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And you practically have to start over as a suckling to find one's bearings in society.
In spite of the divorce, von Rönn stays in contact with his two sons at first.
But then Scientology declares him and his wife Astrid "Suppressive Persons".
That is what enemies of the organisation are called.
And Scientologists have to break off all contact to those.
We always did something... went bowling together.
The three or the four of us or whatever.
And at one point came the older one wanting to go out for a meal with me.
And then he says: "I have to tell you something.
I wanted to disconnect from you.
If you want to ask me something, only in writing.
Either you come back to Scientology, or we'll go separate ways."
Period.
Von Rönn meets with the lawyer who represented him in family court back then...
when he wanted to fight for custody over his younger, underage son.
Because von Rönn was afraid that he would break with him as well sooner or later.
At that time, the court didn't go into the details of L. Ron Hubbard's teachings.
The ARD movie shows a child custody lawsuit, too.
Here however, the father fights for his daughter.
Your honor, I'd like to read something to you.
Ron Hubbard wrote it, the inventor of the Scientology church.
I'm protesting vehemently!
The religion of my client must not become subject matter of this legal procedure!
If that is your intention we'll meet again before the constitutional court!
It's absurd indeed that an organisation trampling on human rights...
...is availing itself of the protection of basic law!
May I read now?
No, I only have to decide on the welfare of the child.
Von Rönn's lawyer suspects that also in real life...
...the necessary background knowledge - like at court cases - is lacking.
I just believe that Scientology,
- simply because there's not enough enlightenment...
...or that not enough education is presumed -
is still a red rag so much that you don't want to be involved with it,
you don't want to get in more deeply,
to evade any conflict.
Because it is very difficult and arduous to work on it.
Pictures from earlier days.
That is all which is left to von Rönn and his second wife.
After the lost custody lawsuit the younger son...
...maintained the connection just until his 18th birthday.
Then he broke off all contacts to his father,
as his brother did earlier.
This happened three years ago now.
Only pictures that you once took are left over...
...and your own thoughts remain with you.
The positive things...
...that you did with your child.
Otherwise nothing remains.
Von Rönn wants to try everything to get in touch with his son again.
So I can only try...
to stand in front of the Scientology church and catch him in case he's on course.
Like that for instance. That you're trying to personally make contact with him. Right.
And otherwise I wouldn't have any legal possibilities...
He is of full age. He can decide for himself with whom he has contact.
He alone can decide whether he wants to have contact or not.
No court can decide for him, his mother is out, he is of legal age.
Heiner von Rönn makes ends meet with little manual jobs today.
He overcame his personal crisis after his exit from Scientology,
and thanks to his second wife Astrid, too.
But he's still blaming himself for hesitating too long...
...to fight for the future of his two sons.
That was my big failure.
My current wife was railing against me occasionally.
"Why don't you do something?
Just get them out of there!"
But I wasn't ready, I couldn't bring myself to take care of it sooner.
The years went by, and I started very late only to save anything.
But it was too late already.
You're suffering of course. Probably forever.
Because you have to acknowledge your own guilt.
That you made this mistake.
A father loses his children because he turns his back on Scientology.
We would have liked to do an on-camera interview with his two sons, or his ex-wife.
But they were not willing to do it.
At the town edge of Ulm.
Markus S., the second breakaway of our movie...
came to Scientology as a 12-year-old,
together with his brother Uwe.
He made career in the organisation...
...ending up at the international head quarters near Los Angeles.
At some point Uwe developed multiple sclerosis.
I got a call, on October 8th of 2008...
...from my father, that my brother Uwe had died.
First, I was in shock.
Then I started researching on the internet...
...because I thought Uwe was a high ranking officer in Scientology.
And you would somewhere find out about something like a funeral.
He came across information from the breakaway community.
Some of those who knew Uwe were expressing their suspicions...
...that he hasn't received the necessary medical treatment against his MS illness for years,
that he could still be alive today.
Right from the cradle, the two brothers Uwe and Markus were linked by a close relationship.
At first, it also persisted when Uwe went to America for Scientology and when he met his wife there.
We want to call her "Susan" here.
But one of these days those contacts became rare.
What was the reason?
Hello, Markus here. I just wanted to ask: Do you know what Uschi wanted from me?
He tried to phone his brother over and over again...
...to learn more about his MS disease.
As an educated caretaker for the handicapped he would have liked to get Uwe back from Los Angeles...
...and would have cared for him.
But he supposedly did not want to go... or he wasn't allowed to.
Is this all for you? Look!
Did Scientology have reason not to let him go?
Was he kept against his will?
When Uwe was hardly able to talk he got the information from Scientology...
...Uwe was sitting in the wheel chair and was not fit for transport.
I would have been able to care for him, my mother could have cared for him.
That would have been no problem at all.
But he never had the chance to escape,
he never had the chance to tell us how he was doing.
And when we realized what was going on it was too late already.
Markus goes on a journey back into the past.
We want to accompany him.
22 years after he saw his brother the last time...
...he wants to find out in Los Angeles how his brother lived,
how he died.
And why he didn't come back to Germany...
in the face of his severe illness.
On his flight to Los Angeles:
Markus is engrossed in a book of a prominent breakaway of Scientology.
He's describing how only after a hot persuit...