Norbert Blüm is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 federal

Federation

A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...

 legislator

Legislator

A legislator is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are usually politicians and are often elected by the people...

 from North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

, Chairman of the CDU there (1987–1999), and former minister for labor and social affairs (for 16 years in the government of Helmut Kohl

Helmut Kohl

Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...

).

Born in Rüsselsheim

Rüsselsheim

Rüsselsheim is the largest town in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status towns in Hesse and is located on the Main, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz. The suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten are included in Rüsselsheim...

, he trained as a toolmaker at Adam Opel AG in the town. During this time he was a founding member of the local Scout Group within the Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg

Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg

The Deutsche Pfadfinderschaft Sankt Georg is the largest of Germany's many Scouting organizations. The Catholic association has about 95,000 members of both genders...

. Later he studied German language and literature, history and philosophy.

Especially during his political career, Blüm has been an outspoken critic of the agenda and conduct of Scientology

Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

. As a consequence, he has been a target of Scientology advocates who claimed that the organization was a victim of religious discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

 in Germany.

He received the Leipzig Human Rights Award

Leipzig Human Rights Award

The Leipzig Human Rights Award is an honor given by the European-American Citizens Committee for Human Rights and Religious Freedom in the USA, which recognizes "efforts towards human rights and freedom of expression in the USA" and actions against what the organization refers to as "human rights...

 in 2001.

External links

• Norbert Blüm in German Wikipedia
• Norbert Blüm's article on the founding of the Scout Group "Partner Erde" in Rüsselsheim (German)
• The 2001 Leipzig Human Rights Award, video coverage of the event at Xenu TV
  Mark Bunker
  Mark Bunker is a television journalist. He won an Emmy Award in 2006 from the Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards division of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences...
  
  , June 9, 2001
• http://www.bundestag.de/dasparlament/2006/14/plenumundausschuesse/008.html