The Nazi State and the New Religions:
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[NOTES]
[278] CHAPTER SIX
1. The Jehovah’s Witnesses took this name in 1931 and normally
write the word ‘witness’ without capitals to indicate that they are no religious
body but simply witnesses to Jehovah. Here, however, capitals will be used to
indicate that reference is being made to the sect. In Germany of the period the
group was known as the Ernste Bibelforscher, a translation of their former title
Bible students’. Some German documents of the period do use the new name,
Zuegnis Jehovahs. This sect, like others under consideration here refers to
itself in carefully defined terms. The Witnesses distinguish, for example,
between themselves as ‘witnesses’ and their legal corporations such as the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.
2. M. Kater, ‘Die Ernsten Bibelforscher im Dritten Reich’ in Vierteljahrshefte
für Zeitgeschichte, vol. 17, Munich, 1969, p. 181.
3. 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pennsylvania, 1973, pp. 82-3.
4. Judge Rutherford, Neutrality, Pennsylvania, 1939.
5. 1974 Yearbook, p. 78: 1914 is seen as the commencement of
Christ’s reign on earth, a stage in the divine eschatological plan.
6. F. Zipfel, Kirchenkampf in Deutschland, 1933_1945, Berlin, 1965, pp. 177 ff;
M. Q. Sibley and P. E. Jacob, Conscription of Conscience, New York, 1952, pp.
355-6. For a sociological discussion of sectarianism and relative deprivation
see; B. Wilson, Becoming a Sectarian: Motivation and Commitment’, in Religious
Motivation: Biographical and Sociological Problems for Church Historians, papers
read at the 16th Summer and 17th Winter meeting of the Ecclesiastical History
Society, Oxford, 1978; C. Y. Glock, ‘The role of deprivation in the origin and
evolution of religious groups’, in R. Leo and M. E. Marty (Eds.), Religion and
Social Conflict, New York, 1964; J. Beckford, ‘Sociological stereotypes of the
religious sect’, Sociological Review, new series, vol. 26, nr. 1, February 1978,
pp. 109-123.
7. M. Kater, op. cit., p. 191. [279]
8. 1974 Yearbook, p. 90.
9. Ibid., pp. 102-3 ff.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. F. Zürcher, Kreuzzug gegen Christentum, Zurich, 1938, pp. 80-1.
13. A. Fetz, Weltvernichtung durch Bibelforscher und ,Juden, Munich, 1925,
passim.
14. F. Schlegel, Die Wahrheit über die Ernsten Bibelforscher, Freiburg am
Breisgau, 1922, passim.
15. H. Petrich, Unsere Sekten, Berlin, 1928, p.240.
16. Ibid.
17. P. Braeunlich, Die Ernsten Bibelforscher als Opfer bolschewistischer
Religions_pötter, Leipzig, 1926, passim.
18. F. Schlegel, op. cit., p. 257, 295; P. Braeunlich, op. cit., passim.
19. F. Schlegel, op. cit., p. 260.
20. Ibid.
21. T. Paffrath, op. cit., passim; F. Schlegel, op. cit., p. 269 ff.
22. The famous anti-semitic book found a wide audience both inside and outside
Germany and was clear in its identification of a world Jewish conspiracy.
23. Dr. J. von Leers, ‘Zur Geschichte des deutschen Antisemitisms’, in T.
Fritsch, Handbuch der Judenfrage, Leipzig, 1935, pp. 514-44 and passim.
24. Ibid.
25. Watchtower, 15 April 1961; The Golden Age, 25 April 1934.
26. Order from the Prussian Ministry of Justice, 1, 4298, 22 June 1934, quoting
Auszug aus ‘Deutsche Justiz’ , Justizministerialblatt, nr. 24, 1934, p. 757;
Bavarian State Archives, nr. 2024k7, 13 April 1933. [280]
27. Oberhirtliches Verordnungsblatt für die Diozese Passau, nr. 10, 6 May 1933,
pp. 50-1.
28. Bavarian State Archives, nr. VIII 16792, 9 May1933.
29. Ibid., III 18205, 19 June 1933; III 19395, 30 June1933.
30. 1974 Yearbook, p. 109.
31. Bavarian State Archives, 1 3233/A28.8, 13 September 1934. B.nr. 37127/34, B,
2 October 1934.
32. Bavarian State Archives, letter from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society,
Magdeburg, nr. M 9056, 30 June 1933.
33. The Golden Age, 9 October 1935, p. 10; 25 April 1934, pp. 457-461.
34. F. Zürcher, op. cit., p. 117.
35. The Golden Age, 25 April 1934, p. 457.
36. Bavarian State Archives, I i b nr. 546/34 27 December 1933; Friends of
Europe, Pamphlet 22, 1932.
37. The Golden Age, 25 April 1934; 9 October 1935; F. Zürcher, op. cit., p. 117,
and passim.
38. New York Post, 14 November 1934.
39. Bavarian Political Police Reports B. nr. 27239/34 I i B, 14 July 1934;
Telegram from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to Police Authorities,
Magdeburg, 25 June 1934.
40. Bavarian State Archives, I 3233 A/28.8., 13 September 1934.
41. Bavarian State Archives, IV 6071/16.3, 11 June 1934.
42. Bavarian State Archives, nr. iii, 31411, 17 August 1934.
43. 1974 Yearbook, pp. 136 ff.
44. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 17383/35 I i B, 21 June 1935; B. nr.
