]Why Zurich and not Munich? Just curious.
I was married to a Swiss woman and living in Zurich at that time and singing in the Zurich Opera House.
So the whole ARS thing passed you by then? I know the internet was unknown to scientologists... I still don't know what you are referring to with ARS. I have never heard of that abbreviation.
aha. So you did not suspect that Stettler may have been less than honest?
Jörg's son took singing lessons from me. I knew his wife and his daughter Debbie as well. Jörg did not strike me as dishonest. He (like many in OSA) has a "convenient" memory -- but he never directly lied to me and I have known him for more than 15 years.
Hmm. It sure doesn't sound like it. According to you your best friends lost their jobs a total of what - 10 times? And this would have been in, presumably a 2 year period - right? And how would the employers have known that they were Scientologists? How was the discrimination and harassment done? This one couple (my best friends) lost their job 2 times in the performance year in 1996 -1997. The first time, they were exposed by Renate Hartwig and it was in the papers and on tv. The second time, one of their names was mentioned in an article related to me. The next morning, they were fired. (I am obscuring their names, as they are still IN.) That's how their employers knew. This same couple, especially the wife, then lost her job numerous other times in the years until 2003, when she then started to work for herself. This is no bullshit. I was there. I am the "godfather" to their daughter.
Another SCN couple, whose two daughters were back-up dancers for 2 of my concert tours were exposed (again by Renate Hartwig) . A protest was made in front of their store and it was all broadcast on regional TV.
When you say you witnessed it several times what exactly happened? Forgive me if I don't just blindly accept the anonymous anecdote - it is a hallmark of Scientology propaganda. There is no SCN propoganda coming from me. I left SCN in 2003, and I do not work for OSA, SCN or any other group. If you read my book, you will see that SCN does come off well in it. Since the book is not available in english yet, you'll have to take my word for it -- or not. That's your choice.
I could tell you numerous other stories of other personal friends in SCN in german-speaking Europe, (and a couple in Denmark) that this happened to -- besides what happened to me.
yeah I got it - wasn't religious freedom was just being pissed off because someone you know was discriminated against. You suffered from the scientology disease of only giving a shit about your own thing. Thats not fighting for religious freedom - its just defending yourself. I do not judge you, as I don't know you. I know exactly WHAT I did, and WHY -- not you. You know nothing about me or my story. So watch your tone, please. I am not being aggressive with you, and I am not going to be bullied here. If you want to have a normal conversation, then fine. If you want to be macho with me, then you can do that on your own. I am an Italian from New York. I can do macho with the best of them, but this is neither the time or the place.
Check the web. Everything that I ever did ANYWHERE, at ANY TIME was to stand up for religious freedom.
You can ennoble it all you want but you were not fighting for religious freedom - thats why I asked you about your work on battling anti semitism - jews don't just get bullied, they get attacked, beaten and killed. I stood up for ALL religious movements: Jehovah's Witnesses, Islam, Buddism, the Rael Movement, African Shmanen, Judaism -- and I still do -- much to the consternation of some members of this message board. All the public events that I sang at were attended by members and leaders of ALL the above-mentioned groups. I still have contact with many of them, thank you very much.
So spare me the "get it" rhetoric if you would. I spent my time in the SO - so being given a simplistic explanation from someone who was not in the SO really grates a tad - even though I know you meant well at the time. This nonsense paragraph is not even worth reacting to. Again, I am not going to react to accusation here.
It stands for "International Membership Unit" it was the name of the organization that ran the regging tours for the IAS before the Freewinds etc. Thank you, that was before my SCN time.
Both way after my time, I think.
Heinz Rau? Yes, Heinz Rau. Thanks, I forgot his last name. I worked with him in Germany first, then later at AOSH and even in CH at one point. He moved around a lot, and I believe that he is still in the SO. Was he still at AOSH as the tour person there? Fredy used to be my Supercargo when I was CO AOSH. I wonder what he is up to now? Don't know, Fredy left for the Freewinds in the late 90's and I lost touch.
Achim!! Thank you for reminding me - when I first met him he was D/ED Stuttgart way back in 1982. Dang - been a long time. IIRC he became the German tour IC in 1987 or 88 after Andreas Ostertag died.Didn't know Andreas, only Achim.
Regards,
Mark