Jeremiah Duggan

Jeremiah 'Jerry' Duggan (November 10, 1980 – March 27, 2003), a British student at the Sorbonne in Paris, died after being hit by several cars while running down the middle of a busy road near Wiesbaden, Germany. The circumstances of his death are controversial because he died while attending a youth cadre school organized by the Schiller Institute and the LaRouche Youth Movement, part of an international organization led by perennial American presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche and his wife Helga Zepp-LaRouche. Image File history File links JeremiahDuggan2. ... Image File history File links JeremiahDuggan2. ... November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... The Schiller Institute is an international political and economic thinktank and is one of the primary institutions in the Lyndon LaRouche movement, with headquarters in both Germany and the United States. ... LaRouche Youth chorus performing Bach The Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement (WLYM) is a political body linked to controversial American political figure Lyndon LaRouche. ... Lyndon LaRouche at a news conference in Paris in February 2006. ... Helga Zepp-LaRouche (born August 25, 1948, Trier) is a German political activist, wife of controversial American political activist, Lyndon LaRouche, and founder of the LaRouche movements Schiller Institute and the German B rgerrechtsbewegung Solidarit t party (B eSo) (Civil Rights Movement Solidarity). ...

The German police ruled that Duggan's death was a suicide. A British inquest rejected a suicide verdict after hearing the Schiller Institute described by Scotland Yard as a "political cult with sinister and dangerous connections." ^[1] Duggan's mother believes he was left in a disturbed mental state after the LaRouche movement tried to recruit him. With the support of the British government, she is pressing the German government to investigate. Baroness Ludford MEP has said she may request the formal intervention of the European Parliament. ^[2] New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, it blowwsssss often referred to simply as Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Sarah Ann Ludford, Baroness Ludford (born 14 March 1951) is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. ... A Member of the European Parliament (English abbreviation MEP)[1] is a member of the European Unions directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. ...

Lyndon LaRouche has called the allegations a "hoax" and an "obvious fabrication" constructed by supporters of the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and the U.S. vice-president, Dick Cheney as part of a campaign to discredit LaRouche over his opposition to the invasion of Iraq. ^[3] Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the UK Labour Party, and Member of the UK Parliament for the constituency of Sedgefield in North East England. ... Richard Bruce Dick Cheney (born January 30, 1941) is the 46th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President George W. Bush. ... This article regards the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ...

Background

Duggan was born in London, the son of Hugo, who is Irish, and Erica, who is Jewish. He attended Christ's Hospital School in Horsham, Sussex. After leaving school, he spent some time in Israel, then in 2001 moved to Paris to study French at the British Institute, part of the University of London, and subsequently began a degree in English literature at the University of Paris (the Sorbonne). This article describes some ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity; for a consideration of the Jewish religion, refer to the article Judaism. ... View of the Christs Hospital campus View of the Christs Hospital quad Christs Hospital (also popularly known as the Bluecoat School, and also known by the nicknames Housey and CH) is a full board boarding school located in the countryside just south of Horsham, West Sussex, England. ... The University of London is a federation of colleges and institutes which together constitute one of the worlds largest universities. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ...

Duggan's first contact with the LaRouche movement was when he bought a newspaper in the street in Paris in early 2003 from Benoit Chalifoux, the editor of Nouvelle Solidarité the LaRouche Movement's French-language newspaper. (In France, the LaRouche movement is represented by Solidarité et Progrès grouplet of Jacques Cheminade). Chalifoux befriended Duggan and started teaching him about international politics, according to Duggan's telephone calls to his parents, then invited Duggan to attend a Schiller Institute political conference in Wiesbaden, where the European center of the LaRouche network is based. Duggan and Chalifoux travelled there together on March 21, 2003 with eight other LaRouche members in a convoy of cars. In Wiesbaden, Duggan was given a place to sleep in an apartment belonging to Schiller Institute managers Rainer and Ursula Apel. The LaRouche Movement is an international political and cultural movement which promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas, including a number of conspiracy theories. ... Jacques Cheminade, born August 20, 1941 in Argentina, is a French politician. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The LaRouche movement

