Germany: Benefit Performance During the Oktoberfest to Rescue Orphaned Children of Falun Gong Practitioners in China

On the afternoon of October 1st 2005, a benefit performance to rescue the orphaned children of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners was held at Marienplatz in Munich, Germany.

The artists were Falun Gong practitioners from various places in Germany and Austria. Some travelled seven or eight hundred kilometres from cities in northern Germany to take part in the event.

As the event was held during the famous Oktoberfest, Marienplatz was packed with tourists from all over the world. It rained throughout the afternoon but the show went ahead as normal. The crowd’s enthusiasm was not at all dampened by the rain. The brilliant performance won many rounds of applause from the enthusiastic audience, who were eager to hear about the situation in China.

It has been six years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Jiang regime started the persecution of Falun Gong. Nearly three thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been verified as persecuted to death. Hundreds of thousands have been illegally sent to labour camps. Almost a hundred million Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to genocide policies, such as “destroy their reputation, bankrupt them financially and annihilate them physically.” Families of Falun Gong practitioners face huge trauma from seeing the persecution of their relatives, especially the elderly and children.

Many Falun Gong practitioners who have had their lives taken in this persecution left behind children with nobody to care of them. Some children are young Falun Gong practitioners who were expelled from school for following the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance”. Some children became homeless as their parents were incarcerated. These children have no source of income and wander around homeless in a state of fear and loneliness. They are in urgent need of rescue.

The bloody, brutal persecution has been going on non-stop for more than six years. Due to the CCP’s information blockade, it is difficult for people to find out the truth about this persecution. In order for the German public to find more and help the orphans, Falun Gong practitioners in Germany held an open-air benefit performance so that the tragedy in China could be put to a stop as soon as possible. Having learned about the persecution in China through the performance, many people signed a petition in support of Falun Gong practitioners. Some commented to practitioners that the performance was truly wonderful. Some hoped the persecution could end as soon as possible. Some even gave their umbrellas to practitioners standing in the rain.