Bavaria claims Scientologists are taking over Hitler’s museum

GERMAN state intelligence is investigating allegations that Scientologists have taken over the running of one of Munich’s most famous art museums, it has emerged.

A senior figure at the city’s Haus der Kunst, or House of Art, has been placed under investigation over suspicions he is a Scientologist working to infiltrate the museum.

While the US-based Church of Scientology is regarded as little more than an eccentric religious group in most countries, in Germany it is taken very seriously.

Government officials have said its aims run counter to the German consti- tution. The Bavarian state government website describes Scientology as a “threat to individuals” that “wants to replace democracy and fundamental rights with unconditional subordination of the individual to a totalitarian system of government”.

Scientologists have been under surveillance by the intelligence services since 1997 as a potential threat.

The Haus der Kunst was built under Hitler in the 1930s as the first monumental work of Nazi architecture.

“The Haus der Kunst is of outstanding importance not only for Bavarian cultural policy, but also because of its difficult past,” said Isabell Zacharias, a local opposition politician who has led demands for the latest investigation. “Such totalitarian groups cannot be allowed to gain influence in Bavaria.”

According to the allegations, the unnamed senior management figure has overall control of personnel at the museum. Even though not officially an employee, he has worked there as a consultant for several years.

He is alleged to have used his influence to recruit several other Scientologists and to affect the management of the museum.

A group of 18 colleagues of the man under investigation held a demonstration last week claiming he was the victim of a “smear campaign”.

Representatives from the Church of Scientology were not immediately available for comment.