Editing Licht-Oase

'''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''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sekten-Führer aus Oerlinghausen in Uruguay verhaftet |url=https://www.lz.de/lippe/oerlinghausen/20502455_Sekten-Fuehrer-aus-Oerlinghausen-in-Uruguay-verhaftet.html |website=Lippische Landes-Zeitung |accessdate=13 April 2020 |language=de}}</ref>

==History==
In the 1980s Arno Wollensak was a follower of [[Rajneesh]], eventually starting his own group.<ref name="madre">{{cite web |title=Mi madre huyó de Uruguay |url=https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/mi-madre-huyo-uruguay.html |website=El Pais |accessdate=13 April 2020 |language=spanish}}</ref> The group lived in Germany, Austria, France and Portugal before relocating to Belize.<ref name="madre" />

Reports of sexual abuse of minors within the cult lead to a police investigation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Meredith |first1=Katharina |title=Psychoterror im Dschungel |url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/europa/pPsychoterror-im-Dschungelp/story/22819920 |website=Tages-Anzeiger |accessdate=13 April 2020 |language=de}}</ref> In 2007 Wollensak failed to appear in court. He and Ravell fled to Uruguay using forged Surinamese documents in 2008.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} The case was transferred to the German [[Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)|Federal Criminal Police]] in 2014. Wollensak and Ravell were arrested by police in Uruguay and brought to [[Montevideo]] on 12 June 2015.<ref name="BKA">{{cite web |title=Zielfahndungserfolg des Bundeskriminalamtes. Festnahme von zwei deutschen Staatsangehörigen in Uruguay |url=https://www.bka.de/DE/Presse/Listenseite_Pressemitteilungen/2015/Presse2015/150702_ZielfahndungserfolgUruquay.html |website=www.bka.de |accessdate=13 April 2020}}</ref>

A request for his extradition to Germany was made, but denied by an Uruguay court due to statute of limitations. Wollensak was then released.<ref>{{cite web |title=Er war ein gesuchter Sex-Verbrecher - Deutscher Sektenchef in Uruguay ermordet |url=https://www.bild.de/news/ausland/sekten/deutscher-sekten-chef-in-uruguay-ermordet-47577386.bild.html |website=bild.de |language=de |date=31 August 2016}}</ref> He was found murdered in [[Uruguay]] August 28, 2016.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arno Wollensak, el líder de una secta alemana que apareció muerto en La Floresta |url=http://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/cadaver-floresta-lider-espiritual-secta-alemana.html |website=El Pais |accessdate=13 April 2020 |language=spanish}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitsett |first1=Doni |last2=Post Rosow |first2=Natasha |editor1-last=Zaleski |editor1-first=Kristen |editor2-last=Enrile |editor2-first=Annalisa |editor3-last=Weiss |editor3-first=Eugenia L. |editor4-last=Wang |editor4-first=Xiying |title=Women's journey to empowerment in the 21st century : a transnational feminist analysis of women's lives in modern times |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-092709-7 |chapter=Global Violence of Women in Cults|year=2019 }}</ref>

[[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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prix Courage 2005: Die Siegerin heisst Lea Saskia Laasner |url=http://www.beobachter.ch/prix-courage/artikel/prix-courage-2005_die-siegerin-heisst-lea-saskia-laasner/ |website=Beobachter |language=de}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:New Age organizations]]
[[Category:Child abuse incidents and cases]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1980s]]