[1] She joined the Brahma Kumaris, a Hindu-based spiritual movement, in 1980, and would later become a high-ranking official of the group in Germany; after which she would divorce Fittkau.
She founded the Atman Foundation (German: Trainingszentrum zur Freisetzung der Atmaenergie),[3] active mainly on Tenerife and in Germany.
[5] On January 8, 1998, Fittkau-Garthe was alleged to have attempted suicide with her followers in Teide National Park, resulting in a police raid on the premises that the sect had in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
[2] Media reports and police following the arrest said that they were an offshoot of the Order of the Solar Temple (a group that had repeatedly died by acts of mass murder and suicide through the 1990s).
[4][8] In Germany all charges were eventually dropped against members of the group due to lack of evidence, although the accusation still remained in Spain as of 2004 with no trial scheduled.
[2] Later articles in Tenerife News and Diario de Avisos disputed the earlier story, saying there was no intention to commit suicide by the group.