Ōmu Shinrikyō

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Ōmu Shinrikyō ( Japanese オ ウ ム 真理 教 ; in German about "Om-Doctrine of Truth"), today's name Aleph ( ア レ フ , Arefu ), in the German-language press often referred to as the Aum sect , is a new religious group that originally emerged in Japan , which was particularly well represented in Russia . She became known to the global public through her poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995. In January 2000 Ōmu Shinrikyō was renamed to Aleph .

history

Origin (1983 to 1987)

In Japan (as of December 31, 2006) there are 182,868 religious societies ( 宗教 法人 , shūkyō hōjin ), i.e. religious communities ( 宗教 団 体 , shūkyō dantai ) with the status of legal entities under the Law on Religious Societies ( 宗教 法人 法 , shūkyō hōjinhō ) from 1951 accepted; of these, 182,468 are individual, independent temples, shrines, churches and other communities. After the establishment of the "classical" Buddhist and Shinto sects and a wave of younger cult groups founded in the 1950s and 1960s, a third wave of religious communities was founded in the mid-1970s. The third wave of founding, to which Ōmu Shinrikyō is also counted, differs from the second wave by the higher status and greater wealth of the sect members.

In 1984, the severely visually impaired Chizuo Matsumoto founded an association for yoga exercises that are supposed to activate psychic powers with initially 15 members under the name Ōmu Shinsen no Kai ( オ ウ ム 神仙 の 会 ; "Assembly of Om Hermits") . At this time Matsumoto also changed his name to Shōkō Asahara . After he had received "the highest truth" in 1986 in the Himalayas, he renamed the association Ōmu Shinrikyō (Om teaching of truth) in the following year . Ōmu Shinrikyō now gradually took the form of a religious group.

In 1985 Asahara met the Dalai Lama for the first time in Dharamsala , who is said to have given him official letters of recommendation. This meeting and documents were used as a reference in recruiting new members and in seeking the tax-free status of a religious group.

Consolidation, international expansion and radicalization (1987 to 1995)

In the years following its creation, Ōmu Shinrikyō expanded both within Japan and beyond its borders. At the same time, there was an ideological radicalization.

Consolidation in Japan

In Japan Ōmu Shinrikyō established itself as a smaller minority religion. In August 1989, Tokyo Prefecture recognized Ōmu Shinrikyō as a religious society under the Religious Societies Act of 1951, although parents of members cautioned against the organization.

During this time, the organization began to resort to violence. In November 1989, Tsutsumi Sakamoto, a Japanese lawyer representing the relatives of supporters, was killed along with his wife and one-year-old son in Yokohama . In the following year Asahara founded under the name Shinritō ("truth") a political representation Ōmu Shinrikyōs and ran together with 24 supporters for the Japanese parliament . During the election campaign, the Shinritō candidates wore unusual clothing, such as hoods that depicted elephant heads. In the election itself, Asahara and his supporters received the fewest votes in their constituencies, as a result of which Asahara accused the authorities of electoral fraud. After the election, Ōmu Shinrikyō ran into financial problems and many members left the organization.

International expansion

From autumn 1987 Ōmu Shinrikyō expanded beyond the borders of Japan. Initially, the company established itself in New York under the name Aum USA Company Ltd. registered as a tax-exempt religious organization and published in 1988 under this publisher name Shoko Asahara: "Supreme Initiation" . Later, a branch was opened in Bonn under the name "Buddhism and Yoga Center" and further branches in Sri Lanka. The main field of recruitment, however, was Russia, where Asahara and some of his colleagues were received by the then parliamentary president Ruslan Khasbulatov in 1992 . According to current estimates, Ōmu Shinrikyō grew to around 40,000 followers by 1995, of which around 10,000 were in Japan and around 30,000 in Russia; in addition, there were still a few dozen supporters in Germany and the USA at that time.

Radicalization

In the expansion and consolidation phase, Ōmu Shinrikyō radicalized both on the ideological and the level of action. First Ōmu Shinrikyō radicalized with regard to an apocalyptic ideology; Asahara, who described himself as the reincarnation of Shiva and Jesus Christ , dated the end of the world to 1997. A US nuclear attack would devastate Japan and kill 90% of the population, according to Asahara. As a result, the organization began to prepare for terrorist acts.

