A controversial group linked to alleged mass suicide plans and extraterrestrial beliefs
Atman Foundation (German: Trainingszentrum zur Freisetzung der Atmaenergie, meaning “Training centre for release of the Atma-energy”), also known as the Isis Holistic Center, was a new religious movement founded in 1994 by German psychologist Heide Fittkau-Garthe. A schism from the Brahma Kumaris, it was active mainly on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands (Spain) and in Germany. The group attracted international media attention in January 1998 following an alleged mass suicide attempt that was later disputed by scholars and journalists alike.
Founder
Heide Garthe was born in Berlin, Germany in 1941. Following her graduation from high school, she trained as a psychologist, receiving her doctorate at age 26. She married Bernd Fittkau, a psychology professor. Taking her husband’s name, she became known professionally as Heide Fittkau-Garthe. Garthe later joined the Brahma Kumaris, a Hindu-based spiritual movement, in 1980, and would later become a high-ranking official of the group in Germany; after which she would divorce Fittkau.
Founding and Organization
On 15 August 1994, she sold all her assets and moved to the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where she founded the Atman Foundation, active mainly on Tenerife and in Germany.
The foundation operated as a spiritual training center emphasizing the release of “Atma energy,” drawing a core group of approximately 30 followers primarily from Europe. Teachings blended psychological self-development techniques — drawing on Fittkau-Garthe’s academic background — with esoteric and meditative practices derived in part from the Brahma Kumaris tradition, and emphasized hierarchical devotion to the leader’s visions through intensive meditation, energy channeling sessions, and communal living.
The 1998 Tenerife Incident
The Atman Foundation became the subject of widespread international media coverage in January 1998. On January 8, 1998, Fittkau-Garthe was alleged to have attempted suicide with her followers in Teide National Park, resulting in a police raid on the premises that the sect had in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Apparently, the 32 members of the sect believed that they would be collected by a spacecraft and taken to an unspecified destination; failing that, they were believed to be going to commit suicide.
The group was thought to be planning to drink fruit juice laced with poison, which was confiscated during the raid. On analysis, the fruit juice was found not to contain any poison and were actually flower essences and homeopathic medicine. What was deemed a last supper turned out to be a picnic and meditation session.
Media Coverage and Misidentification
Media reports and police following the arrest said that the group was an offshoot of the Order of the Solar Temple — a group that had repeatedly died by acts of mass murder and suicide through the 1990s. The media across the world ran several headlines repeating this information, focusing on the Solar Temple and the mass suicide. It was later clarified that the group had nothing to do with the Solar Temple, though a family of ex-members said the group was “just as bad.”
Legal Aftermath
In Germany, police investigations of the group failed to turn up evidence that the group had planned a mass suicide, although the accusation still remained in Spain. However, all charges in Spain were eventually dropped against members of the group due to lack of evidence, although the acquittal of Fittkau-Garthe in Spain received almost no attention in the news.
Scholarly Assessment
The Atman Foundation case became a notable example in academic literature on new religious movements, particularly regarding the role of media and public panic in shaping perceptions of minority religious groups.
Later articles in Tenerife News and Diario de Avisos disputed the earlier story, saying there was no intention to commit suicide by the group. When interviewed by a local daily newspaper, Fittkau-Garthe claimed that the group was not a cult, and that a daughter of a member of the group had contacted Interpol and accused them of plotting a mass suicide after a family row. The rumor that it was a mass suicide possibly stemmed from Fittkau-Garthe’s estranged brother.
Scholar Susan J. Palmer viewed the group as an example of rumors leading to a miscarriage of justice around cults, while German researchers Georg Schmid and Oswald Eggenberger viewed the concerns of the police as understandable, arguing the group had many similarities to those that had committed mass suicide in the past. They particularly noted the small size of the community as a cause for concern, arguing that smaller groups are susceptible to radicalizing in that sense more so than larger ones.
Sources
Palmer, Susan J. (2011). “The Holy City of Mandarom: A Case of Médiabolization.” In The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored “War on Sects.” Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-973521-1.
Richardson, James T., and Massimo Introvigne (2004). “Brainwashing Theories in European Parliamentary and Administrative Reports on Cults and Sects.” In Richardson, James T. (ed.), Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. ISBN 978-0-306-47887-1.
Schmid, Georg, and Oswald Eggenberger (2003). “Theosophie und Esoterik.” In Kirchen, Sekten, Religionen: religiöse Gemeinschaften, weltanschauliche Gruppierungen und Psycho-Organisationen im deutschen Sprachraum: ein Handbuch. Theologischer Verlag Zürich. ISBN 3-290-17215-5.
Usher, Rod (19 January 1998). “Near-Death Experience.” TIME, Vol. 151, No. 3. https://web.archive.org/web/20110522162815/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980119/europe.neardeath_experie15.html
Tenerife News — “Beam them up, Heidi — Remembering the Las Cañadas suicide sect scare.” https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021134/http://www.tenerifenews.com/cms/front_content.php?client=1&lang=1&idcat=70&idart=5389
image via The Atman Foundation
