Jehovah's Witnesses during the Nazi era

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Concentration camp marking "Bible Students"

The history of Jehovah's Witnesses during the Nazi era is shaped by the conflicts with the National Socialist state organs, among other things because of their refusal to do military service and the Nazi salute . During the time of National Socialism , Jehovah's Witnesses (formerly known as " Bible Students ") were persecuted primarily for this reason.

Prehistory 1918 to 1933

During the First World War , the majority of German Bible Students , as Jehovah's Witnesses called themselves before 1931, followed their conscription to military service. But some refused to do military service and as a result had conflicts with society. During the Weimar Republic , which had no conscription , they stood out for their offensive missionary work and accusations against the official churches , which they accused, among other things, of supporting the conduct of the war in the world war. The religious community grew rapidly: while 3,900 people knew each other as Bible Students in 1918, there were 5,500 in 1919 and 22,500 in 1926. But the religious community also met with clear rejection.

The main focus of the accusations of the völkisch- national press was to portray the Bible Students as an organization financed by Jews or Freemasons , preparing a Bolshevik revolution . These conspiracy theories were taken up by Alfred Rosenberg , editor-in-chief of the Völkischer Beobachter , the party newspaper of the NSDAP , among others . They originally came from the church agitation with which Catholics and Protestants responded to the violent accusations of the pacifist Bible Students. Their origin in the USA was also interpreted as a threat. The Bible Students announced the impending demise of all government organizations and churches which they believed were under the rule of Satan . They emphasized their political neutrality and explicitly stated that the destruction of states and churches should only be carried out by Jesus and Jehovah . Nevertheless, prosecutors interpreted the writings of the Bible Students as evidence of the alleged Jewish , communist, and subversive nature of the movement. World conspiracy theories ascribed the Bible Students a central position in an allegedly planned coup.

Church authorities exchanged blows with the Bible Students, with the Protestant churches showing more commitment than the Catholic ones. Material services and apologetic departments of both large churches dealt intensively with the teaching of the Bible Students in order to offer pastors aids in argumentation. Flyer actions attacked the other position. While Bible Students preached or distributed leaflets and tracts in front of churches and cemeteries, clergymen tried to force discussion during the Bible Students' lectures. Church bodies also partly took up arguments from the völkisch-national press. When the churches learned of significant withdrawals from free thinkers , the Bible Students brought them into contact with these associations.

On the other hand, the Bible Students' attacks on the churches were viewed as excessive criticism. When Paul Balzereit , the chairman of the Watchtower Biblical and Tract Society , published his anti-Catholic pamphlet The Greatest Secret Power in the World in 1924 , the response outside of the biblical scholars' circles was completely negative. In it the Vatican was blamed for the afflicted situation of the German people and the Bible Students were portrayed as fighters of Rome, who would thereby do a great service to humanity. The book was banned and the religious community was fined.

However, the legal remedies against the Bible Students were very limited. Although hundreds of legal proceedings took place every year for illegal peddling or violations of the trade regulations , only a few cases actually fined. One of the first pioneers for state persecution was the emergency ordinance “to combat political excesses” of March 1931, enforced by church circles , which also allowed the police to intervene against insulting or despising religious customs or objects . Bavaria was a pioneer in issuing bans on events against Bible Students and confiscating them on this basis .

The Bible Students themselves saw all these measures against them as confirmation of their view that state and church, directed by the devil , would fight against them and that they, as martyrs, would suffer persecution similar to that of the first Christians . They understood the situation as a confirmation of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John , who announced the hatred of the world to the disciples ( John 15:19  Elf ). After their prophecy that Armageddon , God's final war against the powers of Satan with the subsequent dawn of a millennial kingdom , would not come true in 1925, growth initially stagnated, and from 1928 the number of members even fell. In the last three years before Hitler came to power , however, there was again a significant increase in membership. Despite the relatively high growth, when the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Jehovah's Witnesses made up only about 0.038 percent of the population of the German Reich, with 25,000 to 30,000 members .

Orientation 1933 to 1939

Worldview

The Jehovah's Witnesses opposed the National Socialist regime from the start. The Canadian historian Michael H. Kater sees the reason for this "mortal hostility" in a structural similarity of the respective ideologies: Both National Socialists and Jehovah's Witnesses were not democratic, but totalitarian , whereby those wanted to build a leader state , these a "' Theocracy 'in which Jehovah God, not the leader , rules dictatorially ”; both would have asked their members to integrate themselves into the respective hierarchy of power, both would have asked to sacrifice the interests of their own personality for the respective higher purposes, both would have made a claim to exclusivity. The historian Monika Minninger, on the other hand, explains that the Jehovah's Witnesses took a diametrically opposed attitude to the National Socialists in their religious ideas, which was the reason for their opposition.