Research into the production of biological warfare agents began. In 1994 Ōmu Shinrikyō successfully produced the nerve gas sarin for the first time . However, an attack on the parliamentary district in Tokyo in April failed. On June 27, a sarin attack took place in Matsumoto against the judges of a property lawsuit in which the organization was involved. In this first civilian sarin assassination attempt in the world, 7 people died without first suspecting Ōmu Shinrikyō.

Toxic gas attack on the Tokyo subway (1995)

The greatest turning point in the organization's history occurred in 1995: Ōmu Shinrikyō became known around the world through an attack on the Tokyo subway.

Sequence of events

Kasumigaseki Metro Station

On March 20, 1995, five Ōmu-Shinrikyō members deposited plastic bags wrapped in newspaper, containing the nerve agent sarin , in five commuter trains from three Tokyo subway lines that met in the morning rush hour in the Kasumigaseki station . Immediately before disembarking, the perpetrators used umbrellas to drill holes in the eleven bags that were distributed in order to release the liquid sarin. The attackers initially escaped using escape cars and drivers that were provided at their exit stations. The escaping vapors spread in the affected subways and around 15 subway stations. A total of 13 people died as a result of the attack (nine immediately, one later the same day, one two days later, two more after a few weeks), there were around 1,000 injured, 37 of them seriously (5,000 reported in hospitals). In 2010 the police revised the number of victims to 6,252.

The reasons for the relatively small number of fatalities were the relatively poor quality of the sarin and the ineffective method of spreading it.

Immediate consequences

The Japanese police arrested numerous members of Ōmu Shinrikyōs as a result of the attack. On April 23, Hideo Murai, "Science and Technology Minister" Ōmu Shinrikyōs, was stabbed to death by a 29-year-old in front of the Tokyo office in front of the television cameras.

Convictions

In the wake of the Sarin attack, twelve members of Ōmu Shinrikyō were sentenced to death . These included the assassins as well as Masato Yokoyama and Yasuo Hayashi. Furthermore, the manufacturers of the sarin, the two researchers Seiichi Endo and Masami Tsuchiya, and the doctor Tomomasa Nakagawa were sentenced to death. Eventually Shōkō Asahara was convicted of masterminding both this attack and the gas attack in Matsumoto .

The death sentences against Asahara and six other members of the sect were on July 6, 2018 enforced against the remaining six convicted on 25 July 2018th

A number of other perpetrators were sentenced to low sentences.

Some other death sentences were not directly related to the attack, but the judged circumstances only became apparent as a result of further investigations. This applies in particular to the murder of the family of the anti-Ōmu-Shinrikyō attorney in 1989, for which three leading Ōmu-Shinrikyō members were sentenced to death. In addition to Satoru Hashimoto and Kiyohide Hayakawa, who were sentenced in separate trials in July 2000, this concerns the confessed founding member Kazuaki Okazaki, who was also convicted on October 22, 1998 for the murder of an Ōmu-Shinrikyō member who wanted to leave the organization has been.

On June 15, 2012, the Japanese police arrested Katsuya Takahashi, the last fugitive suspect of the attack in Tokyo. A few days earlier, a female sect member was arrested who allegedly participated in the production of the poison gas.

After the poison gas attack: underground work and reconstruction (since 1995)

Under the impression of the attack, which was condemned worldwide, Ōmu Shinrikyō lost the majority of its members and was strictly monitored by the state.

From Ōmu Shinrikyō to Aleph

Ōmu-Shinrikyō branch in Yokohama in July 1995

As a result of the attack, the organization lost a large part of its members and its property, which was confiscated by government agencies. As early as March 28, 1995, three days after the attack, Russia froze all of the organization's liquid assets and confiscated its property.

In Japan, Ōmu Shinrikyō's membership dropped from around 10,000 on the day of the attack to 5,000 in 1998.

Ōmu Shinrikyō officially renounced its founder and violence in 2000, but according to the journalist Shōko Egawa continues to adhere to his teachings. Tatsuko Muraoka became the new representative. It was not until the end of 1999 that Muraoka publicly apologized on behalf of Ōmu Shinrikyō for the poison gas attack.