Main article: LaRouche movement

Further information: United States v. LaRouche,  Lyndon LaRouche U.S. Presidential campaigns, and Political views of Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon LaRouche and his German-born wife Helga Zepp-LaRouche run a worldwide political movement from their bases in Leesburg, Virginia, and Wiesbaden, Germany. The group is widely seen as a fringe political cult. LaRouche was released from jail in 1994 after serving five years of a 15-year sentence for conspiracy, mail fraud and tax code violations. The LaRouche Movement is an international political and cultural movement which promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas, including a number of conspiracy theories. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party United States v. ... Lyndon LaRouches U.S. Presidential campaigns have been a staple of American politics since 1976. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party Lyndon LaRouche This article is an article about the political views of Lyndon LaRouche. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

The movement consists of an interlocking network of think tanks, magazines and newspapers, national and international political organizations, a political action committee, and a youth cadre. It teaches that Lyndon LaRouche is a central figure of international political and cultural importance, and that political activism on his behalf might save the world from an imminent global crisis. The movement has been associated in the mainstream media in the U.S., Germany, and the UK with violence against its political opponents, anti-Semitism, fraudulent use of political donations, aggressive recruiting techniques, and the dissemination of political conspiracy theories. ^[4][5][6][7] Its members insist these allegations are misrepresentations, and that LaRouche is a brilliant and widely misunderstood leader. The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...

Duggan's death

Lyndon LaRouche

Duggan said in telephone calls to his parents and his French girlfriend that he found the Schiller Institute "extreme," but the conference stimulating. Lyndon LaRouche himself was one of the speakers at the conference. Image File history File links LaRouche5. ... Image File history File links LaRouche5. ...

Duggan's mother says that, after his death, Dr. Jonathan Tennenbaum, a senior member of the Schiller Institute, "told the family that when Jeremiah heard the Jews being blamed for the war in Iraq and for all the evils in the world Jeremiah spoke out publicly declaring that he was a Jew." ^[8]

After the conference, Duggan decided to attend a cadre school held by the LaRouche Youth Movement in a nearby youth hostel, attended by about 50 members. ^[9]

At around 4:15 a.m. on Thursday, March 27, Duggan telephoned his girlfriend. In a statement to Scotland Yard, she said he sounded incoherent and faint. He said: "I'm under too much pressure. I don't know what the truth is any more, or what are lies." He said his arms and legs hurt and he had discovered some "very grave things" but could not tell her about them on the telephone. He said he would return to Paris the next day and would tell her then. ^[9] New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, it blowwsssss often referred to simply as Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ...

Duggan next telephoned his mother in London just before 4:30 a.m. He said in a quiet voice: "Mum, I'm in terrible trouble, deep trouble. I want to be out of this. It's too much for me. I can't do this. I want out..." The line went dead. He called back seconds later and said, "I am frightened." She told him she loved him. At this, he shouted, "I want to see you now," and began to spell out the name of the town he was in. At that point, the line went dead again. ^[9]

Forty-five minutes later, Duggan ran out on to the Berliner Straße, a busy road five kilometers from the apartment where he had been staying. He was hit by one car, but according to eyewitnesses, he continued running along the road for another kilometer. A second car knocked him down, then a third car ran over him. He sustained fatal head injuries. The second driver who hit him said Duggan ran toward the car with his arms outstretched and his mouth open. ^[10]

After Duggan's death, German police found that a senior Schiller Institute manager, Ortrun Cramer, was in possession of Duggan's passport. One of the issues the family wants to resolve is whether Cramer took possession of Duggan's passport before his death.

