Wilhelm Kusserow (conscientious objector)
Wilhelm Kusserow (born September 4, 1914 in Bochum , † April 27, 1940 in Münster ) was a German Jehovah's Witness who was executed by shooting as a conscientious objector under the Nazi dictatorship in Germany during World War II .
Life
Origin, family
Wilhelm Kusserow was the second of eleven children of the civil servant Franz Kusserow (born 1882) and the teacher Hilda Kusserow (born 1888). After finishing school, Wilhelm learned the profession of engraver from 1929 to 1933 in a metal goods factory in Lüdenscheid .
The father joined the Serious Bible Students ( Jehovah's Witnesses since 1931 ) in the early 1920s and became an active preacher in 1924. In 1931 the family moved to Bad Lippspringe .
In the era of National Socialism the entire family suffered severe persecution: William brother Wolfgang was in 1942 also as a conscientious objector by the guillotine executed. The father was sent to prison, the mother to the Ravensbrück concentration camp , and of Wilhelm's siblings Karl-Heinz, Hildegard and Magdalena were sent to concentration camps, the siblings Annemarie and Waltraud to prison, and Elisabeth, Hans-Werner and Paul-Gerhard to National Socialist education centers.
Conscientious objection
In autumn 1939 Wilhelm received the draft order for the Wehrmacht . At first he began his service, but quickly got into a conflict of conscience , since military service was not compatible with the faith in which he was brought up. Knowing that conscientious objection was punishable by the death penalty, he eventually refused to serve.
Trial and shooting in Münster
This was followed by transfer to Münster, where Wilhelm was tried before a court martial in 1940. During the trial, he was repeatedly urged to reconsider his decision. Finally, on April 2, 1940, the court sentenced him to death by shooting.
In his farewell letter Wilhelm wrote: “Even now I want to trust in God and recognize my salvation in Jesus Christ, because only through him can we be saved. He was our role model. Through steadfast perseverance and prayer we only have the strength to take all of this upon us; above all through unshakable trust and belief that the Most High will raise us from the dead. ... We must love God above all, as our guide Jesus Christ prescribed. "
The sentence was carried out by firing squad on April 27, 1940 at 7:10 a.m. in the open field behind what was then the Münster hospital.
Wilhelm's public defender wrote in a letter to Franz Kusserow on February 26, 1946:
"He received death upright and was dead instantly. His demeanor made a deep impression on the whole court and all of us. He died according to his convictions."
Commemoration
The fate of the Kusserow family in general and Wilhelms in particular is relatively well documented. The history of persecution is presented in the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses as well as in biographies, specialist books and films. Since 2002, a memorial plaque has been commemorating Wilhelm Kusserow at the place of execution on what is now the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Münster.
See also
Literature and sources (selection)
- Hans-Werner Kusserow: The purple angle. The Kusserow family - Jehovah's Witnesses under the Nazi dictatorship , Pahl-Rugenstein, Bonn, 1998.
- Wolfgang Benz: German Resistance 1933–1945 . In: Information on political education , Federal Agency for Political Education (ed.), Bonn 1994, p. 21, issue 242.
- Reinhard Brockmann: Lila Winkel - their faith was stronger than the SS . In: Westfalen-Blatt, No. 266, of November 14, 1996.
- Jürgen Engert (Ed.): Soldiers for Hitler. The book for the ARD series , Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin, 1998, [page 193].
- Friedman, Ina R .: "Elisabeth's Family: Twelve Jehovah's Witnesses Faithful Unto Death." In: The Other Victims: First-Person Stories of Non-Jews Persecuted by the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. pp. 47-59.
Movie
- Purple Triangles. Directed by Martin Smith. United Kingdom, 1991. Documentation (25 min.)
Web links
- 12 years - 12 fates. Case studies on the Nazi group of victims of Jehovah's Witnesses in NRW (PDF file; 2.13 MB)
- Portrait of the Kusserow family at www.standhaft.org
- “Finding traces” - remembering and commemorating the victims of National Socialism in Münsterland eV: housework about Wilhelm Kusserow
- Wilhelm Kusserow. Entry in: Holocaust Encyclopedia of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kusserow, Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German conscientious objector |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 4, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bochum |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 27, 1940 |
| Place of death | Muenster |