MOSCOW, March 1 - RAPSI. Russian-born Dr. Valery and Dr. Julia Gritsak-Groener are trying to reclaim their son William-Valery from the German authorities, who took the boy into custody last October after learning that the Gritsak-Groeners plan to return to Russia, Izvestia newspaper writes.
According Valery Gritsak their family was waiting for the train at the station in Stuttgart where Valery was invited to give a series of lectures at the University.
"We decided to wait until morning at the station. Here we saw one of the station workers, who told employees Yugendamt that family spends the night with a baby in the waiting room," says Gritsak.
Since that German juvenals have kept an eye on the family. Employees of the Stuttgart branch Yugendamt checked scientists who have settled in a local hotel, and demanded that they immediately got a permanent home and took a nine-year William to school. A month later, the boy was taken to a shelter.
On October 30, 2012, the Stuttgart Family Law Court stripped the Gritsak-Groeners of their parental rights, concluding that "the parents have a strange outlook on life that has a negative effect on their child."
Valery Gritsak-Groener told Izvestia their lawyer "is trying to appeal this decision, but he has so far been unable to obtain the necessary documents."
He said the Stuttgart prosecutors are investigating the allegation of sexual harassment facing a matron at the Weraheim Boarding School in regard to one of the girls living there. The matron has also been appointed to look after William-Valery and so the father fears for his childs life and health.
Recently the staff at Weraheim Hebsack, where the boy had been living for the past six months, said the Gritsak-Groeners would never see their child again.
Valery Gritsak-Groener said that Jugendamt, a German office for youth similar to the Child Protective Services in the US, is believed to be one of the toughest in the world.
Over the past few months, the Gritsak-Groeners were only allowed to see their son for two hours per week in the presence of the boarding house staff. They have appealed to the Russian authorities as their last resort.
Doctor of physical mathematics Valery Gritsak-Groener was born in Murmansk in northern Russia. He holds a Soviet state prize for an information and mathematical project (early 1980s), an international prize for mathematicians from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and four NATO prizes. He is the author of 43 books and 600 research papers.
In 1987, Valery and Julia Gritsak-Groener left Russia for Europe. There they worked with the European leading universities. In 2012 they decided to return to Russia and began to prepare for their departure.