Start of the persecution

The Reichstag Fire Ordinance of February 28, 1933 formed the legal basis for many bans and persecution measures, including against Jehovah's Witnesses, which were pronounced in the various countries of the Reich from April to June 1933.

In the first few years, in addition to the well-known accusations, the refusal to give the Hitler salute, the refusal to vote and the absence from government organizations ( Reichsluftschutzbund , Deutsche Arbeitsfront, etc.) were reasons for dismissals and various forms of public humiliation. Their refusal to attend the May Day celebrations , which had been a public holiday since 1933 , resulted in the dismissal of many members of the religious community without notice. Payments from the pension or pension funds were withheld, as allegedly anti-social elements they were also denied unemployment benefits . Since the illegal support payments from abroad were insufficient, many Jehovah's Witnesses worked as rag collectors in order not to starve to death . School-age children of Jehovah's Witnesses faced severe peer pressure from the start. Ostracized by teachers and pupils and often physically attacked, National Socialist rituals, which they perceived as idolatry through their upbringing , became a daily gauntlet.

In their endeavors to refute the charges brought by various quarters, the Jehovah's Witnesses tried as early as February 1933 to emphasize their apolitical character. But since one also stood for the equality of all people (“German, French, Jew, Christian, suitor or slave”) and the messianic kingdom, these statements did not contribute to reconciliation. At the beginning of April 1933, preparations were made for the eventual ban at the German headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Magdeburg .

At the same time, an "adaptation to national conditions" was prepared. With a memorandum dated April 26, 1933, the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses divided the International Bible Students Association into the North German Bible Students Association and the South German Bible Students Association . According to the regulations , the ten posts were filled exclusively with so-called " Aryans ".

On June 8, 1933, the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Magdeburg sent a letter to Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick (NSDAP). It says:

"The undersigned company has the honor of asking the honorable Minister to receive its President, Judge J. F. Rutherford , Brooklyn N. Y., in advance on the matter set out below if the matter contemplates a resolution against us."

In the further course of these explanations, the bans already issued in individual countries of the German Empire (except Prussia ) are mentioned. This offer apparently remained unanswered. On June 24, 1933, Jehovah's Witnesses were banned across Germany .

Wilmersdorf Declaration of June 25, 1933, page 1

On June 25, 1933, the Magdeburg headquarters invited to a major event in Berlin. Around 7,000 participants gathered in tennis halls in Berlin-Wilmersdorf . There the so-called “ Wilmersdorf Declaration ” was passed, which was sent to Hitler the following day and later published in the “Yearbook 1934 of Jehovah's Witnesses” published in Switzerland . It was hoped that this would rebut the allegations and clearly distanced itself from the allegation of being an organization funded by Jews. To this end, the leadership felt it was necessary to adapt to the anti-Semitic usage of the regime and stated that it was "the trade Jews of the British-American Empire who built up and used large-scale business as a means of exploiting and oppressing many peoples ". Voices were voiced from within our own ranks who felt this declaration to be too cautious about the National Socialists .

escalation

In the course of 1933, the German leadership of the Watchtower Bibel and Tract Society under Paul Balzereit, in an effort to at least bring the publishing industry back into legality, increasingly moved away from the base and ultimately from the course desired from world headquarters in America. While some Jehovah's Witnesses distanced themselves in disappointment, others began - contrary to the express instructions of the leadership - to continue the missionary work in the illegality. In February 1934, Joseph Franklin Rutherford declared the negotiations to have failed and presented Chancellor Hitler with an ultimatum , after which they would begin to publicize the human rights violations of his government internationally. Reichsleiter Balzereit continued to insist on legalizing the Watchtower Society's publishing activities, and achieved initial successes at the end of 1934. At the same time, however, it was decided to resume operations on October 7, 1934 in illegality. It is estimated that over 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses volunteered to continue practicing their religion in congregations and missionary work.

When the ultimatum expired, the Jehovah's Witnesses began an international protest campaign against the oppression of their fellow believers and sisters in Nazi Germany. Starting on October 8, 1934, around 20,000 telegrams and letters from all over the world were delivered to Adolf Hitler.

"Your bad treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses outrages the good people and dishonors God's name + Stop persecuting Jehovah's Witnesses or God will destroy you and your national party."

Hitler is said to have said: “This brood will be exterminated in Germany.” With this, the negotiations and concessions had finally failed. There were more police reports about the activities of the now banned "international Bible Students". The continued reluctance of Balzereit was viewed by the other followers of the religious community with increasing hostility. In May 1935 he was arrested and charged by the National Socialists despite his legalistic course. Because he and his co-defendants did not openly acknowledge the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses in the court case, he was officially expelled from the religious community in 1936 .

