"You are hereby sentenced to 90 days in prison"

HSLDA brings an update this week on the plight of two home schooling families in Germany.

I wrote earlier this summer about the "final solution" that Germany has begun to implement in the homeschool community there.

Exterminate them.

OK, maybe that is an extreme characterization, but only a little. Germany does not tolerate homeschooling for any reason, citing laws dating to the Hitler era.

A recent member of a German homeschool network wrote to the country’s top education official, Dr. Annette Schavan, asking that the topic of homeschooling be put on the agenda for a national conference of state education leaders. He was told “The topic would not be discussed because it is impossible to homeschool in Germany.”

Even foreigners who are there temporarily, such as US military families stationed in Germany, are not supposed to homeschool.

So in practical terms, that is the same as extermination. This is unconscionable.

In a nutshell, this week we have good news and bad news. The good news was that the Jugendamt decided to release the Gorber children to the custody of their parents pending a family court hearing on September 25. They are in a public school, but were not required to attend "special schools" a long distance from their homes, or live in the state-run group homes conveniently located near the "special schools"

Meanwhile, Rosemary and Juergen Dudek have already been sentenced to 90 days in prison for homeschooling, and have had a new round of criminal charges filed against them. They continue to fight these charges, and have applied to be considered a private school.

Can you say, "Ja wohl, Herr Kommandant?" I used to laugh when Sgt. Schultz said that to Col. Klink on Hogan's Heroes when I was a kid. But I am not laughing now.

Could that happen here? It is by the grace of God that the eleven Christians arrested in Philadelphia for the "hate crime" of sharing the Gospel at a homosexual event a few years ago did not actually have to go to prison for the incredible 47 years they were faced with serving. Even though video of the events clearly showed that the Christians were not violent, Philadelphia police and officials insisted on interpreting their every move as hostile. Four of the defendants were charged with ethnic intimidation and rioting -- among other things.

Right. So what does that have to do with homeschooling?

It shows that things we really don't believe could ever happen here are already happening. If people can't be sure they have First Amendment rights on a public street, how can parents be sure they have the right to teach their children at home, privately and away from Big Brother's watchful eye? As I said in an earlier post, these things are the germ of the same idea that is resulting in the prosecution of these German parents.

Would YOU be willing to serve 90 days in prison for homeschooling?

My earlier posts on the German homeschooling problem can be found here:

Ill Wind Blows for Homeschooling
Germany Strikes Again
Germany Declares War on Homeschooling