Licht-Oase (Light Oasis) was a New Age cult led by Arno Wollensak and Julie Ravell with around 40 members. It was also known as Ramtha.[1]

History

In the 1980s Arno Wollensak was a follower of Rajneesh, eventually starting his own group.[2] The group lived in Germany, Austria, France and Portugal before relocating to Belize.[2]

Reports of sexual abuse of minors within the cult lead to a police investigation.[3] In 2007 Wollensak failed to appear in court. He and Ravell fled to Uruguay using forged Surinamese documents in 2008. The case was transferred to the German Federal Criminal Police in 2014. Wollensak and Ravell were arrested by police in Uruguay and brought to Montevideo on 12 June 2015.[4]

A request for his extradition to Germany was made, but denied by an Uruguay court due to statute of limitations. Wollensak was then released.[5] He was found murdered in Uruguay August 28, 2016.[6]

Accounts from inside the cult

The practice in the group to separate children from their parents inspired the artwork "Disappearing Mother" by former member Katharina Meredith.[7]

Lea Saskia Laasner described her experiences in the cult in her book Allein gegen die Seelenfänger. Meine Kindheit in der Psycho-Sekte for which she won the Prix Courage in 2005.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Sekten-Führer aus Oerlinghausen in Uruguay verhaftet". Lippische Landes-Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Mi madre huyó de Uruguay". El Pais (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Meredith, Katharina. "Psychoterror im Dschungel". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  4. ↑ "Zielfahndungserfolg des Bundeskriminalamtes. Festnahme von zwei deutschen Staatsangehörigen in Uruguay". www.bka.de. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. ↑ "Er war ein gesuchter Sex-Verbrecher - Deutscher Sektenchef in Uruguay ermordet". bild.de (in German). 31 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Arno Wollensak, el líder de una secta alemana que apareció muerto en La Floresta". El Pais (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  7. ↑ Whitsett, Doni; Post Rosow, Natasha (2019). "Global Violence of Women in Cults". In Zaleski, Kristen; Enrile, Annalisa; Weiss, Eugenia L.; Wang, Xiying (eds.). Women's journey to empowerment in the 21st century : a transnational feminist analysis of women's lives in modern times. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-092709-7.
  8. ↑ "Prix Courage 2005: Die Siegerin heisst Lea Saskia Laasner". Beobachter (in German).
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