A German network of home educators have asked us to please write to the minister below and put international pressure on them.
Thank you Leslie

Dear Friends,
we want to inform you that again a homeschooling family in Germany is under severe pressure. The Dudek family from German state of Hesse is threatened to be send to prison because of homeschooling their children. Different from most of the other German states in Hesse, homeschooling fulfills the facts of a criminal offence. In most of the other states it is only an administrative offence.

The following information is a translation of an article which appears yesterday in the local newspaper. Especially consider the last sentence in the article. It is striking. We will keep you informed about the case. Perhaps we need again international help.

It is embarrassing that German officials put parents into jail whose children are well educated and where the family is in good order. We personally know the Dudeks as such a family.

The responsible minister of education of Hesse is:
Hessisches Kultusministerium
Mrs. Karin Wolff
Luisenplatz 10
65185 Wiesbaden
06151/17120
E-Mail: ministerin@hkm.hessen.de

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Joerg Grosseluemern
Netzwerk Bildungsfreiheit – Network for Freedom in Education

Dudek family to go before court once again.

By Harald Sagawe

Prosecutor Herwig Muller has appealed against the verdict in the case of Rosemarie and Jürgen Dudek. The couple from the German town of Archfeld in Herleshausen was sentenced to fines at the beginning of May. In the meantime the prosecutor in Kassel has applied for jail sentences of three months each, without probation, for the parents of six children.

Rosemarie and Jürgen Dudek were sentenced because they did not send their children to school, for religious reasons. The parents, Christians who closely follow the bible, teach their children themselves. Two years ago the court had also dealt with the Dudeks. That case, dealing with the payment of a fine, had been dropped. An application for the approval of a state-recognised private school – which, according to experts, has no chance of success at any rate – has still not been decided by the school authorities.

“It’s a terrible thing, to lock up a family that hasn’t done anyone any harm,” says the accused, Jürgen Dudek.
The prosecutor, Herwig Müller, is currently on vacation. Chief prosecutor Hans-Manfred Jung confirmed the veto, but could not say anything about the reasons.

Jürgen Dudek is horrified at the idea that the prosecution wants to see him and his wife behind bars. “It’s a terrible thing, to lock up a family that hasn’t done anyone any harm,” he says, “especially now, with the legal situation looking the way it is.” He regards the matter as absurd.

The judge’s job is to pronounce a verdict and not mix himself up in administrative matters, says Arno Meissner, director of the education department. Meanwhile he makes it clear that his office will by no means leave the family in peace, not even temporarily. “We will enforce compulsory school attendance against the family as promptly as possible. First his office intends to talk with the family, then to set a time limit and if this is not met, it will once again open a criminal case against them. Not even the announcement of a move by the family will settle the matter, declared Meissner.

Meissner dismissed the criticism made by Peter Höbbel, the judge of the juvenile court, against his department. We won’t let ourselves be admonished by a judge in that way, he said. “His duty is to make a judgement when the prosecutor brings a charge and to stay out of administrative matters.” Höbbel had rebuked the education department because it has been sitting on the Dudeks’ application for the approval of a private school for two and a half years, with no decision having been made about it.

http://www.hna.de/

[…]

The bad guys never learn do they?

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Home Schooling.