At the same time, the Jehovah's Witnesses tightened the tone in their literature towards the imperial government. Hitler was more and more portrayed as the Antichrist , his rule being described as "that of the devil on earth, which Jehovah God would be the first to destroy after his birth". According to the historian Michael H. Kater, this refuted the thesis of political neutrality to which the religious community had invoked until then: Jehovah's Witnesses were openly hostile to the German state.

The relatively low success of legal action against Jehovah's Witnesses at this early stage was determined by legal errors of form and the insistence of lawyers on the freedom of religion granted in the Weimar Constitution . The fact that the Watchtower Biblical and Tract Society - in contrast to the Bible Students' Associations - was a US branch that was protected by the Berlin Treaty of 1921 , the Jehovah's Witnesses were able to assert in their favor against the law enforcement authorities.

Distribution of leaflets

In 1936/37, the Jehovah's Witnesses drew attention to their suppression in Germany in large leaflet distribution campaigns. Around 100,000 leaflets were distributed during these campaigns. This is considered to be the largest resistance action during the rule of National Socialism.

The reception of these actions varies: the Viennese historian Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer emphasizes that the criticism of Hitler's government at the time was largely limited to listing atrocities against his own religious community and that the Jehovah's Witnesses occasionally by doing alongside the Nazi regime also made the churches jointly responsible for the persecution, spreading conspiracy theories. Graf-Stuhlhofer cites the brochure Decision as evidence . Wealth or ruin. What do you choose which said:

“In Germany the Jesuits organized the communist party and got it going, in order to then exploit it diplomatically to terrify the people; that created a basis for organizing the National Socialist movement, which has taken control of the nation and now rules it with an iron fist. "

In view of such polemics, it is understandable that the Catholic Church did not show solidarity with the persecuted Jehovah's Witnesses.

Detlef Garbe also points out that “the leadership of the Watch Tower Society described the Hitler government as an instrument of a Roman Catholic conspiracy to the end and thus completely misunderstood its character”.

Wolfgang Benz , head of the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the TU Berlin until 2011 , is of the opinion that the religious community sought “through the leaflet campaigns to educate the population about the criminal character of the Nazi state and thereby go beyond defending their interests against the injustice regime committed ”. And Sibyl Milton, senior historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , points out that the leaflet campaign put "the fate of the Witnesses and that of the Jews in the concentration camps at the center of interest." The historian Marion Detjen also shares the opinion that the resistance of the Jehovah's Witnesses, despite their political neutrality, was essentially political and turned against the Nazi injustice regime as such: “In contrast to the Catholic and Protestant churches, they named Hitler and Mussolini in their magazines as 'dictators' and 'violent people' by name. "

Churches as supporters of state persecution

The official churches met - apart from a few expressions of solidarity - the state prohibitions and persecution measures against the Bible Students with gratitude and even supported them actively by advising the Secret State Police on sect- related issues.

On June 9, 1933, a meeting took place between representatives of the ministries, the Gestapo and representatives of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Berlin to discuss measures to ban Jehovah's Witnesses in Prussia. The Catholic cathedral capitular Piontek asked for "strict state measures" against the religious community, the Protestant senior consistorial councilor Fischer wanted to get a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses because of the danger to the "German nationality". In addition, he took the view that the Church must counter the Jehovah's Witnesses "with its own means".

As early as August 1933, the official evangelical side submitted proposals as to which sects could be dealt with in a similar way. "Das Evangelische Deutschland", the authoritative organ on the Protestant side that appears in Berlin, commented on the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses with gratitude on September 10, 1933 and called for further bans:

“The Church will gratefully acknowledge that a sign of degeneration of the faith has been removed through this prohibition [...]. However, this does not mean that the sects have been completely cleaned up. Only the New Apostolics are mentioned . "

In 1937 a representative of the regional bishop of the Bremen Evangelical Church called for the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses to be reported to the Gestapo immediately. When Jehovah's Witnesses left a pamphlet in front of the door of a Protestant vicar from the Münsterland on October 22, 1939, the latter immediately notified the police and informed them who, in his opinion, could be the perpetrator.

Practice of religion despite prohibition

Jehovah's Witnesses were viewed as subversive or politically unreliable because of their membership of the Bible Students' Association or their refusal to salute the Nazis and vote. That is why it was started early on to withdraw or deny them jobs, trade licenses, traveling trade licenses, their official status, land, houses, vehicles, agricultural permits or operating permits. Pensions, unemployment benefits or social assistance were denied or reduced. Jehovah's Witnesses were considered to be unachievable "anti-social elements" and consequently were not entitled to unemployment benefits.

