District of Rosenheim: Illegal school of “Reich citizens”?

The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution is looking BR research in the establishment of an illegal school in the district of Rosenheim references to “Reichsbürgern”. The project is said to have been supported by a foundation in Russia.

Two days before the start of the summer vacation in Bavaria, a woman posted a call on the Telegram messenger service. You are looking for “Montessori, Waldorf – or state educators / teachers who no longer want to serve the school system from September and are looking for an alternative”. Anyone interested should contact her.

The call comes from a civil servant teacher: Veronika G. According to her own statement, she has left the system. According to the knowledge of the government of Upper Bavaria, she was the head of the “school-like” classed by the authorities and institution known as the “lateral thinker school” in the district of Rosenheim. Veronika G. let questions of the BR to this unanswered. The school is now closed. According to the authorities, the around 50 children who attended the school come from families who reject corona measures in schools.

Protection of the Constitution switched on

A so-called foundation in Russia is said to be behind the unapproved school. Meanwhile it is after BR information the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution was involved in the investigation into the illegal school.

“In the meantime, the so-called foundation, which is decisive for the school project, has proven sufficiently weighty actual indications for efforts against the free democratic basic order, which can be assigned to the phenomenon of Reich citizens and self-administrators,” writes a spokesman for the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution on request.

The foundation’s contact person is the German Sonja B., who is active in social networks under a different name. In a phone call, she spoke of wanting to set up more schools across Europe. She left detailed questions, including about the financing of the alleged projects, unanswered.

Study groups and tried to start schools

In several places in Bavaria, parents who reject corona measures in schools are trying to establish alternative learning facilities. So a woman in the Allgäu handed her over BR research At “lateral thinking” rallies and was active in the “parents stand up” initiative, an application to found a new elementary and middle school was submitted in March 2021. This was confirmed by the responsible authorities BR research.

The woman refuses an interview. On Telegram, she writes that she would like to pursue her plans to start the school and get a new license for the coming school year.

Different rules across Germany

Pupils who do not want to be tested are not allowed to enter school buildings in any federal state. The exception is Thuringia, where there is currently no mask or test requirement. In some federal states, these children can stay away from class as so-called test refusers. In countries such as Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and – since the beginning of October – also in Bavaria, test refusers violate compulsory schooling. They are considered truant.

BR research asked all education and culture ministries nationwide how many students are absent from classes because they are not taking part in corona tests. There are around 1,000 children in North Rhine-Westphalia and around 1,600 in Bavaria. Hesse reports 750 at the beginning of October, Saxony 400. Only six out of 16 federal states report that they are collecting any figures at all. Education experts assume that several thousand children are currently not going to school.

“It’s actually about every single child,” says the President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, in an interview. He calls on the education ministries of the federal states to “enact clear and uniform regulations and unambiguous rules in order to no longer allow school absenteeism due to refused tests and to enforce these regulations”. Because, according to Meidinger, “tolerance is not the order of the day”.