In January 2000 Ōmu Shinrikyō was renamed to Aleph . It is under constant surveillance by the state authorities and has around 1,500 to 2,000 followers. On February 16, 2004, Japanese police raided 11 of the organization's properties in the largest raid since the organization was renamed Aleph; Official estimates put the membership at 1,650 in Japan and 300 in Russia.

In 2007, Fumihiro Jōyū founded a split from Aleph called Hikari no Wa ( ひ か り の 輪 , literally: "Wheel of Light", English proper name: The Circle of Rainbow Light ) and took about a quarter of all Aleph members with it.

Reactions from the state

The reactions of different states to the assassination were quite different and in no way proportional to the actual impact of the states: While many states banned the group, Japan only confiscated their property. In general, the reactions from the state were initially very repressive, but allowed a reorientation and rebuilding of the organization.

Japan

In Japan, the Tokyo District Court ( 東京 地方 裁判 所 , Tōkyō chihō saibansho ) revoked the religious status on October 30, 1995 in the wake of the Ōmu Shinrikyō assassination attempt and confiscated the association's property on the basis of Article 81 of the Law on Religious Societies. This decision was upheld by the Tokyo Higher Court on December 19 of the same year and finally by the Supreme Court on January 31, 1996 .

In parallel with the legal consequences, the Japanese parliament passed an amendment to the law on religious societies for the first time on December 15, 1995 . The new version of the law, which encountered massive resistance from both the established and the new religious groups in Japan during the phase of its creation, now provided for, among other things, to involve the Ministry of Education as the central state registration authority as soon as a religious society becomes active beyond a prefecture becomes active; stricter investigation regulations regarding the financial records of a religious society; Extended state powers to question and investigate religious societies in suspected violations of the law. These changes apply not only as a response to the terrorist attacks by Ōmu Shinrikyō, but also as a political instrument to control groups such as Sōka Gakkai , which at that time was gaining political power in association with the Shinshintō party .

In 1997, the Public Security Examination Commission ( kōan shinsa iinkai ) decided not to ban Ōmu Shinrikyō on the basis of the law against subversive activities , as it would no longer pose a threat. Seizaburo Satō , research director at the Japan Institute for International Political Studies, believes that politicians shy away from harsher measures because of the high voter mobilization potential of Japanese sects.

In 1999, Parliament passed the “Law Regarding the Control of Groups Committing Acts of Indiscriminate Mass Murder” ( 無差別 大量 殺人 行為 を 行 っ た 団 体 の 規 制 に 関 す る 法律 ), also known as „mu Shinrikyō, because of its apparent reference to Ōmu Shinrikyō New Ōmu law “( オ ウ ム 新法 ). On this basis, the “Examination Commission” approved the surveillance of Ōmu Shinrikyō, renamed Aleph in the same year, by the Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA). The surveillance license was extended three times for three additional years each, most recently in January 2009. The surveillance by the PSIA also extends to the spin-off Hikari no Wa, which was founded in 2007 .

In the forced bankruptcy proceedings of Ōmu Shinrikyō, the organization's assets were liquidated from 1996. Special laws from 1998 and 1999 gave victim compensation priority over state claims and ensured that the property of Ōmu Shinrikyō's successor organizations could also be included in the proceedings. The end of the trial was announced in November 2008: a total of 1.54 billion yen (around 12 million euros) was paid out as compensation, which corresponds to 40% of the 3.8 billion yen awarded to the victims. A new special law should make it possible to provide the remaining amount from tax revenue.

As an indirect consequence, public garbage cans were removed mainly in eastern Japan. This is to prevent the attack from being repeated.

Successor states to the former Soviet Union

Russia - as well as Ukraine and Kazakhstan - banned the organization entirely, but it was able to survive underground, even with recourse to encrypted Internet communication.

European Union

The European Union had the organization on its list of terrorist groups from 2010 to 2011 .

United States

In the USA , the organization has been listed as a " Foreign Terrorist Organization " since October 8, 1997 .

organization structure

Ōmu Shinrikyō consists of small groups of volunteers who largely isolate themselves from the outside world.

