Alexander Strobl knows how it feels to be left with nothing after leaving. The 43-year-old, who now lives in Moosburg and works at the airport, was born into a Munich family that is still a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses today. He grew up “in cages,” as he puts it, but made the jump. After beginning to question the organization and gradually breaking away from it, he was disfellowshipped 19 years ago.
As a young man in his early 20s, he “left everything – family, friends and so on – and fought my way through life,” he says today. He got lucky. A family friend who, like him, had left the Jehovah’s Witnesses gave him strong support during this difficult time and caught him. “I would never have made it if there weren’t friendly people who shook hands with me at the time. And that’s why I see it as a matter of course as a human being to continue doing this.”
Specifically, Strobl does this with his “Stammtisch Sektenausstieg”, which he has been offering in Moosburg since 2019. Strobl, a board member of the nationwide association “Netzwerk Sektenausstieg” (network of cults), addresses his offer to people who intend to leave sects, cults and destructive groups or have already done so and are now looking for contacts in the “outside” world.
“When you’re outside, you’re all alone in the cold world and have nothing left,” says Strobl. Above all, no more rules by which you previously aligned your whole life. “You’re like a toddler who has to learn how to behave properly.” In Germany, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are not considered a sect, but enjoy the status of a public religious society – including tax benefits, levies and fees as well as the right to collect church taxes. However, Strobl does not see them simply as any religious community. He speaks of a “thought prison” in which one is imprisoned there.
Science is often demonized
It is that sects, cults and destructive groups are always trying to drive a wedge between normal human relationships. “Unfortunately often with success,” says Strobl. “You are separated, speak your own language – have your own technical terms – and imagine yourself to be the guardian of the ultimate truth.” At the same time, attempts are being made to exercise control over the lives of those affected, and science is often demonized. It’s about limiting social contacts in the outside world.
Political engagement of any kind is also forbidden for the witnesses. Strobl, who has always been interested in politics and is now active in the Left Party, once went secretly to vote with a hood on his head. “I looked around every two meters and always had a bad conscience.” Because with the witnesses, the members would be “programmed” as it were. The scheme is simple. It is said that “worldly people”, that is, non-Witnesses, have been deceived by Satan and must be saved. So the members went door to door to proselytize.
A new life built
After leaving, Strobl built a new life, is married and has two daughters. He doesn’t presume to “help others out of it, let alone offer them psychological help” – he has an experienced psychologist in the background to whom he can refer. The primary aim is to send dropouts a signal “that they are not alone. Because there is someone and they are doing this regulars’ table, you can or could go there”. But it mostly stays with “could”.
On his platform “You are not alone” (www.facebook.com/SektenausstiegMoosburg) many people got in touch, “but most of them don’t come by in person”. And if they do, then they come from Eggenfelden or the Rosenheim district. Moosburger were not there yet, so Strobl. Sometimes no one comes. But it’s not about being able to refer to as many regulars as possible, says Strobl. He’s definitely going to keep going. “If there’s only one person I can help in ten years, then that’s something.”