Germany: Blitzkrieg Against Homeschooling Continues

The ordeal may be over for the Busekros family since their homeschooled daughter Melissa is now 16. But life isn't any easier for other homeschooling families that still live under constant threat of hefty fines, loss of custody over their children and even criminal charges as the German government officials make it clear they won't let go of a Hitler-era law which bans homeschooling.

A federal prosecutor in the German state of Hesse has announced that he's not satisfied with the fines that Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek were forced to pay for homeschooling their six children. He is appealing the verdict, seeking nothing less than three-month prison terms on the grounds that in the state of Hesse, a family's failure to follow the mandatory school attendance laws violates not only administrative regulations, but the criminal code.

Dudek family, well aware of the mandatory school attendance laws had applied for approval of a "state-recognized private school". But the officials decided that a school run by families that have done excellent job educating their on children, "has no chance to succeed at any rate". Now Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek are planning to leave the region - even that doesn't satisfy the authorities that obviously don't like the idea of letting those six kids growing up to become independently thinking voters.

According to Home School Legal Defence Association there are about 400 homeschooling families in Germany. Virtually all of them either forced into hiding or in court. The authorities lost their fight for the custody of Melissa Busekros - a German appeals court ordered legal custody returned to her family few weeks after Melissa had run away from her foster parents. Snatching a girl from her family and lying about it in a TV interview did somewhat damage their reputation. Now they want to show other homeschooling families that the state has no intention to back down.

Michael Farris, founder of the HSLDA, has said he believes the German treatment of Christian homeschoolers is the "edge of the night that's coming" for believers.

"Germany is the only Western democracy taking this incredibly hard-line approach, but there are growing clouds on a number of national horizons," Farris told WND.

"The philosophy that the government knows best how to raise children is really becoming a worldwide phenomenon," Farris said. "I think Germany represents the edge of the night that's coming."

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A website calling to boycott German goods in support of Melissa Busekros is still functional and it has the contact information of German embassy in US. The minister of education for Hesse, Karin Wolff, can be reached at ministerin@hkm.hessen.de. The more of us speak up, the more freedom will we have to make decision over our children's education.