Recruiting pool

Like many newer religious movements in Japan and Russia, Ōmu Shinrikyō has primarily recruited its members from the new middle classes, in particular the number of young academics is above average. Ōmu Shinrikyō primarily recruited science students at universities, and all five Tokyo attackers had degrees from the most prestigious universities in Japan.

ideology

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Ōmu Shinrikyō's eclectic teaching relates primarily to Hindu yoga traditions and Tibetan Buddhism . In addition, the apocalyptic ideology uses elements from pseudoscientific traditions, large group awareness training , Nostradamus prophecies, chiliastic Christianity , Hinduism and the Foundation cycle of the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov . Some ideas were also taken from the anime series Uchū Senkan Yamato . The central deity for the sect is the Hindu god Shiva , and true enlightenment is only possible within the closed community. The “outside world” is seen as corrupt and depraved and must be fought violently if necessary.

reception

Ōmu Shinrikyō is considered an outstanding example of charismatic leadership and blind following; this creates a quasi- totalitarian group structure. Robert J. Lifton described Ōmu Shinrikyō as an example of a new international terrorism emanating from non-governmental groups . Through the targeted application of meditation techniques such as rapid breathing, the members were put into a state of religious excitement and bound to the group. Over time they had developed an “Aum identity” which included not noticing the use of violence by the group and suppressing possible questions arising from their “non-Aum identity”. They therefore had no knowledge of Asahara's attempts to obtain chemical and nuclear weapons .

The poison gas attack in Tokyo, together with the mass suicide Heaven's Gates in 1997 and the (su) murders of the Sun Templars 1994–97, became the main trigger in a series of administrative and legislative measures against non-established religious groups in several European countries in the late 1990s , especially Belgium. This legislation is supported by studies, which establish a number of violent people in the apocalyptic part of the “cultic milieu”.

The United States also responded to the poison gas attack, but not by tightening religious law; Instead, research into antidotes against biological weapons was intensified, even though the attack had shown that terrorist groups like Ōmu Shinrikyō cannot produce particularly effective biological weapons even with a lot of money.

The assassination attempt was processed literarily by the writer Haruki Murakami with a series of interviews with survivors, relatives of the dead and members of the sect.

