A followup on a case of the political use of psychiatry in Germany
The case involving a 15-year-old homeschool student in Germany who suddenly was snatched from her home by a SWAT team of police officers and sent to a psychiatric ward for her "school phobia" suddenly has taken a turn for the worse.
Officials who work in support of homeschoolers in Germany, even though it is illegal there, notified WND that Melissa Busekros, in a "new escalation," was moved from the psychiatric hospital where she had been held for more than a week "to an unknown place."
"Neither the parents nor their attorney are informed where Melissa is arrested now," said an urgent statement from Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit," the German homeschool advocacy organization.
"The situation is [horrifying] for the girl and the parents," said the statement, which was written in German and then translated into English.
The German organization said the situation confirms its worst fears: That "Germany blatantly spurns parental and human rights and cannot be regarded any longer as a free country. It is running more and more to tyranny and dictatorship."
WND reported more than a week ago that German authorities had assembled a team of about 20 police officers and other officials to take the teen from in front of her shocked family.
She was taken on a judge's order to a psychiatric ward after a diagnosis of "school phobia," according to reports from German homeschool supporters. She had fallen behind in Latin and math studies, and was being tutored at home in the subjects. However, when school officials found out, they expelled her, then took the family to court when they began homeschooling.
The court order executed by police officers said, "The relevant Youth Welfare Office is hereby instructed and authorized to bring the child, if necessary by force, to a hearing and may obtain police support for this purpose."
Her father, Hubert Busekros, told the homeschool group the state was out of line with its "zealous drive to enforce compulsory schooling."
She initially was hospitalized in the Child Psychiatry Unit of a clinic in Nuremburg, but then moved without notice, officials with Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit said.
Last week, the Home School Legal Defense Association launched a campaign to have its supporters, mostly in the United States, contact the German embassy about the case.
Then officials with the International Human Rights Group said they had assembled a list of German officials to contact on behalf of the teen.
Information about the case can be found in English at Netzwerk-Bildungsfreifeit, officials said.
"The State's action clearly goes beyond what is justifiable. They took unreasonable measures for which they had no basis. They intimidated the family with a 'SWAT' team of 15 police officers to take captive a 15-year old unsuspecting girl early in the morning, taking her to a state psychiatrist," according to the IHRG.
"The psychiatrist, after hours of interrogation, wrote a report which claimed that Melissa had delayed educational development of one year and school phobia. The judge, basing her decision on this report, gave the custody of the child over to the state and placed the child in a psychiatric ward. This was all done in a sped-up action taking only four days. The family is devastated and has immediately appealed the judge's decision," the IHRG said.
"This is nothing else than deprivation of liberty and child abduction," the German homeschool group said.
Officials there said historically the German phobia about homeschooling began with Adolph Hitler, whose design was to control the minds of children as they grew, leaving them with only his worldview.
"The 'Jugendamt' (youth welfare office) has its origin in the German Nazi state," the German group said. "German Wikipedia writes about the Jugendamt: 'In 1939 the Jugendamt [was] adopted ... as a part of government in the NS-state control of child-education. The Jugendamt controlled and observed families and children politically from their birth."
A spokesman for the group told WND, "Today the Jugendamt … is free to take the children away from their parents when in their opinion the child's welfare is jeopardized. A false accusation of neighbors is sometimes sufficient to capture the children from their parents."
The students' rights and human rights groups say they still want people to contact German officials about the situation: Contacts, provided by the IHRG, include:
Youth Welfare Office
Director: Edeltraud Höllerer
Rathaus
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131 86-2844
Fax +49 9131 86-2438
Mail:
edeltraud.hoellerer@stadt.erlangen.de
Or stadtjugendamt@stadt.erlangen.de
Responsible Official
Monika Muzenhardt
Mail:
monika.muzenhardt@stadt.erlangen.de
Mayor of the Town of Erlangen
Dr. Siegfried Balleis
Rathausplatz 1
91052 Erlangen
Fon: +49 [0] 9131 86-0
Fax: +49 [0] 9131 86-26 92
Mail: ob@stadt.erlangen.de
Local Court Erlangen
Family court
Richterin Frank-Daupin
Mozartstraße 23
91052 Erlangen
Tel. +49 9131-782 01
Fax +49 9131/782-361
(No Email address available)
Minister of Justice in Bavaria
Beate Merk
Prielmayerstr. 7
80335 München
Tel. +49 89 5597 1799
Fax +49 89 5597 3580
Email: beate.merk@stmj.bayern.de
Clinic Nürnberg-Nord/Psychatrie
Prof.-Ernst-Nathan-Str. 1
90419 Nürnberg
chief physician: Prof. Jörg Wiesse
Email: joerg.wiesse@klinikum-nuernberg.de
Assistant Medical Director
Dr. Schanda
(Responsible for the survey of Melissa)
Tel: 0911-398-3877
Fax: 0911-398-3261
Email: KJP_B@klinikum-nuernberg.de
axel.froelich@klinikum-nuernberg.de
"Our prayer is that we can work together to end this nightmare for this family. Please know that the International Human Rights Group is working with the family and attorneys to secure and protect the human rights of Melissa and her parents," that organization said.
Officials with HSLDA warned "what is happening in Germany today may be knocking on our door tomorrow." The group now is tracking the circumstances of about 40 families in Germany with court cases in various stages.
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