Given the history of Nazism 's rise to power in Germany in the 1930s , the present German state has committed itself to taking active steps to prevent the rise of any ideology that threatens the values enshrined in the German constitution . The BfV domestic intelligence service ( Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz , or Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ) regards the aims of Scientology as running counter to Germany 's free and democratic order , and has been monitoring Scientology since 1997 , as have the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in a number of German Länder . Minister for Family Policy Claudia Nolte instituted the surveillance , saying that the church had totalitarian tendencies and that she would oppose Scientology with all the means at her disposal .