Twelve Tribes (Faith Community)

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The Twelve Tribes ( English: The Twelve Tribes ; formerly also known as The Vine Christian Community Church , Northeast Kingdom Community Church , Messianic Communities , The Community Apostolic Order ) is a special community with a Christian - rigorous background. It was founded in the United States in the early 1970s by Elbert Eugene Spriggs (also Gene Spriggs and - within the denomination - Yoneq ).

The Twelve Tribes see themselves as faithful to the Bible and in the tradition of early Christianity , especially the early Jerusalem community and the community of property it practiced . The media and large parts of the public regard the Twelve Tribes Faith as a fundamental Christian sect . The alleged abuse of children was confirmed in several legal proceedings, whereupon the members living in Germany moved to the Czech Republic.

The Twelve Tribes are not to be confused with the eponymous movement founded by Vernon Carrington within the Rastafari .

history

Ceremonial dance at a wedding

As founder of the Twelve Tribes of Americans applies Elbert Eugene Spriggs , a former educator and supporter of the Jesus People movement, which in the early 1970s in Chattanooga ( Tennessee ) adolescents and young adults in a so-called Light Brigade gathered around him. The rapidly growing movement became more and more isolated in the years that followed. The cooperation with the traditional Christian churches of Chattanooga was terminated. In 1978 the Light Brigade acquired its own domicile in Island Pond , a village in the New England state of Vermont , and was henceforth called Northeast Kingdom Community Church . The first police action against the religious community, in which 112 children were taken into state custody, took place in 1984. However, the charges of child abuse and abuse were overturned shortly afterwards due to lack of evidence.

In the 1980s Spriggs moved to the south of France, where he founded the Communauté de Sus (also known as Tabitha's Place ), the European branch of the Twelve Tribes . Was it in 1990, only 48 persons to the authorities as residents of the Communauté were reported, there were already more than twice as many after three years. In 1994 the first German branch of this movement was opened in Pennigbüttel near Osterholz-Scharmbeck . One of the members had inherited a larger property there and given it to the community as a residence. Since the parents of the Pennigbüttel branch refused to have their children taught in a public school, there was an initial conflict with the German authorities. As a result, fines were imposed and, if they were not paid, two days' detention was imposed. However, these official measures failed to break the resistance of the community who were teaching their children after a home schooling program.

In 1995, Osterholz-Scharmbeck started to build another community in the Baden-Württemberg village of Stödtlen-Oberbronnen . In 1998 seven families lived there. Here, too, there were conflicts with the responsible authorities because of the refusal to attend school. In 1997 a 19 month old boy died in the Communauté de Sus . He was born in Stödtlen-Oberbronnen and had a serious heart condition from birth. The German judiciary charged the parents with not providing the child with adequate medical care and ordered pre-trial detention. Only after 18 months were the parents released under strict conditions in autumn 1998.

In 2001 the communities in Pennigbüttel and Stödtlen moved to Bavaria . The seat of the community became the monastery rooms estate , which they had acquired from the Wallerstein royal family . From this base, further branches were opened in Kalbe and Wörnitz in the following years .

Way of life

The Twelve Tribes live and work together in communities . These are structured strictly hierarchically. The male members are called “brothers” and the female “sisters”. Women are clearly subordinate to men.

The daily routine is strictly regulated and begins with a communal morning meeting. Men usually have beards and long hair. This is justified biblically and from the tradition of Judaism . Women wear baggy trousers, skirts or dresses. The “brothers” and “sisters” of the community have to work hard and long, receive no wages and forego personal property . A health insurance is like any state benefit denied.

Conflict with the German state about compulsory education

The children of the community should grow up "unaffected by modern trends" strictly according to biblical principles. State schooling is rejected , among other things, because of sex education and teaching evolution . Sex education is rejected mainly for moral and educational reasons; the theory of evolution is interpreted as a contradiction to the biblical statement about creation and is therefore rejected (see also creationism ). Instead, the children were taught in the community itself.