The inquest

The German police initially pronounced Duggan's death a suicide, but a British inquest held in London in November 2003 concluded there was nothing in the police report or in Duggan's background that suggested suicide, including no history of mental illness. Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ... Mental illness (or emotional disability, cognitive dysfunction) is a broad generic label for a category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioral dysregulation, and/or cognitive dysfunction or impairment. ...

The court heard that a Scotland Yard (London Metropolitan Police) report described the [LaRouche movement as "a political cult with sinister and dangerous connections." The British psychiatrist who studied Duggan's medical history for the court also submitted a paper describing a severe stress reaction that can be caused by a rapid change in a person's belief system. Summing up, Coroner Dr. William Dolman said: The Metropolitan Police Service (usually just referred to as the Metropolitan Police or the Met) are the police of Greater London, England, with the exception of the square mile of the City of London, which has its own police force, the City of London Police. ...

What was it, we ask ourselves, that turned a stable and apparently happy young man with a stable relationship, what was it that turned that young man into a terrified young man? We know that the weekend before he'd had friendly conversations with his girlfriend on the phone, that was five days before his death. What was it that impelled him to make a phone call in the early hours at 4.20 a.m in the morning on the day of his death? Then phone his mother an hour later. There is no doubt that there had been a huge change. What was he frightened of? What was he scared of, indeed terrified of? Was he scared of what might happen to him? Sadly we might never know what it was, but something had happened that made him run away from the house into the road.

Dolman then said he would deliver a narrative verdict. This is unusual in British courts, where coroners' verdicts are normally terse and formal:

Jeremiah Joseph Duggan received fatal head injuries when he ran into the road in Wiesbaden and was hit by two private motor cars. What other fact do we know that I must add? I really must add that he had earlier been in a state of terror. It is a word not commonly used in a coroner's court but no other word would reflect his state of mind at the time. ^[10]

LaRouche movement response

A spokesman for the LaRouche movement denied the Schiller Institute was involved in Duggan's death, and has suggested that he was suffering from a mental illness. In a June 2004 article in the organization's weekly news magazine, Executive Intelligence Review, Larouche's director of counter-intelligence, Jeffrey Steinberg, wrote that Duggan had told his conference room-mates he had been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an illness that Steinberg alleged can induce schizophrenic behavior, including paranoia. ^[11] The LaRouche Movement is an international political and cultural movement which promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas, including a number of conspiracy theories. ... Lyndon LaRouche at a news conference in Paris in February 2006. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party Lyndon LaRouche This article is an article about the political views of Lyndon LaRouche. ... Lyndon LaRouches U.S. Presidential campaigns have been a staple of American politics since 1976. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party United States v. ... Helga Zepp-LaRouche (born August 25, 1948, Trier) is a German political activist, wife of controversial American political activist, Lyndon LaRouche, and founder of the LaRouche movements Schiller Institute and the German B rgerrechtsbewegung Solidarit t party (B eSo) (Civil Rights Movement Solidarity). ... Amelia Boynton Robinson Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson (born 1911) was an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement and later became a leader in the Lyndon LaRouche-related Schiller Institute. ... Janice Hart was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of Illinois Secretary of State in 1986. ... The LaRouche Movement is an international political and cultural movement which promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas, including a number of conspiracy theories. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party The National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) is a political cadre organization in the United States founded and controlled by political activist Lyndon LaRouche, who... CEC members demonstrate outside an election meeting organised by the Australian Jewish News in Melbourne, September 2004. ... LaRouche Youth chorus performing Bach The Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement (WLYM) is a political body linked to controversial American political figure Lyndon LaRouche. ... The Schiller Institute is an international political and economic thinktank and is one of the primary institutions in the Lyndon LaRouche movement, with headquarters in both Germany and the United States. ... Defunct California Proposition 64 North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party Party symbol The European Workers Party (Europeiska arbetarpartiet - EAP) is a very small political party in Sweden without parliamentary representation. ... Proposition 64 was a proposition in the state of California on the November 4, 1986 ballot. ... This is part of a series on Lyndon LaRouche and related people, organizations and issues. ... This is part of a series on Lyndon LaRouche and related people, organizations and issues. ... The Parti pour la république du Canada (Québec) (in English: Party for the Commonwealth of Canada (Quebec)) was the Quebec branch of the Party for the Commonwealth of Canada, a Canadian political party formed by supporters of U.S. politician Lyndon LaRouche. ... See Labor Party (USA) for the modern party which has a similar name but is unconnected with the US Labor Party Defunct California Proposition 64 (1986) North American Labour Party Party for the Commonwealth of Canada Parti pour la république du Canada U.S. Labor Party The U.S... Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness variously affecting behavior, thinking, and emotion. ... For other senses of this word, see paranoia (disambiguation). ...

