Ursula Caberta
Encyclopedia
Ursula Caberta y Diaz is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 politician, State of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 government official and was the Commissioner for the Scientology Task Force of the Hamburg Interior Authority
Scientology Task Force of the Hamburg Interior Authority
The Scientology Task Force for the Hamburg Interior Authority was founded in 1992 to monitor the activities and publications of Scientology, raise public awareness about the organization, and serve as a resource to Scientology members who may wish to exit the group...

. She graduated in political economy. According to Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages . It has a satellite television service , that is available in four languages, and...

she was considered an expert on the subject of Scientology, and has observing the organization since 1992 to 2010. Her book Schwarzbuch Scientology (The Black Book of Scientology) was published in 2007. Caberta is also an official in Hamburg's authority for interior affairs.

The Hamburg Scientology Task Force (AGS) was founded in 1992, to monitor the activities of Scientology, and educate the public on the activities and objectives of Scientology. Furthermore, the AGS provided advice to people wishing to leave the organization. The Task Force was closed down in 2010 as a result of budget cuts.

Critic of Scientology

In 1995, Caberta took on an active role in controversies related to Scientology in schools in the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 town of Bjerndrup near the German border. In 1996, Caberta stated in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

that she saw similarities between Germany's prior history with the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, and the Church of Scientology. In 2000, Scientology filed a criminal complaint (Strafanzeige) against Caberta for alleged bribery after she was accused of receiving a private loan of 75,000 dollars from Bob Minton
Bob Minton
During a April 20, 2002, hearing in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, Minton spoke against Ken Dandar, the attorney representing McPherson's family...

. The charges were dropped after Caberta paid a 7,500 Euro fine.

In 2007, Caberta was quoted in Spiegel as being worried that the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

 wanted to influence politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 in Germany and throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. Caberta stated that the Church of Scientology aimed to undermine Germany's democracy with a "cynical ideology". In August 2007, along with Udo Nagel, Hamburg State Interior Minister, Caberta called for a ban on the Scientology organization, but this was rejected by Federal politicians in Berlin. Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy parliamentary group leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...

's CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 said that a bid to outlaw Scientology may fail because Germany's domestic intelligence service is unlikely to have gathered enough evidence against it to back court action against the sect. In 2007 Caberta called Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

an enemy of the constitution. When the Task Force was closed down in 2010 as a result of budget cuts, Caberta moved to a position within the Hamburg interior authority, where she continues her work on Scientology.

External links

  • Homepage, Hamburg Scientology Task Force


In the media
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