The imprisonment of Balzereits in May 1935 marked the beginning of a series of key personnel changes in the Bible Students' Association. His successor was Fritz Winkler. He was arrested in the first wave of arrests in August / September 1936. He was succeeded by Erich Frost in the leadership of the religious community, he was arrested on March 21, 1937 during the second wave of arrests. Heinrich Dietschi's successor, who had already been determined in advance, was arrested in August / September 1937 with the third wave of arrests. The personal emergency was also made clear by the fact that - otherwise completely unusual - leadership positions were increasingly filled with female Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Jehovah's Witnesses quickly acquired the skills necessary for conspiratorial underground work . The connections to sister organizations abroad were maintained, the Watchtower and other scriptures were smuggled into the country in large numbers or illegally reproduced in Germany. The missionary work was carried out less and less classically from house to house due to frequent denunciations , but increasingly in small organized lightning actions in order to leave the place before the arrival of the Gestapo. In this way, nationwide coordinated actions were carried out until 1937. As the persecution increased, so too did the organizational structure. Messages were coded, people and publications of the Watchtower Society were given cover names. Publications like the magazine “The Watchtower ” often had to be smuggled in from abroad and illegally copied. In the end there were only cells up to a size of about six people. Jehovah's Witnesses in senior positions knew few other leaders so that when interrogated they would not reveal too many identities.

State measures

The National Socialists also adjusted to the situation. Officials, including judges, police and Gestapo, were repeatedly advised of the danger allegedly posed by the Bible Students. In particular, the lawyers were shown through instructions and publications in specialist journals which judgments against Bible Students would be desired. The Nazis used custody withdrawal as a way of influencing Jehovah's Witnesses. Since the reintroduction of compulsory military service in March 1935 in particular , male Jehovah's Witnesses have been increasingly prosecuted for refusing to do military service . Criminal proceedings against Jehovah's Witnesses took place before the special courts established in 1933 , which passed more severe judgments than the rest of the judiciary, including under the Treachery Act .

Gestapo decree orders protective detention of Jehovah's Witnesses if the court does not issue an arrest warrant

The Gestapo regularly extended the sentences imposed by the so-called protective custody . In June 1936 she formed her own special unit to fight against Jehovah's Witnesses. The practice of judgment-correcting protective custody was given to the authorities as a decree by the Secret State Police Office in Berlin (Gestapa) from August 5, 1937.

However, prolonging the prison term was not the only aim of the Gestapo. The “declarations of commitment” (“reverse”), with which a Jehovah's Witness could save himself from “protective custody”, was a first test to test loyalty to the state. Persons who signed were - at least in the case of minor offenses - spared from protective custody and released under observation. Apparently, many Jehovah's Witnesses signed for tactical reasons in order to protect themselves or their loved ones without, however, inwardly separating themselves from the faith. Many of them were able to do this because the declaration of commitment initially spoke of the "International Bible Students' Association", but they considered themselves to be "Jehovah's Witnesses". The Gestapo changed the exact wording of the declarations several times, making it increasingly difficult for members of the religious community to sign them.

Judges saw these subsequent corrections to the Gestapo's judgment as attacking the dignity of the court. Correctional workers felt the corrections hindered their re-education efforts, which were designed to make Bible Students valuable members of the community . In particular, the removal of Bible Students who had just been acquitted from the courtroom or the serving of subsequent protective custody in the same prison cell led to complaints.

The competent ministerial director of the Reich Ministry of Justice, Wilhelm Crohne , forwarded the complaints of the public prosecutors to the Gestapo. At the meeting of the chief president, he announced the result: The order for general protective custody had to be accepted by the judiciary. The Gestapo agreed that in future protective custody would always take place in the concentration camps and arrest for protective custody would no longer take place in the courtroom. In connection with this, Crohne advised the judges to increase the penalties against Bible Students accordingly in order to avoid these "necessary corrections" in the future.

Not only the judiciary but also the population should be informed about the supposed character of the “Jewish-pacifist sect”. The National Socialists therefore hired experts from the völkisch national press to uncover the "secret machinations". For example, reports were drawn up which not only document the contacts with the Freemasons, but were also intended to prove that Jehovah's Witnesses regard Joseph Stalin as Jehovah's representative.

concentration camp

Warning board in Mauthausen concentration camp
General writing prohibition for Bible Students

Concentration camps were under the direction of the SS . Jehovah's Witnesses were arrested as part of protective custody measures and, since 1935/1936, have been marked as a separate group on their clothing, mostly with blue dots or circles. In 1938, the color codes were standardized, and the Bible Students were given a purple triangle ("purple triangle") . Until the outbreak of the war they made up a considerable part of the inmates in many concentration camps; in 1939 they formed the largest group in the women's concentration camps. In contrast to all other denominations , the number of Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned in Auschwitz is known very precisely: there were at least 387. The number of those murdered is unknown.

