Raid on 12 Tribes sect – RTL – Reporter provides evidence of child abuse

“I was stunned that everything came to light.”

Fear, isolation and spanking – RTL – Reporter Wolfram Kuhnigk revealed the martyrdom of the Twelve Tribes children.  Thanks to him

they were released to the police.

They live seemingly idyllic lives in a monastery in the Bavarian village of Deiningen.  150 German members live in the controversial community ’12 Tribes’ but the calm is deceptive.  At 6 a.m. the police are involved in a major operation to bring all 40 children from the community and deliver them to the Youth Welfare Office.  Pummeling and punishments have been on the agenda but decisive evidence has been lacking so far.  For several months RTL Reporter Wolfram Kuhnigk has secretly researched and filmed the sect.

“I was stunned that everything came to light,” said Kuhnigk.  In public the sect behaves unobtrusively and friendly, but behind the perfect facade are different.  They have a support system of smacking and breaking the will of the children.”  RTL reporter has repeatedly secretly smuggled in hidden cameras and installed them in the rooms.  “I saw how many people coldly and emotionlessly thumped young children with sticks.”

In his undercover research, Wolfram Kuhnigk was able to find the sect’s “education book” which promoted the view that physical pain is a substantial component of the children’s education.  In their dealings with the children, all baptized members instill fear, beatings and social isolation.  These are not exceptions but the norm.  Thus, the Bible-based cult wants to break the will of the children at an early age, thereby making them docile members.  For particularly strong-willed children, the rod of discipline is recommended.

The 150 German members of the Twelve Tribes community state in their own words that they believe in the Bible of early Christianity.  In actuality, they are trying to stop all worldly influences.  The children are taught when young that Africans and black people are cursed and that homosexuals and women belong to an inferior race.

The authorities haven’t proven that the community teaches such things to their children.  Only the material of the RTL reporter demonstrates the brutality of the sect.

The authorities have targeted the Twelve Tribes and they have been in the headlines again.  The members have refused to send their children to state public schools.  This is in part because of the sex education lessons liberal educators want to teach their children.  The Twelve Tribes parents claim reasons of conscience for failing to send their children to state schools.  The fathers even accepted enforced custody in jail and as a result, the Bavarian Ministry of Education and the Arts approved a “supplementary school” within the monastery walls.

A police headquarters spokesman said 40 girls and boys lived in the disputed Deiningen community and are now in the custody of the Youth Office.  The District of Nördlingen had arranged a temporary withdrawal of custody.  “The children were massively at risk,” said District Court Director Helmut Beyenschlag.  The family court needed to act for the protection of the children.  The parents or the children did not strongly oppose the police action.  We are glad that everything happened so reasonably, said Ludwig Zausinger, Augsburg police spokesman.