Scientologists in Germany Highlight Community Service in Drug Prevention and Human Rights
BERLIN, Germany - May 28, 2026 - Scientology communities across Germany have carried out a series of community-based initiatives in several German cities, including Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Stuttgart. The activities focused on prevention, civic education, peacebuilding and community assistance. A fuller account is available through this Scientology Europe report.
The activities are part of community initiatives backed by the Church of Scientology and inspired by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. In Germany, they have included community information stands, information events, awareness sessions, interreligious discussions and practical help.
In Hamburg, volunteers connected with the Church of Scientology Hamburg held an outreach stand for the initiative “Sag Nein zu Drogen, Sag Ja zum Leben” - “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life.” The volunteers distributed a large number of drug-education booklets and recorded numerous drug-free pledges. The activity placed emphasis on prevention through clear prevention materials and community-level outreach.
The Hamburg activity took place against a serious public-health background. Federal figures for 2024 recorded 2,137 deaths in Germany as a result of illegal drug use, including increased concern over people under 30, synthetic opioids, new psychoactive substances and mixed consumption. Against that background, public prevention work remains an important public issue.
Hamburg was also the setting for human-rights and peace activities in 2025. The Church of Scientology Hamburg held a public open day for the International Day of Peace, with discussion on human rights, social cohesion and peaceful coexistence. Representatives of different religious communities exchanged views on social cohesion and dialogue.
In December 2025, Hamburg Scientologists marked Human Rights Day with a public event combining education and humanitarian support. The event presented the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through visual materials and educational videos. It also linked human-rights education with support for access to clean water through a project intended to help build a well in Guinea-Bissau.
Munich provides another local example of the same prevention work in Bavaria. Volunteers with the “Sag Nein zu Constitutional Drogen, Sag Ja zum Leben” initiative carried out public drug-education activity, including information activity near Sendlinger Tor, and held a prevention-focused seminar. A further March activity focused on encouraging young people to live drug-free. Together with the Hamburg activities, the Munich examples show how the campaign has been carried out in several local settings.
The same prevention message was visible during the UEFA European Championship in Germany, held from 14 June to 14 July 2024. Volunteers from Scientology Churches and Missions across Germany shared drug-education materials from Foundation for a Drug-Free World with fans, visitors and local residents. The outreach used drug-education materials and direct conversations to help people learn more about the effects of commonly abused substances.
Human-rights education has also formed part of Scientology social activity in Germany. In Berlin, the Church of Scientology marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a cultural event combining art and poetry focused on freedom of expression. The programme used cultural presentation to make the language of human rights more accessible.
Volunteer service has also been visible in moments of public need. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Germany distributed “Stay Well” booklets in cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Munich and Ulm. The materials helped residents, shopkeepers and community groups understand basic prevention measures. In Stuttgart, Volunteer Ministers also provided prevention information and sanitisation assistance to a local mosque.
In 2021, after severe flooding affected parts of Germany, Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology Munich travelled to a community in the Bavarian Alps. They worked with local emergency responders, cleaned homes, helped residents salvage belongings and delivered clothing, shoes and toys to a family that had lost nearly everything.
“These activities show the importance of steady and practical help,” said Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. “Drug-prevention education, human-rights awareness and volunteer assistance are ways in which citizens contribute to dignity, responsibility and solidarity - values deeply rooted in Europe’s democratic and human-rights traditions.”
The campaigns supported by Scientologists in Germany are linked to international social betterment activities backed by the Church of Scientology. Foundation for a Drug-Free World provides drug-education materials used by volunteers in many countries. Youth for Human Rights and United for Human Rights promote public understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers programme, developed from the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, is based on the principle that individuals can be trained and organised to provide practical help in times of need.
For European observers, the German examples are significant because they show a minority religious community taking part in civic service through education and service in areas of shared public concern. The activities are local in form but broader in meaning: they touch on prevention, human rights, dialogue and community support.
The Church of Scientology, its churches, missions, groups and members are present across the European continent. Scientology Europe reports a continent-wide presence through more than 140 churches, missions and affiliated groups in at least 27 European nations, alongside thousands of community-based social betterment and reform initiatives focused on education, prevention and neighbourhood-level support, inspired by the work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Within Europe’s diverse national frameworks for religion, the Church’s recognitions continue to expand, with administrative and judicial authorities in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany Slovakia and others, as well as the European Court of Human Rights, having addressed and acknowledged Scientology communities as protected by the national and international provisions of Freedom of Religion or belief.