This brought the group into conflict with compulsory schooling . In the winter of 2003 there were first proceedings and operations against the group in Germany that had de-registered their children from school. All proceedings resulted in decisions against home schooling . Fines and penalties of over 130,000 euros were imposed on the religious community, but they were never paid. The appeals were dismissed by the court.

In October 2004 this dispute escalated. After the legal guardians repeatedly ignored a request from the education authority in the Donau-Ries district to send their children to the state school, several fathers were taken into compulsory detention. There have been attempts to resolve the conflict with the authorities. In an interview with the Bavarian Ministry of Culture , for example, a visit to a school psychologist was considered in order to get an impression of the children's performance level. For a while, the group's parents were allowed to teach their children themselves under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. In February 2006 the religious community was granted its own school under conditions by the Free State of Bavaria . This approval was revoked in 2013. In January 2014, the Augsburg Administrative Court confirmed the prohibition of school operations in the first instance . The Twelve Tribes can lodge a complaint with the Bavarian Administrative Court against the decision .

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on racist teaching content and massive use of violence against children. According to this report, small children were so tightly wrapped in towels that they could no longer kick; in addition, children from the age of two would be beaten several times a day with a birch rod .

Deprivation of custody and criminal proceedings for child abuse

The trigger for state intervention was the investigative report by RTL reporter Wolfram Kuhnigk. After several months of research, he managed to record on video how various members of the Twelve Tribes beat the children with canes.

On September 5, 2013, the parents of around 40 children were provisionally withdrawn from custody on suspicion of child abuse .

The children of the community at the Klosterzimmer estate were placed in foster families and children's homes because of "severe corporal punishment and mental abuse" because the responsible court saw the children's well-being at risk. There was a massive deployment of police forces and employees of the youth welfare office. Children of the community were also taken into care in Wörnitz (Ansbach district).

The day after the deprivation of custody and the placement of the children, the public prosecutor's offices in Augsburg and Ansbach opened an investigation into the mistreatment of wards and dangerous bodily harm .

Five days after taking into care of children, the community known on its website flogging .

Eleven children were returned to their parents on September 5, 2013 because they were not registered in the Donau-Ries and Ansbach districts. Six girls and boys are now officially allowed to return to their families, as they no longer have to fear flogging because of their age. Two children under the age of 14 had fled state custody and are hiding in monastery rooms on the premises.

In mid-September 2013, the child of a married couple who had only been visiting the estate of the Twelve Tribes in Wörnitz was able to return to their parents. No decision was made about the other children. At the same time, the community was accused of having brought around ten school-age children from an estate in Dolchau in the city of Kalbe , Saxony-Anhalt , to the Czech Republic .

In January 2014, the twelve-tribes supporter Carsten Hennigfeld, who had been deprived of custody, caused a scandal in the Social Committee of the Bavarian State Parliament by repeatedly interrupting the debate with heckling, which he was not entitled to as a listener. After parliamentarians threatened him with the police , Hennigfeld voluntarily left the meeting room.

The Ansbach public prosecutor's office, which had investigated the mistreatment allegations in the Wörnitz branch of the religious community, stopped the proceedings in mid-January 2014 because the investigators in Wörnitz had found “no concrete indications of the mistreatment of those wards”. The family court proceedings, however, continued. In January 2014, around 15 of the 40 children taken into care were back with their parents.

At the end of January 2014, the Augsburg public prosecutor and another one initiated two investigations against the RTL reporter. The allegation was of violation of the confidentiality of the word . Both investigations were later closed.