The camp administrations of the concentration camps did not intend to systematically exterminate Jehovah's Witnesses, as in the case of Jews, Roma and Sinti , for example , but everyday life at the concentration camps was characterized by hard labor, abuse, illness, malnutrition and death. Much harassment by the SS also provoked the premature death of healthy prisoners.

The persistent refusal to accept the "corrective measures" of the SS leadership often resulted in many additional attacks by the camp administration for Jehovah's Witnesses. The usual sanctions such as isolation from other groups of prisoners, particularly long periods of service in punishment companies, reduction in the food ration and refusal of medical treatment by Jehovah's Witnesses became the norm in some camps. Their openly expressed beliefs also created problems for them. Every refusal to salute Hitler or the flag , every refusal to do military service and every answer to a question about one's beliefs resulted in beatings - often by several SS men. If healthy Witnesses were badly damaged by this mistreatment, it would quickly mean death for older Witnesses.

Jehovah's Witnesses had a strong sense of togetherness. Much of what was brought into the barracks legally or illegally was shared in solidarity. This not only helped the less well off or those who had no relatives in freedom, but also avoided envy and theft. As Jehovah's Witnesses were often denied access to health care, the sick were dependent on being cared for by their fellow believers. This earned Jehovah's Witnesses respect from many of the inmates. The love of order and comprehensive hygiene rules, which offered a certain protection against diseases, were also striking. The love of order was used on various occasions by the SS leadership in order to convey a beautiful picture of the condition of the camps by only inspecting the Bible Students “sample pads”. The SS leaders of the concentration camps also liked to employ (female) Jehovah's Witnesses in their service villas, because they were considered loyal.

Cooperation with other prisoners was the exception. The Jehovah's Witnesses tried to maintain their neutrality in the concentration camp as well. Because of their faith-based obligation to truth and peaceableness, they avoided the active resistance prisoners as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses. There was hardly any cooperation because the camp management endeavored to keep Jehovah's Witnesses away from other groups of prisoners because of the relentless proselytizing attempts. If they did not succeed in this, there were isolated conversions in the concentration camp as well .

Second World War

With the beginning of the Second World War on September 1, 1939, the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance of August 17, 1938 came into force.

Usual death sentence against conscientious objectors
Memorial stone for Erwin Wehmeijer, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, who died on December 2, 1944 in Neuengamme concentration camp as a result of the consequences of imprisonment

Jehovah's Witnesses have been convicted by Wehrmacht courts of conscientious objection to military service since 1936 . But with the outbreak of the war, the death penalty became the usual sentence instead of one to two years in prison for the same offense . The time at which the individual announced his refusal varied, but the swearing-in before God on Hitler was an insurmountable obstacle for the conscience of many Jehovah's Witnesses. According to Detlef Garbe , Jehovah's Witnesses refused to do military service "in large numbers", according to Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer it was "about a quarter of the male Jehovah's Witnesses of conscription age". The Jehovah's Witnesses were not protected from being punished for their convictions, neither because they had not yet been presented, nor “unworthy of military service”, nor were they mentally insane, nor were they willing to do unarmed service. The punishment was “death, loss of military worth and permanent loss of civil rights”. Women could also be affected by this: Among the Jehovah's Witnesses murdered in the Berlin-Plötzensee execution site was Helene Gotthold , convicted of " undermining military strength in connection with treacherous favoring the enemy". The deterrent effect of this punishment expected by the military justice system did not materialize. In the first year of the war, 152 affected Jehovah's Witnesses accounted for 14 percent of the trials for “decomposing military strength”. For this offense 112 death sentences were passed against Bible Students (95.7 percent). The judges, unsettled by the Bible Researcher question, were put under pressure by Hitler in August 1942, pointing out that it was ultimately the case in the animal world that anti-social elements were being eradicated.

Nevertheless, the judges repeatedly tried to convince the Jehovah's Witnesses of the necessity of military service. However, neither teaching officers about the importance of military service nor extended waiting times on death row nor the action of pastors of both major denominations nor legal sanctions against family members nor sham executions nor the arranging of family get-togethers (especially with members of different faiths) showed the hoped-for effect. And when it did, the decision was often later revoked.

The Jehovah's Witnesses were able to avert the judgment if they agreed to military service or, as a woman, swore the oath of allegiance to the Führer . In this case, the men were deployed in punishment and probation battalions on the dangerous front lines.

