Crooks tolerated
Bruno Gröning gives every person the chance to turn around
Forced payments: assistants show their true colors
Time and again, people approached Gröning under the premise of supporting him. Many were, however, only interested in profiting from his abilities. He appeared to be an irresistible attraction to such people. When they didn't get what they were after, or he separated himself from them, they tried in many instances to force him into paying them money by means of lengthy legal processes.
For example, in March of 1949, Mrs. Hülsmann, together with her husband, out of gratitude for the healing of their son, took Bruno Gröning in as a guest in their home in Herford. After she had determined that she couldn't earn anything off of Bruno Gröning, she sued him in the labor court. She calculated the time she had initially given voluntarily as working hours and demanded payment in arrears. Bruno Gröning had to pay a monthly sum to her until his death. This was not the only instance. In this or similar ways, many of his previous helpers showed their true colors.
„These people are also necessary; to show who the human being is“
Why did Bruno Gröning let these supposed helpers get so close to him? Why didn’t he simply avoid contact with such profiteers? In a lecture on August, 31, 1950, he addressed the issue: “People have not given up trying to make money off this little man with his knowledge and ability. They believed they had found a goldmine. In part, they have had the chance to make money, but they haven't, thank God, been able to exploit the chance. There also has to be this type of person, in order to identify who the person really is, to show that he tramples the dead underfoot and doesn't ask whether the sick person will be helped or not. There are people who can trample the dead underfoot, and they can calmly look at a sick person lying there. These people have never asked; they have left nothing untried in their attempts to get near to me. I know that here and there the question is raised, ‘Hmm, if the man knows so much, why didn't he know that? Perhaps he knows nothing?’ Whether and to what extent I know something, you will gradually find out. But this has to be. This part was missing in the build-up of this work, in order to make the way free for you all.”
"…then everyone knows who they are"
Grete Häusler (1922-2007), a healed, longstanding helper of Bruno Gröning and founder of the "Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends," describes the following incident in her book, Here is the Truth about Bruno Gröning: “Once, as I was leaving, I wished Herr Gröning all the best and said, ‘Mr Gröning, I wish that you will now be able to have some peace to work and won’t approached by any dishonest workers.’ To my utter astonishment, he said, ‘Completely wrong, this has to be!’ I didn't understand this, but he explained to me why he had to put up with all this and endure it. In so doing, he revealed a great secret to me: ‘I know what a person carries in him. However, if I were to say to people, ‘He is a liar; he is a swindler, a thief,’ no-one would believe me. What must I do? I have to draw these people to me in order to teach them the good, to prompt them to change their ways, and then give them the chance to lie, to cheat and to steal. If they do this, despite what they have learnt, then everyone will see them for what they are. Then I let them get really close to me and I am not a coward, then I fight.’”