On March 12, 2014, members of the religious community filed a complaint with the district administrator of the Donau-Ries district. It is directed against the employees of the youth welfare office who were responsible for the operation on September 5, 2013, and demands that they be immediately suspended from work “because of serious criminal offenses”. At the same time, a criminal complaint was filed with the public prosecutor in Augsburg. With it, the parents of the twelve tribes concerned accuse the Donau-Rieser youth welfare office, among other things, of taking children with them when they were taken into care, for whom no corresponding decisions by the local court were available. There was also no legal basis for their official medical examination, during which the children had to bare themselves. A second house search in monastery rooms was also illegal. In addition, the youth welfare office is to be accused of neglecting the duty of supervision. The children of the religious community were bullied in the state homes . They would have been locked up there at night. Correspondence between parents and children was checked and telephone calls were monitored both in the homes and in the foster families.

Of the 40 children initially taken into custody, on March 15, 2014 only 21 were in state homes and foster families.

At the end of July 2014, the community filed 2 criminal charges against the journalist Wolfram Kuhnigk, whom they accused of falsifying evidence and deliberately making false statements . This happened in the run-up to the broadcast of other relevant film material on RTL Television on August 4, 2014. Kuhnigk denied the accusation and stated that it was a desperate attempt to distract from child abuse. In autumn 2014, the respective public prosecutor's offices rejected the criminal charges against the reporter as unfounded.

On January 20, 2015, the Noerdlingen District Court sentenced a mother belonging to the Twelve Tribes to nine months' imprisonment and 180 hours of community service for assault; Another community mother received six months' imprisonment and 100 hours of community service. The prison sentences were suspended in the not yet final judgment; the evidence was based on the footage.

In May 2015, two pairs of parents received their children back after they had distanced themselves from the Twelve Tribes. In June 2015, the Nördlingen District Court Director Helmut Beyerschlag filed a criminal complaint against members of the Twelve Tribes who allegedly compared him with the Nazis in 1939 during a demonstration . On June 15, 2015, the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court confirmed the revocation of custody of two parents, as further acts of violence against the children were to be feared.

In the late summer of 2015, the Twelve Tribes announced their move to the Czech Republic . You own several properties near Prague , and there is also a branch in France .

On June 21, 2016, a teacher from the former own school of the Twelve Tribes was sentenced by the Augsburg Regional Court to two years' imprisonment without parole and arrested in the courtroom. She admitted to having beaten her students with a rod, including several times a day. It was the first time a member of the Twelve Tribes had been sentenced to prison without parole. The judgment became final on 23 December 2016 after the Munich Higher Regional Court the revision had rejected the perpetrator.

In August 2016, a member of the Twelve Tribes received a seven-month suspended sentence from the Nördlingen Regional Court for beating a child with a rod for a long time on the premises in monastery rooms.

At the beginning of 2017, the last members of the community moved to Skalná in the Czech Republic. Corporal punishment of children is not prohibited there without exception. The Donau-Ries district office expressed its concern about the children affected.

literature

  • Wolfgang Behnk: The Twelve Tribes. The disciples of Yahshua of Elbert Eugene Spriggs aka Yonek. In: EZW Materialdienst 03/2000, pp. 76-83 ISSN  0721-2402
  • Wolfgang Behnk: Spiritual orientation and dangerous offers , in: Long live the youth! Vom Grenzgänger zum Gestalter (Eds. Andreas de Bruin, Siegfried Höfling, Rolf Oerter), published as Volume 94 of the Reports and Studies series (Ed. Hanns Seidel Foundation / Academy for Politics and Current Affairs), Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3 -88795-375-1 , pp. 202ff
  • Robert Pleyer: Satan never sleeps: My life with the Twelve Tribes , Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3426787366