On September 15, 1939, the first German conscientious objector was executed. However, he was not convicted under the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance, but had received special treatment in accordance with the circular of September 3, 1939 to all state police stations for subversive statements and war crimes. The 29-year-old Jehovah's Witness August Dickmann received his military ID card forwarded to the concentration camp. When he refused to sign it, he was not only beaten - as is customary after such interviews - but also placed in solitary confinement and finally shot in front of the entire camp. Since the hoped-for deterrent effect did not materialize, shootings were mostly carried out aside. On the basis of this circular and the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance, Jehovah's Witnesses could allegedly be legally executed both in the concentration camp and in freedom for refusing to do military service.

The first years of the war in 1939 and 1940 were marked by a further increase in the abuse of Jehovah's Witnesses in the concentration camp. SS leaders picked out individual Jehovah's Witnesses several times in order to conduct a demonstration on them. The aim was to renounce faith. This trial of strength usually ended with the death of the Bible Student.

After Heinrich Dietschi's imprisonment, the post of so-called “Reich servant”, that is, the highest-ranking elder of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Reich, remained vacant until the end of the war. The areas of southwest and west Germany were then headed by Ludwig Cyranek, who was arrested on February 6, 1940 and beheaded on July 3, 1941, Austria by Peter Gölles, arrested on June 12, 1940. Robert Arthur Winkler from the Netherlands took over the coordination . Narciso Riet , who was killed in Dachau in 1944/1945 , and Julius Engelhard, executed on August 14, 1944, were later responsible for southern and western Germany, Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Together with Wilhelm Schumann in Magdeburg and Franz Fritsche (imprisoned in autumn 1943) in Berlin, after the arrest of RA Winkler on October 21, 1941, they were dependent on the management of the European central office in Bern . The focus of activity shifted increasingly to the translation and supply, especially of the prisoners, with literature of the Watchtower Society.

From 1942, the chances of survival for Jehovah's Witnesses in concentration camps increased for several reasons. German prisoners were called up to serve in the Wehrmacht, and the concentration camps were increasingly filled with foreign prisoners. As a result, there were only a few qualified, experienced German prisoners left, and the predominantly German Jehovah's Witnesses were used for positions of trust in prisoner self-administration and camp management . They took on these tasks as far as they could reconcile them with their conscience. Their qualities were a great advantage for the camp management: their conscientiousness in completing the tasks assigned to them and their rejection of violence made them reliable prisoners, from whom neither escape, intrigue nor pushback were to be expected. Because of such observations, Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler at times considered settling Jehovah's Witnesses in the east after the war in order to spread their pacifism there and avert "the Russian danger".

From the end of 1944, official records from the camp administrations became rarer. The reconstruction of this time is therefore particularly dependent on oral reports from eyewitnesses. One of the most dramatic incidents during this period was the planned killing of the concentration camp inmates by the SS. These actions also resulted in deaths among Jehovah's Witnesses. There was one known exception. In the two weeks after April 21, 1945, around 6,000 of the 33,000 inmates died during the evacuation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Exceptionally, the 230 Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed to form a group. Their community, already tried and tested in the concentration camp, and their organizational talent proved to be life-saving on this death march . The 230 Jehovah's Witnesses who began this march had no casualties. Some Jehovah's Witnesses who drowned with the Cap Arcona and the Thielbek in the Neustädter Bucht drowned.

Number of victims

Stumbling block as a reminder and reminder of the murder of a Jehovah's Witness from Berlin

In 1933, at the beginning of Hitler's rule, there were around 25,000 to 30,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. In the following twelve years until 1945, 11,300 German and foreign Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned. If you include those people who have suffered fines, pension withdrawals and abuse, the number rises to 13,400. Of these, 2,000 people were sent to concentration camps. 950 German and 540 foreign victims of persecution did not survive the prison conditions, were murdered or executed. Among these 1,490 deaths are the 270 Jehovah's Witnesses executed as conscientious objectors (all figures are approximate values). As the research is ongoing, the numbers are still being revised upwards.

While the proportion of Jehovah's Witnesses in the concentration camps before the start of the war averaged 5 to 10 percent, the Jehovah's Witnesses made up the largest group in many women's concentration camps - at times almost 90 percent of the inmates in Moringen . The hundreds of custody withdrawals are likely to have been particularly stressful for the women . 652 cases are recorded by name, Jehovah's Witnesses assume a total of at least 860 cases, some historians estimate the number to be even higher.

Ratings

The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist Germany is assessed differently by historians. Some compared the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses to the persecution of the Jews, while others assume they were largely collaborating with the National Socialists. The peculiarities of the Jehovah's Witnesses and their persecution even occasionally gave rise to disagreement as to whether the endeavor to preserve religious freedom against all obstacles could actually be attributed to active resistance against National Socialism. After all, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted not primarily for what they did but rather for what they refused.

