Freemuse: Germany: Expelled from teachers collage for playing death metal

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NEWS

10 May 2010

Germany:
Expelled from teachers collage for playing death metal

Thomas Gurrath is a member of the Stuttgart-based death metal band Debauchery. Until 28 March 2010 he was training to become a grammar school teacher in the German state Baden-Württemberg. But when his supervisors found out about his musical activities with Debauchery, he was given the choice of either abandoning his music for three years or quit the teachers college. Thomas Gurrath decided to continue making music and quit the teachers college and forget about his dream of becoming a school teacher, Lennart Riepenhusen from MetalNews.de reported to Freemuse who wrote in an email: “As to my knowledge, none of Debauchery’s music or videos have been censored or banned before (even though some video material is not legal for minors under the age of 18 due to depicton of violence and pornography).” According to the lawyer Niels Bialeck who is based in the German city Hamburg, there is no legal or juristic basis for the school’s demands towards Thomas Gurrath. “This exceeds the powers that a state-financed employer are allowed to make use of while evaluating their candidates,” Niels Bialeck was quoted as saying.		Photos from Debauchery's home page

Sources Metal Hammer magazine – 2 May 2010: 'Debauchery-Sänger zur Kündigung genötigt' The German newspaper Welt – 2 May 2010: 'Schule der Angst' ('School of Fear') www.debauchery.de myspace.com/debaucheryband

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