for scrutiny as they believed it posed a threat to the state's "democratic constitutional order."
The perceived threat was because the church allegedly "advocates replacement of parliamentary democracies by an undemocratic system of government based on principles of Scientology," the report said.
Founded by the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the group is considered a sect in some Western countries, including Germany, France and Greece, where authorities contend that its leaders seek economic gain and use totalitarian methods to keep supporters in line.
Scientology freed from paying tax on returns
Contentious group wins exemption in Germany, may reclaim levies paid since 1994
by Carola Schlagheck
F.A.Z.(08.02.2003)/ HRWF Int. (11.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The U.S. Scientology organization, denounced by German politicians as a criminal cult and kept under political surveillance since 1997, was granted tax exemption by the Federal Finance Office on Monday.
The office said that it had based its decision on an agreement between Germany and the United States governing double taxation. Scientology is exempted from taxation in the United States as a non-profit religious group. To avoid double taxation, the German authority said Scientology thus does not have to pay taxes on gains repatriated to the United States from license fees for film material in Germany.
The ruling applies to the period 1994-2005. It allows Scientology to recover taxes already paid to the government during that period. The tax exemption was made retroactive to the date of Scientology's legal complaint in 1996 and is usually granted for three more years, Frank Ebermann of the finance office told F.A.Z. Weekly. Scientology has been paying 25 percent of its proceeds in taxes.
Ebermann confirmed that the decision did not imply any acknowledgment of Scientology as a church in Germany. He also stressed that the ruling didn't apply to proceeds obtained in Germany that aren't passed on to the United States. He declined to quote the amount Scientology may now recover from the German government.
Leisa Goodman, human rights director of Church of Scientology International, told F.A.Z. Weekly that this decision is what tax exemption for churches is all about, allowing the church to use more of its resources to expand our religious ministry, help even more people and increase our drug prevention and other community betterment programs.
Scientology, founded in 1954 by U.S. science-fiction author Lafayette Ronald Hubbard in the United States, expanded in 1970 to Germany, where it has some 6,000 members, according to estimates from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In its 2001 report, this agency says that Scientology is seeking to undermine the constitution by calling for a Scientology system replacing democracy.
Germany officially acknowledges the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, which levy taxes on their members that are collected by the state. The German government last month also signed a treaty with the Central Council of Jews.
German Federal Finance Office grants tax exemption to Los Angeles-based mother church of Scientology
www.wwrn.org (30.01.2003)/ HRWF Int. (04.02.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Federal Finance Office, Germany's equivalent of the IRS, this week issued ruling letters to the Church of Scientology International (CSI), the mother church of the Scientology religion, granting CSI full tax exemption on license payments it receives from nine Churches of Scientology in Germany.
The decision by the Federal Finance Office (Bundesamt Fuer Finanzen) means that for the first time the Los Angeles-based mother church of Scientology is officially recognized as tax-exempt in Germany.
The exemptions relate to the information and instruction films on the religion of Scientology that CSI licenses to the German churches, including films used in the training of Scientology ministers. Until now, all churches of Scientology in Germany had been required to pay 25% of the license fees to the Federal Finance Office. CSI has now received exemptions for license fees due from all German churches: Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Eppendorf, and the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centres in Munich and Dusseldorf. Each exemption is valid until the end of 2005 and three are retroactive to 1994.
The Federal Finance Office's decision to grant CSI exemption follows a precedent-setting decision in October 2002 by the German Federal Tax Court in Cologne. The Court ruled that Scientology Missions International (SMI) and the International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors (IHELP) qualify for exemption under a 1989 income tax treaty between the United States and Germany. SMI is the mother church for all Scientology missions, which are smaller and minister fewer services than churches of Scientology. IHELP provides Scientology ministers outside organized churches with the ecclesiastical guidance they need. Both organizations have their headquarters in Los Angeles.
Following the ruling in October, the Federal Finance Office informed Scientology representatives that the German government would not appeal and that the decision clearly applied to CSI as well.
SMI and IHELP had filed a 1996 lawsuit against the Federal Finance Office, which at that time had refused even to consider, much less give any weight to, the fact that SMI and IHELP are tax exempt in the United States. The Federal Finance Office had also refused to attach any importance to the extensive and exhaustive administrative proceedings they and other Church organizations went through to secure Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognition as tax exempt. Ruling that these organizations qualify under the 1989 income tax treaty, the Federal Tax Court overturned the German federal tax office's May 1996 denial of the exemption applications.
Rev. Heber Jentzsch, President of the Church of Scientology International, says the recognition of CSI has major significance: "For the first time, the German government has been compelled to consider and follow how other governments regard Scientology. This decision to grant exemption to the mother church is an important step in our efforts to be treated the same as other religions in Germany, as Germany's own constitution and international treaties require."