literature

  • Kaplan, David E. & Andrew Marshall. 1998. AUM, A sect reaches out to the world . Hamburg: Ullstein. ISBN 3-548-35717-2 .
  • Lifton, Robert J .: Terror for Immortality. Redemption sects rehearse the end of the world . Munich & Vienna: Hanser Verlag. ISBN 3-446-19879-2 .
  • Reader, Ian. 2000. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo . Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2340-0 .
  • Repp, Martin. 1997. Aum Shinrikyō: A chapter in criminal history of religion . Marburg: Diagonal Publishing House. ISBN 3-927165-46-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ōmu Shinrikyō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Agency for Cultural Affairs: Religious Juridical Persons and Administration of Religious Affairs ( Memento of October 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file, 52 KB, English)
  2. ^ A b Metraux, Daniel A. (1996): " Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo ", Asian Survey 35 (12): 1140-1154, p. 1141.
  3. ^ A b c Metraux, Daniel A. (1996): " Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo ", Asian Survey 35 (12): 1140-1154, p. 1147.
  4. ^ Klaus Antoni : Rituals and their originators: Invented Traditions in the Japanese Religious History , 21.-23. March 1996, p. 270.
  5. ↑ a b Ballingrud, David: “ An Unheeded Warning? ” St. Petersburg Times October 14, 2001, p. 1D.
  6. ↑ Jackie Fowler: “ Aum Shinrikyo ( Memento August 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive )” in the Religious Movements Homepage Project of the University of Virginia - English
  7. ↑ a b N.N .: "Court sentences Aum's Hayakawa to death", The Daily Yomiuri , July 29, 2000.
  8. ↑ a b c Kin, Kwan Weng: "From religious group to public enemy No. 1", The Straits Times June 4, 1995, p. 12.
  9. ↑ An Empirical Spiritual Science for the Supreme Truth, Translated from the Japanese by Jaya Prasad Nepal and Yoshitaka Aoki; Edited by Fumhiro Joyu, Aum USA Company Ltd, New York ISBN 0-945638-00-0 .
  10. ^ Haworth, Abigail, "Cults: Aum Shinrikyo," The Observer May 14, 1995, p. 16.
  11. ↑ Kaplan, David A. (2000): “Aum Shinrikyo,” pp. 207-226 in Jonathan B. Tucker (Ed.): Toxic Terror . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p. 209.
  12. ↑ Ken Rafferty: Shoko Tactics . In: The Guardian , May 16, 1995.
  13. ↑ a b c Arthur Goldwag. Cults, conspiracies, and secret societies: the straight scoop on Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull & Bones, Black Helicopters, the New World Order, and many, many more . Vintage, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-307-39067-7 , pp. 15-17 .
  14. ^ Pangi, Robyn (2002): "Consequence Management in the 1995 Sarin Attacks on the Japanese Subway System," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 25 (6): 421-448, p. 424.
  15. ↑ Bork, Henrik: "The black flash of memory: No care, no money, no answer - the victims are left alone with their worries and are now suffering the nightmares of 1995 again", Süddeutsche Zeitung November 5, 2001, p. 3 .
  16. ^ A b Fazackerley, Anna. "A Graphic Warning From Japan," The Times Higher Education Supplement , Jul 15, 2005, p. 16.
  17. ↑ Barr, Cameron W .: "Japan Hunts for Culprits In Tokyo Subway Attack", Christian Science Monitor , May 21, 1995, p. 1.
  18. ↑ Kaplan, David A .: " So long, Shoko ( Memento of December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )," US News & World Report , September 19, 2006.
  19. ^ Additional Death Counted in Tokyo Sarin Attack , Global Security Newswire, March 9, 2010
  20. ↑ Victims of 1995 Aum Tokyo subway sarin gas attack near 6,300  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Kyodo News, March 11, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.japantoday.com  
  21. ↑ a b Köckritz, Angela: "Ten years until the judgment: Aum sect chief should be hanged for gas attack in Tokyo", Süddeutsche Zeitung September 16, 2006, p. 14.
  22. ^ NN: "Two Sentenced to Death for 1995 Gas Attack on Tokyo Subways", The New York Times , July 18, 2000, p. A10.
  23. ↑ NN: “Aum's Tsuchiya gets death: Court rules cultist willingly participated in fatal gas attacks”, The Daily Yomiuri , January 31, 2004, p. 2.
  24. ^ Lewis, Leo: " Eight years on, gas attack trial nears end, " The Times October 31, 2003, p. 23.
  25. ↑ The end of a sect leader who had others murdered Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 6, 2018, accessed on July 6, 2018.
  26. ^ NN: "Ex-Cultist Loses Top Court Appeal", The Asahi Shimbun April 8, 2005.
  27. ↑ Sect member after 17 years. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 15, 2012, Retrieved June 15, 2012 .
  28. ^ Ford, Peter: "Sect Sends 'Salvation' to Russian Musicians - by Paycheck", Christian Science Monitor , March 30, 1995, p. 8.
  29. ^ A b c d Miller, Judith: "Some in Japan Fear Authors of Subway Attack Are Regaining Ground", The New York Times October 11, 1998, p. A12.