According to Detlef Garbe , Jehovah's Witnesses are only conditionally suited to the usual understanding of resistance in the Third Reich:

“The courageous attitude of the Jehovah's Witnesses [...] is only partially suitable as a model in a democratic society. Their motive for action was loyalty to the theocracy , not the regaining of freedom and democracy. "

The following peculiarities in the persecution of this small group by the National Socialists are largely undisputed:

  • Jehovah's Witnesses were the first religious community to be banned and persecuted by the National Socialists.
  • They were assigned their own badge in the concentration camps (1 of 6), while other Christian opponents of the regime were assigned to the political prisoners.
  • Jehovah's Witnesses were the only inmates of the concentration camps who could have bought their way out through a declaration of will in which they renounced their faith and thus could have left the concentration camps.

literature

  • Wolfgang Benz , Walter H. Pehle (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the German resistance. Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-596-15083-3 , pp. 321-325.
  • Gerhard Besier , Clemens Vollnhals: Repression and self-assertion. The Jehovah's Witnesses under the Nazi and SED dictatorship . In: Contemporary History Research (FZS) . tape 21 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-10605-9 .
  • Sigrid Brüggemann: The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses. In: Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier (eds.): The Secret State Police in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Stuttgart Schmetterling-Verlag 2013, ISBN 3-89657-138-9 , pp. 249-259.
  • Detlef Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. The Jehovah's Witnesses in the “Third Reich” . In: Studies on Contemporary History . 4th edition. tape 42 . Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56404-8 ( dissertation at the University of Hamburg 1989).
  • Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : Anabaptist churches in the East Mark. By Adventists, Baptists, Mormons, Pentecostals, and Jehovah's Witnesses (research report). In: Austria in History and Literature 44 (2000), pp. 73–93.
  • Gerald Hacke: The Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich and in the GDR. Enemy and persecution practice (writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research, Vol. 41). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-36917-3 .
  • Hans Hesse: The Jehovah's Witnesses were always the bravest. Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses under National Socialism . Temmen, Bremen 2000, ISBN 3-86108-724-3 .
  • Hans Hesse, Jürgen Harder: … and if I had to stay in a concentration camp for life…. The Jehovah's Witnesses in the women's concentration camps in Moringen, Lichtenburg and Ravensbrück . Klartext, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-88474-935-8 .
  • Vinzenz Jobst: Anton Uran. Persecuted, forgotten, executed . kitab, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-902585-62-2 .
  • Michael H. Kater: The Serious Bible Students in the Third Reich . In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte . 17th year, no. 2 , 1969, ISSN  0042-5702 .
  • Andreas Maislinger : International Association of Bible Students (Jehovah's Witnesses) . In: Resistance and Persecution in Salzburg 1934–1945. A documentation in two volumes . tape 2 . Österreichischer Bundesverlag / Pustet, Vienna / Salzburg 1991, ISBN 3-215-06565-7 , p. 323-351 .
  • Monika Minninger: A Confessing “Church” - On the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in East Westphalia and Lippe 1933–1945. Bielefeld City Archives and State History Library, Bielefeld 2001.
  • Arnulf Moser: The Constance Jehovah's Witnesses as victims of the “Third Reich”. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings. 131. Issue 2013, ISBN 978-3-7995-1719-5 , pp. 229-242.
  • Hans Simon Pelanda, Sandra Breedlove: Resistance against the Nazi regime out of religious conviction. Jehovah's Witnesses in Regensburg in 1933 -1945 . In: Negotiations of the historical association for the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg . tape 158 , 2018, ISSN  0342-2518 , p. 213-331 .
  • M. James Penton: Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich. Sectarian politics under persecution . University of Toronto Press, Toronto 2004, ISBN 0-8020-8678-0 .
  • Bernhard Rammerstorfer : No instead of yes and amen. Leopold Engleitner: He went a different way . Self-published, Puchenau 1999, ISBN 3-9500718-6-5 ( maislinger.net - review).
  • Hermine Schmidt: The saved joy. A young person's time 1925–1945 . Gamma, Copenhagen 2007, ISBN 978-3-9807639-0-5 . (A young woman bravely goes her way in a time of bitter persecution. The autobiography of the author Hermine Schmidt, who was imprisoned in the Stutthof concentration camp as a young Jehovah's Witness from May 5, 1944 , describes in detail the situation and harassment during the time of National Socialism in the Camp and the death march (reading by Hermine Schmidt )