The ruling letters issued by the Finance Office are the latest in a series of important victories for churches of Scientology in Germany-related matters. In October 2002, the Federal Labor Court ruled that staff in churches of Scientology in Germany "seek idealistic purposes and spiritual perfection through the teachings of Scientology" and are not therefore in an employee-employer relationship with the Church. The ruling nullified a contrary 1995 ruling by the same Court that had been relied upon for years by the German government to attempt to justify discriminating against Scientologists in Germany.
Scientology has been officially recognized as a religion in many countries including the United States, Sweden, Portugal, South Africa and Australia. Hundreds of administrative and judicial decisions worldwide, including many in Germany, have found Scientology to be a religious community.
The Los Angeles, California-based Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 and today is established in 154 countries. Based on the writings of American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, it teaches people ways to improve the spiritual quality of their lives.
Jewish leaders reach accord
by Stephen Graham
AP (27.01.2003)/ HRWF Int. (27.01.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The German government and the country's fast-growing Jewish community opened a new chapter in their relationship Monday, marking the annual day of remembrance for victims of the Holocaust with an accord that gives Germany's main Jewish organization the same legal status as the country's main churches.
The signing of the agreement by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Paul Spiegel, the head of the Central Council of Jews, came on the 58th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
"No one, but no one, would have believed in 1945 that there could ever be Jewish life in Germany again," Spiegel said at the signing ceremony at the Berlin chancellery. "Today, we are even tempted to speak of a coming renaissance of Jewry in Germany. No one could have imagined that a few years ago."
Germany's once-strong Jewish community of 500,000 was decimated in the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were murdered. From some 15,000 Jews living in Germany after World War II, the community grew to 30,000 a decade ago, but has since burgeoned to 100,000 with Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
The accord recognizes the importance of Jewish life in Germany and triples the council's annual government funding to $3.2 million, reflecting the surge in size of the Jewish community.
It establishes the first legal partnership between the Jewish community and the government since World War II, in the spirit of similar agreements with the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches under which the state finances the costs of some institutions, such as schools.
"Remembering the Holocaust is thus bound up with a declaration in favor of a good and secure future for Jews in Germany," Schroeder said.
The additional resources will help the community, among other things, train more rabbis and introduce Jewish rites to immigrants who grew up under communism without a religious education.
The government is supporting the Central Council's efforts to integrate those newcomers into German society, also with the aim of combating anti-Semitism and far-right violence that Jewish leaders fear is on the rise.
"Germany is without doubt a stable democracy," Spiegel said. "But this society unfortunately doesn't understand that ... for the sake of its own dignity, it cannot allow this kind of inhumanity to grow in its midst."
More than a million people, 90 percent of them Jewish, perished in gas chambers or died of starvation and disease at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex. It was liberated by advancing Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945, a date marked in Germany with a day of national remembrance since 1996.
At the former Buchenwald camp near the eastern city of Weimar, Hungarian author Imre Kertesz read Monday from his novel "Fateless." The book is a tale of surviving Nazi internment as a young Jew that mirrored his experience in Buchenwald and Auschwitz and that was rewarded last year with the Nobel Prize for literature.
At the site of the former Auschwitz camp, near the southern Polish city of Oswiecim, some 200 survivors, war veterans and Polish officials laid flowers at a monument in the Birkenau part of the complex.
German government, Jewish leaders set to sign landmark agreement Jan. 27
AP (18.01.2003)/ HRWF Int. (20.01.2003) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Germany's main Jewish organization will sign on Jan. 27 a landmark agreement with the government giving it the same legal standing as the predominant Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, the leader of the country's Jewish community said in an interview published Saturday.
"This treaty is a great sign of confidence in this country and its politics," Paul Spiegel, the head of the Central Council of Jews, said of the agreement, which will be signed on the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
"My parents said in 1945 that there would never again be Jewish communities in Germany," Spiegel told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. "So it is something special that Jews not only want to live here but can."
The proposed concordat, announced last November by Spiegel and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, will recognize the importance of Jewish life in Germany and triple the council's annual allocation to 3 million euros (US$3.2 million), reflecting the surge in the Jewish community over the past decade.
The contract will establish the first legal partnership between the Jewish community and the government since World War II, in the spirit of similar agreements with the churches under which the state finances the costs of some institutions, such as schools.
Germany's once-strong Jewish community of half a million was decimated in the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews were murdered. From some 15,000 Jews living in Germany after World War II, the community grew to 30,000 a decade ago, but has since burgeoned to 100,000 with Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
The additional resources will help the community, among other things, train more rabbis and introduce Jewish rites to immigrants who grew up under communism without a religious education.
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