  30. ^ Onishi, Norimitsu: After 8-Year Trial in Japan, Cultist Is Sentenced to Death, The New York Times February 28, 2004, p. A3.
  31. ↑ BBC World News: " Japan sect apologises for gas attack , December 1, 1999, < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/asia-pacific/544847.stm > last accessed March 27 2007.
  32. ↑ NN: "Japanse Aum sect valt uit elkaar" Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant , March 6, 2007, p. 8
  33. ↑ a b c Robert J. Kisala: “ Living in a Post-Aum World ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )”, in: Bulletin of the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture 20/1996, pp. 7-18.
  34. ↑ List of legal abbreviations in the state's online database for legal texts ( Memento of December 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese)
  35. ↑ Kōanchōsa-chō : 無差別 大量 殺人 行為 を 行 っ た 団 体 の 規 制 に 関 す る 法律 の 施行 状況 (Japanese: "Status of the application of the law in relation to the control of groups that have committed acts of indiscriminate mass murder", contains the surveillance requests of the PSIA, the decisions of the Commission and annual reports to Parliament)
  36. ↑ オ ウ ム 観 察 処分 、 ３ 回 目 の 更新 請求 公安 調査 庁. In: Nihon Keizai Shimbun . December 1, 2008, Retrieved December 13, 2008 (Japanese).
  37. ↑ オ ウ ム 観 察 処分 、 ３ 度 目 の 更新… 「ひ か り の 輪」 も 対 象. (No longer available online.) In: Yomiuri Shimbun Online. January 23, 2009, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 29, 2009 (Japanese).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.yomiuri.co.jp  
  38. ↑ オ ウ ム 真理 教 に 係 る 破産 手 続 に お け る 国 の 債 権 に 関 す る 特例 に 関 す る 法律 ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ 特定 破産 法人 の 破産 財 団 に 属 す べ き 財産 の 回復 に 関 す る 特別 措置 法 ( Memento from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  40. ↑ Bankruptcy process at Aum ends; taxpayers to foot rest of redress. In: Japan Times . November 27, 2008, accessed December 13, 2008 .
  41. ↑ 京 都市 、 街頭 ご み 箱 の 撤去 進 む 観 光 地 で も 検 討 . In: Kyōto Shimbun. January 17, 2014, archived from the original on January 28, 2014 ; Retrieved July 27, 2016 (Japanese).
  42. ↑ Council Decision 2010/386 / CFSP of 12 July 2010 updating the list of persons, associations and entities to which Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Common Position 2001/931 / CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat Terrorism apply . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L 178, July 13, 2010, p. 0028–0030 ( online at EUR-Lex ).
  43. ↑ Council Decision 2011/430 ​​/ CFSP of July 18, 2011 updating the list of persons, groups and entities to which Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Common Position 2001/931 / CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat Terrorism apply . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L 188, July 19, 2011, p. 0047–0049 ( online at EUR-Lex ).
  44. ↑ Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) ( Memento of March 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) United States Department of State
  45. ^ Metraux, Daniel A. (1996): " Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo ", Asian Survey 35 (12): 1140-1154, p. 1142.
  46. ↑ Hielscher, Gebahard: "The Aum Sect - Search for Explanations The Blind Guru and His Young Academics", Süddeutsche Zeitung April 20, 1995.
  47. ^ Metraux, Daniel A. (1996): " Religious Terrorism in Japan: The Fatal Appeal of Aum Shinrikyo ", Asian Survey 35 (12): 1140-1154, p. 1144.
  48. ↑ Japan: Sublime Truth . In: Der Spiegel , April 22, 1996.
  49. ↑ John Parachini: Aum Shinrikyo . In: John C. Baker: Aptitude for Destruction: Case Studies of Organizational Learning in Five Terrorist Groups . RAND Corporation , Santa Monica (CA) 2005, ISBN 0-8330-3764-1 , pp. 11 f.
  50. ↑ Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi: Death, Fantasy, and Religious Transformations in Jerry S. Piven (ed.): The psychology of death in fantasy and history , Praeger Publishers / Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport CT 2004, pp. 87-117.
  51. ^ Robert J. Lifton: Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence and the New Global Terrorism , Henry Holt & Co, New York 1999, ISBN 0-8050-6511-3 .
  52. ^ Interview with Lifton in: Conversations with History, Institute of International Studies, University of California Berkeley , 1999
  53. ↑ Willy Fautré: Belgium's Anti-Sect War , Social Justice Research 12 (4), 1999, pp. 377-397.
  54. ^ Massimo Introvigne : "There Is No Place for Us to Go but Up": New Religious Movements and Violence , Social Compass 49 (2), 2002, pp. 213-224.
  55. ↑ Bradley C. Whitsel: Catastrophic New Age Groups and Public Order , Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 23 (1), 2000, pp 21-36.
  56. ↑ Milton Leitenberg: Aum Shinrikyo's Efforts to Produce Biological Weapons: A Case Study in the Serial Propagation of Misinformation , Terrorism and Political Violence 11 (4), 1999, pp. 149–158.
  57. ↑ Haruki Murakami : Underground War , DuMont, Cologne 2002