Inside RPF Denmark(II): Susanne's nightmare
Thomas Gandow
by Pierre Collignon, unofficial anonymous English translation
Jyllands-Posten (Copenhagen, Denmark) January 14, 2001
For Susanne Elleby the RPF was a world of informers, censorship,
control, and mental breakdown. She felt like a convict.
Susanne Elleby had joined the peculiar 'monastic order' of
Scientology, the Sea Organisation, because she wanted to fight for a
world "without crime, without war and without insanity"--as the
movement promised.
And she was in love. The 20-year-old girl from Randers had met a
German Scientologist, who was one of the 'pious' people in the core of
the group, and she married him and signed a billion year contract with
the Sea Org in order to be with him.
However, Susanne never came to believe 100% in the teachings of
Scientology, and she could not become reconciled with the extensive
control apparatus of the movement. In the autumn of 1989 - after well
over a year - she decided to try to get out, and the question was how?
Susanne had heard that Scientology persecuted people who left. She was
also afraid of being met with an enormous bill for all the courses she
had taken for free while in the Sea Org.
Deliberate howlers
For these reasons she chose to join the RPF and deliberately make
some
howlers. On an official journey to Germany she enjoyed herself going
out and flirting with another Scientologist in stead of doing her
work. Susanne was sent to the RPF and thought that she would soon be
thrown out - but she was wrong.
Scientology did not give up that easily.
Susanne felt a lot of pressure from the first moment on the RPF in
Copenhagen. She says that she was forced to admit to numerous
"crimes".
"They kept repeating that I could only move forward if I confessed
my
crimes. Three days went on like this and then I was mentally broken. I
started doubting everything and felt I was a terrible human being,
because I had erred. In the end I was like a marionette. I did
everything they told me to," Susanne Elleby recounts.
Susanne Elleby is one of the only former members of Scientology who
got all of her personal files out with her. She can therefore display
hundreds of intelligence reports, records and declarations - and it
gives an interesting insight into the everyday life of the RPF.
There are long lists of assignments and practices that Susanne
should
complete. Every time followed by a "flunk" mark or a "success story",
in which Susanne would write that the course she had just gone through
was "fantastic". There are many notifications of jobs well done - but
also knowledge reports from other PRF'ers of different offences she
had committed.
Maybe Susanne had thrown out her food in the wrong garbage can, or
she
had stolen a cigarette, or she had forgotten to take her vitamins, or
she had overslept, been grumpy - or spent too much time in the
bathroom.
Most reports are followed by statements from Susanne that she
admitted
her guilt and accepted her punishment - e.g. in the form of "rounds".
A round was a run up and down the backstairs of the Hotel Nordland.
Susanne herself participated in the informing on others and turned in
her friends for lack of cleaning or violations of the security
regulations.
"We were told that we could help our friends by turning them in, but
in reality people turned each other in because they wanted to look
good in front of management, so they would not be punished themselves.
The system builds a 'web' around each person, so you cannot do
anything without it being reported immediately," Susanne says.
Every offence set her further back and she realised that she would not
be set free for quite some time yet. It also meant that Susanne had to
live without her husband. He wrote her several letters in order to get
her to achieve the yellow armband, which at the time gave the RPF'ers
the right to three hours of freedom every Saturday. So that they could
be together - but the couple only experienced this luxury two or three
times.
Susanne had to send written applications in order to go to the
dentist
or write a letter to her family. Each time the letter should be
enclosed for the "Ethics Officer" to check the contents. She was not
allowed to go anywhere without permission and she was never alone.
Once, however, the Ethics Officer wrote a report about the young woman
being away from her post for 20 minutes. It turned out that Susanne
had gone to the toilet to rest because she was exhausted.
Was starved
According to Susanne the RPF'ers were seldom allowed to study for
five
hours daily as Scientology had promised them. Often they had to work
evenings and nights to do renovations or cleaning projects that simply
had to be done before an appointed date.
Other Scientology defectors have told of how they were starved
during
their rehabilitation in Copenhagen, but Susanne Elleby cannot confirm
this. She was given enough to eat and can only complain about the food
being too unvaried at times as the menu was rice and beans, when
Scientology was getting bad financial results.
Little by little Susanne's inner resistance returned. She felt bad
about having to report on her so-called "twin" at the RPF, because he
masturbated at night. He confessed to this every time he was in
session with Susanne.
"In the world of Scientology masturbation was considered to be a
selfish act. I thought it was a pretty normal thing for a young man to
be doing, but there was no respect for privacy," Susanne says.
She stopped writing up reports on her twin, and when it was exposed
Susanne was punished for the same crime as the young man. She was
considered an accomplice because she covered for him.
On November 1st 1990 Susanne got into serious trouble when three
books
were found in her bag. It was two love-stories that Susanne had read
numerous times, and a songbook from when she was a girl scout. She had
kept them because she needed memories from the world outside, she says
today.
But back then she had to get rid of the books and declare in writing
that it was wrong of her to bring books to the RPF, because it could
delay her "penance" on the program.
Shortly thereafter Susanne was sent to the RPF's PRF - the program
for
the most sinful among sinners. From then on Susanne was a complete
outcast. She was to sleep alone in a small room in the ceiling, eat
alone on the backstairs, and work alone all day. At meals she waited
on the other RPF'ers, served them their food and cleaned up after
them.
On November 18th Susanne asked for permission to call her parents so
they could come and get her. She wanted out. It was denied with the
following reasons from the Ethics Officer: "This application is not
filled out correctly. You do not state the reason for wanting to go to
your parents."
A few tried to escape from the RPF, but they were mostly caught by
security guards who convinced them to return. In the end Susanne
reached the conclusion that it was impossible to leave Scientology by
following their rules, and she invented a dramatic story to create a
panic. She told them that her younger brother, who was in the
military, would come and blow up Scientology's building if she was not
set free at once.
Expelled
The threat worked. December 29th 1990 the Scientology leadership
made
one final effort with a written recommendation that Susanne
disconnected from her brother. According to Scientology she was to
refuse to see him until he gave up his resistance towards "the
church". Susanne refused to do this and she was then told to pack her
suitcase.
Susanne was finally expelled from Scientology - after 14 months at
the
RPF.
One month later she contacted her husband to find out if he wanted
to
join her outside the organisation and start a new life together. At
that time her husband had also been sent to the RPF, but he would not
hear of such a thing as leaving Scientology, so they agreed to get
divorced.
Today Susanne Elleby consideres herself lucky because she was "only"
in Scientology for two and a half years. "People who stay in for many
years lose their self respect. They are transformed into small and
fearsome people who let others decide for them. If you as much as say
"Boo" to them, they get scared," she says.