  • Kirsten John-Stucke, Michael Krenzer, Johannes Wrobel: 12 years - 12 fates. Case studies on the NS victim group Jehovah's Witnesses in North Rhine-Westphalia 1933–1945 . Working group NS Memorials NRW e. V., Münster 2006 ( jwhistory.net [PDF]).
  • Friedrich Zipfel, Hans Herzfeld (introduction): Church struggle in Germany 1933-1945. Persecution of Religions and Self-Assertion by the Churches in the National Socialist Era . In: Publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute of the Free University of Berlin (=  publications of the Berlin Resistance Research Group at the Senator for the Interior of Berlin . Volume 1 ). 1st edition. tape 11 . de Gruyter, Berlin 1965, ISBN 3-11-000459-3 .
  • Franz Zürcher: Crusade against Christianity . Europe, Zurich / New York NY 1938.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Garbe: Between Resistance and Martyrium , 2nd edition 1994, p. 45.
  2. ^ PB Gotthilf (di Paul Balzereit): The greatest secret power in the world. The cause of all wars, as well as all national and international disagreements. Centuries-old fraud uncovered . Sternverlag, Leipzig 1924
  3. ^ Garbe: Between Resistance and Martyrium , 2nd edition 1994, p. 485.
  4. ↑ Michael H. Kater: The Serious Bible Students in the Third Reich. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17, 1969, p. 187 ( ifz-muenchen.de ; PDF; 6.6 MB; accessed on June 30, 2011).
  5. ↑ Monika Minninger: A self-confessed "church". On the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in East Westphalia and Lippe 1933–1945 . City Archives and State History Library, Bielefeld 2001, p. 10.
  6. ↑ Michael H. Kater: The Serious Bible Students in the Third Reich. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17, 1969, p. 196 ( ifz-muenchen.de ; PDF; 6.6 MB; accessed on June 30, 2011).
  7. ↑ Das Goldene Zeitalter , February 15, 1933, pp. 50–53, quoted from Garbe: Between Resistance and Martyrium , 1998, p. 87.
  8. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 1998, p. 88.
  9. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 1998, p. 88 f.
  10. ↑ Federal Archives ZBI - 1046 A1 p. 24.
  11. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 1998, p. 102 ff.
  12. ↑ Michael H. Kater: The Serious Bible Students in the Third Reich. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17, 1969, p. 188 f. ( ifz-muenchen.de ; PDF; 6.6 MB; accessed on June 30, 2011).
  13. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. Chapter IV, 2 (in the 1994 edition: pp. 231–260).
  14. ^ Elke Imberger: Resistance "from below": Resistance and dissent from the ranks of the labor movement and Jehovah's Witnesses in Lübeck and Schleswig-Holstein 1933–1945. Neumünster 1991, p. 345.
  15. ↑ a b Graf-Stuhlhofer: Täuferkirchen in the Ostmark. P. 86.
  16. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance. 1994, p. 527.
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Benz . In: Information on political education , No. 243, 1994, p. 21.
  18. ↑ Sibyl Milton, Jehovah's Witnesses - Forgotten Victims? In: Resistance from Christian Conviction - Jehovah's Witnesses under National Socialism. Documentation of a conference. Edited by Wewelsburg District Museum, Fritz Bauer Institute, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Essen 1998.
  19. ↑ Marion Detjen: "Appointed as an enemy of the state" - resistance, refusal and protest against the Nazi regime in Munich. Munich 1998, p. 237.
  20. ↑ a b c Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 1998, p. 10.
  21. ↑ The Evangelical Germany. Church review for the entire area of ​​the German Evangelical Church, No. 37, September 10, 1933; quoted from Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 1998, p. 10.
  22. ↑ Detlef Garbe, Serious Bible Students. In: Wolfgang Benz, Hermann Graml and Hermann Weiß (eds.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1997, p. 449.
  23. ↑ Michael H. Kater: The Serious Bible Students in the Third Reich. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 17, 1969, p. 197 f. ( ifz-muenchen.de ; PDF; 6.6 MB; accessed on June 30, 2011).
  24. ↑ Teresa Wontor-Cichy: Jehovah's Witnesses. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, archived from the original on January 5, 2010 ; accessed on February 9, 2010 (English).
  25. ↑ Short biography of Wehmeijers (PDF) at the Berthold Mehm Foundation
  26. ↑ Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. 3rd edition 1997, p. 12.
  27. ^ Graf-Stuhlhofer: Täuferkirchen in the Ostmark. P. 88.
  28. ↑ books.google.nl
  29. ^ The Nazi persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Cologne (1933–1945) . ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) p. 34.
  30. ↑ Detlef Garbe: Between resistance and martyrdom. Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich , 1998, p. 28.
  31. ↑ The Saved Joy ( Memento from July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 2, 2005 .