Steinberg wrote that Duggan had shown signs of emotional stress the day before his death, and had fled from the apartment where he was staying at 3:30 in the morning. On the Sunday prior to his death, according to Steinberg, Duggan had tried to find a pharmacy where he could obtain prescription drugs. After he went missing on the morning of his death, a LaRouche Youth Movement organizer telephoned Duggan's girlfriend in Paris to ask whether she had heard from him. She is alleged to have asked, in what Steinberg called a cynical tone, "Is there a river nearby?", implying that Duggan was already known to have suicidal tendencies. However, the girlfriend has told reporters she asked this because she was trying to find Wiesbaden on a map.

Steinberg also wrote that Duggan had attended group counseling sessions with his parents at the Tavistock Clinic when Duggan was seven years old and his parents were divorcing. One of the claims of the LaRouche movement is that the Tavistock, a well-known psychotherapy center in London, is involved in researching and practising mind control. Mrs. Duggan is worried that her son may have been singled out because he questioned the group's views on the Tavistock. The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations was an outgrowth of the original parent body, the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, commonly referred to then as the Tavistock Clinic, which was founded in 1920 in Tavistock Square in London. ... Mind control (or thought control) has the premise that an outside source can control an individuals thinking, behavior or consciousness (either directly or more subtly). ...

Steinberg said that, after Duggan's death, Mrs. Duggan met with representatives of the Schiller Institute in what Steinberg described as a "sympathetic" meeting. He wrote that Mrs. Duggan's attitude changed only after British minister Elizabeth Symons intervened in the affair on behalf of the British Foreign Office. According to Steinberg, Symons is a member of what the LaRouche movement calls the "trans-Atlantic network" that seeks to damage LaRouche because of his opposition to what it calls the Blair-Cheney Iraq War. ^[11] Lady Symons of Vernham Dean in her role as Minister of Defence Procurement, pictured shortly after signing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the SDD phase of the Joint Strike Fighter. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom abroad. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...

On November 8, 2006, LaRouche personally issued a statement entitled Duggan hoax rewarmed again.

Recruitment allegation

Duggan's mother believes Duggan was the victim of a recruiting technique known as "ego stripping," in which the recruit is made to doubt all their basic beliefs, and which psychiatrists believe can lead to a mental breakdown. ^[12][9][13] Nikolas Becker, the Berlin lawyer who represented former East German Communist leader Erich Honecker during the Berlin Wall shootings trial, is representing the Duggan family in their efforts to have the Germans investigate the Schiller Institute. Becker told a British newspaper: "There is enough evidence [Duggan] was probably in a hopeless psychotic situation [when he died] and there is no evidence that there was any mental illness in his family. It is known these kind of organizations produce this kind of psychotic breakdown." Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... GDR redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Erich Honecker (25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German Communist politician who led East Germany (German Democratic Republic) from 1971 until 1989. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Popular media

The British band Starsailor have written a song about him, called "Jeremiah," which is included on their latest album On The Outside. ^[14] Starsailor is a British rock band from Chorley in England. ... On The Outside is the third studio album by British rock band Starsailor. ...

Notes