Web links

Commons : Twelve Tribes (Faith Community)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chastisement and teacher shortage: School of the "Twelve Tribes" threatens to end ; in: Der Spiegel from April 18, 2013
  2. ↑ Spiritual orientation and dangerous offers , in: Long live the youth! From border crosser to designer (Eds. Andreas de Bruin, Siegfried Höfling, Rolf Oerter), published as volume 94 of the series Reports and Studies , Hanns Seidel Foundation / Academy for Politics and Current Affairs, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-88795- 375-1 , pp. 202-205
  3. ↑ 5 Truths About the Eerie Sect "Twelve Tribes" ; in: Huffington Post, May 19, 2014
  4. ↑ Sect "Twelve Tribes": Life behind the facade ; in: Augsburger Allgemeine from May 26, 2012
  5. ↑ "Off for Bavarian sparkling wine school". Deutschlandfunk, June 14, 2013, accessed on June 14, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Controversial sect: court forbids "Twelve Tribes" own school ; in: Spiegel online from January 24, 2014
  7. ↑ brainwashing, beating and racism ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online from May 22, 2012
  8. ↑ children freed from sect ; in: Frankfurter Rundschau Online from September 5, 2013
  9. ↑ Suspicion of abuse among early Christians: "They live with their children in their own world" ; in: Spiegel online from September 8, 2013
  10. ^ Sect “Twelve Tribes”: Police bring 28 children from Christian monastery in Bavaria ; in: Spiegel Online from September 5, 2013
  11. ↑ Accusations of abuse: Police bring 40 children from sect in Bavaria ; in: Tagesspiegel from September 5, 2013
  12. ^ "Twelve Tribes" - Chastised and Abused ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online from September 5, 2013
  13. ↑ "Twelve Tribes": Public Prosecutor determined ; in: Merkur Online from September 6, 2013
  14. ↑ "He who spares his rod hates his son" ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online from September 11, 2013
  15. ↑ a b “Twelve Tribes” religious community: sect files criminal charges against authorities ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online from March 15, 2014
  16. ↑ "Twelve Tribes": A child is allowed to return to his parents ; in: Nordbayern.de from September 15, 2013
  17. ↑ Controversial sect is said to have brought children to the Czech Republic ; in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of September 17, 2013
  18. ^ Sect uprising in the state parliament ; in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Online from January 23, 2014
  19. ↑ Investigations against Twelve Tribes suspended ; in: Nordbayern.de from January 15, 2014
  20. ↑ Recordings of beatings in "Twelve Tribes" have consequences ; in: Schwäbische.de from January 31, 2014
  21. ↑ "Twelve Tribes": Public Prosecutor investigates RTL reporter ; in: Augsburger Allgemeine from January 31, 2014
  22. ^ "Twelve Tribes": Complaint against youth welfare office employees ( memento from September 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); in: Bayerischer Rundfunk from June 2, 2014
  23. ↑ Carola Padtberg-Kruse: Christian sect: "Twelve tribes" show TV reporters , Spiegel online , August 1, 2014
  24. ↑ Sect: "Twelve Tribes" mothers convicted of bodily harm , Spiegel online , January 20, 2015
  25. ↑ Parents are subject to custody disputes . ( Memento from June 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Bayerischer Rundfunk , June 15, 2015
  26. ↑ District court chief shows the sect Twelve Tribes . Die Welt from June 4, 2015
  27. ↑ Children of twelve tribes are not allowed to go back . Süddeutsche Zeitung from June 15, 2015
  28. ↑ "Twelve Tribes" emigrate . Süddeutsche Zeitung from September 1, 2015
  29. ↑ Sect "Twelve Tribes": Whipping teacher sentenced to two years in prison. Spiegel online from June 21, 2016
  30. ↑ The judgment against the former teacher is final. Bayerischer Rundfunk from December 23, 2016
  31. ↑ Torsten Thierbach: Boy beaten with rod for almost half an hour. ( Memento from September 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Bayerischer Rundfunk , August 30, 2016
  32. ↑ German beatings sect moved to the Czech Republic - article on Deutsche Welle from December 6, 2017, accessed on December 20, 2017
  33. ^ Christian Rost: Beating sect "Twelve Tribes" moved to the Czech Republic. Süddeutsche Zeitung from January 4, 2017