The European Court of (Pseudo-) Human Rights ruled in favor of a Nazi-era ban on home education, upholding the power of German authorities to ruthlessly terrorize families who exercise their human right to homeschool. The bizarre ruling also trampled on parental rights, educational freedom, the right to family life, religious liberty, and numerous other cherished human rights that have underpinned Western civilization for centuries. But the fight is not over.
The case involved the Wunderlich family, a delightful Christian family that was homeschooling in the face of relentless persecution and terror. Among other concerns, the family was worried — quite properly — about the anti-Christian brainwashing taking place in government schools. In Germany, private schools must adhere to the German regime’s dictates, too, meaning there is no true educational liberty or choice in Germany.
The family had been harangued and persecuted for many years, but continued to homeschool anyway. In 2013, though, the government took it to the next level, dispatching more than 30 militarized bureaucrats and armed police to the Wunderlich home in Darmstadt to kidnap the children. The brutal operation left the children traumatized, obviously. Despite acknowledging that the children’s education was fine and that there was no risk of physical harm, the state refused to tolerate the family.
According to the regime, the children might not learn enough “tolerance” — tolerance of Islamism, mass migration, totalitarianism, homosexuality, transgenderism, and so on — unless they were subjected to rigorous state-approved indoctrination until at least age 16. In its ruling on the case, Wunderlich v. Germany, the European kangaroo court agreed, discrediting itself and European institutions as legitimate guardians of human rights in the process.
This writer was able to meet the Wunderlich parents and children at the first Global Home Education Conference (GHEC) in Berlin, Germany. Not only were the children highly educated and intelligent, they were also fantastically socialized, interacting well with people of all ages. But of course, the parents were tired after endless battles with authorities over the right to raise and educate their own children in peace.
“It is a very disheartening day for our family and the many families affected by this in Germany. After years of legal struggles, this is extremely frustrating for us and our children,” said Dirk Wunderlich, the father in the case. “It is upsetting that the European Court of Human Rights has not recognized the injustices we have suffered at the hands of the German authorities.”
Executive Director Paul Coleman of the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, which helped the family, slammed the decision as well. “This ruling ignores the fact that Germany’s policy on homeschooling violates the rights of parents to educate their children and direct their upbringing,” he said, calling it “alarming” that this was not recognized by the court. “This ruling is a step in the wrong direction and should concern anyone who cares about freedom.”
Keep in mind, this is the same pseudo-human rights court that late last year ruled against another fundamental freedom: the right to free speech. In that case, the court ruled against an Austrian woman who pointed out that the Islamic prophet Mohamed, then 56, married a 6-year-old girl and had sex with her at age 9 — a fact that nobody disputed. But the court claimed Muslims have a right “to have their religious feelings protected,” and that those “rights” trump free speech.
Other persecuted homeschool families have fled from Germany. One German family even came to the United States to seek refuge and was granted asylum by a U.S. judge, until the Obama administration used the full might of the U.S. government to get the decision overturned. The only option left for the Wunderlich family to get justice is to take the case to the “Grand Chamber” of the disgraced European “Court” of “Human Rights,” which is the highest level of the kangaroo tribunal.
The situation in Germany shows how far rogue governments can and will go to ensure that children are indoctrinated into the regime’s official ideology. In Germany, this exact mindset led directly to the tragedy of National Socialism and later barbarian communism in East Germany. Americans must remain constantly vigilant to protect their own hard-won freedoms.