19211/35 I i B, 26 July 1935. [281]
45. F. Zipfel, op. cit., p. 184.
46. See, for example, Göttinger Tageblatt, 30 August 1935; Coburger
Nationalzeitung, 10 August 1935; Kölnische Zeitung, 12 September 1935.
47. Bavarian State Archives, II i B i-S 392/25, 21 November 1935, one report of
many which gives details of sentences against Witnesses; in this case, against
seven Witnesses tried before the Thüringen Land court.
48. Report of Prussian Minister of Justice on Jehovah’s Witnesses, 27 January
1935; H. Witetschek et. al., Die Kirchliche Lage in Bayern nach den
Regierungspråsidentenberichten 1933-1945, Mainz, 1966-1978, vol. 1, p. 81; vol.
11, p. 58; vols. 1-V, passim.
49. F. Zipfel, op. cit., p. 191 ff; M. Kater, op. cit., p. 196; F. Zürcher, op.
cit., p. 90.
50. 1974 Yearbook, pp. 117 ff.
51. F. Zipfel, op. cit., p. 190 ff.
52. Ibid; 1974 Yearbook, passim.
53. C. Wagner, H. Ruder, Des gesamte deutsche Wehrrecht, Reichsgesetzblatt I,
section 11, pars. 4, 21 May 1935, Berlin, 1937.
54. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 18468/35 I i B, 24 May 1935.
55. Ibid.
56. The Golden Age, 29 January 1936; 9 October 1935; M. Kater, op. cit., p. 195.
57. R. Echterholter, Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte, vol. 11, Die
deutsche Justiz und der Nationalsozialismus, Stuttgart, 1970, pp. 56, 98, 195.
58. Bavarian State Archives, II i B i-S 392/35, 21 November 1935.
59. The Witnesses have no Articles of Belief which might be compared, say, with
those of the Adventists, Christian Scientists or Mormons.
60. Bavarian State Archives, 21 November 1935, op. cit.
61. R. Echterholter, op. cit., p. 77, 164; [282] Bavarian State Archives, 11
June 1934, op. cit.; 1974 Yearbook, p. 110.
62. M. Kater, op. cit., p. 197.
63. B. Echterholter, op. cit., p. 56.
64. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 37268/35 ii 1 B, 17 December 1935.
65. Bavarian State Archives, 42296, 15 July 1940.
66. P. Schneider, ‘Rechtsicherheit und richterliche Unabhängigheit aus der Sicht
des S.D.’ in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, vol. 4, 1956, pp. 399-422.
67. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 54216/35 I i B, 23 September 1935; F.
Zürcher, op. cit., p. 150.
68. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 188823/35 I i B, 26 June 1935.
69. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, p.164.
70. H. Witetschek op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 77, 80 and passim;
Bavarian Political Police Reports B. nr. 37816/36 II i B b, 23 April 1936; So. G
4/36, 30 April 1936; Neuer Leipzig Zeitung, 2 May 1937; Manchester Guardian, 1
April 1936; N. Broszat, ‘Zur Perversion der Strafjustiz im Dritten Reich’, in
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte vol. 6, 1958, pp. 390-443. See, in
particular, p. 394; Ministry of the Interior, ref. 20, B. nr. 51519/37 II i D,
20 August 1937.
71. H. Witetschek, op. cit., vol. IV, pp. 77, 80, 101, 103, 109; Bavarian State
Archives, B. nr. 38510136 II i Bbm 28 May 1936.
72. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 50050/37 II, i B/b 22 May 1937; The Golden
Age, 1 February 1937.
73. The Golden Age, vol. XVIII, 10 March 1937. This issue of the Witness journal
contains some particularly striking Satirical cartoons which outline the evils
of Nazism in Germany not only against Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also against
youth, Jews and innocent German citizens. The tone of these cartoons is very
typical of similar illustrations and articles in contemporary Witness
publications. [283]
74. Bavarian State Archives, B. or. 36250/36 II i B, 28 January 1936.
75. Ibid.
76. Bavarian Political Police, B. nr. 53850/36 II i B b, 21 April 1936.
77. Ibid; Hoover Institute Microfilm, NSDAP Hauptarchiv, 1383-1392, reel 57,
folder 1385.
78. 1974 Yearbook, p. 155 ff.
79. Lucerne Resolution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Document Centre, Berlin.
80. Jahreslagebericht 1938 des Sicherheithauptamtes, H.
Boberach, Berichte des S.D. und der Gestapo über Kirchen und Kirchenvolk in
Deutschland 1933_1945, Mainz, 1971, p. 326.
81. H. Krausnick and N. Broszat, Anatomy of the S.S. State, St. Albans, 1970,
pp. 169 ff.
82. Ibid.
83. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 37259/36 II i B, 21 March 1936.
84. 1974 Yearbook, pp. 152 ff.
85. Bavarian Political Police, 1 February 1936, op. cit.
86. F. Zürcher, op. cit.
87. Ibid., passim.
88. Ibid., pp. 114-8 and passim.
89. Hoover Institute Microfilm, op. cit.
90. Trial of the Major War Criminals before the Nuremberg
Military Trivunal, London, 1947, vol. 4, 8 January 1946, p. 45.
91. Bavarian State Archives, ‘Die Bibel im Dienst der Weltrevolution’, nr. 34/2,
2 October 1936.
92. Secret State Police, B. nr. 41451/36 II i b, 24 December 1936.
93. Trial of the Major War Criminals, 12 April [284] 1946, vol. 2, p. 279.
94. National Archives, Washington, ‘Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Sekten’ T 175,
roll 407, frame 2903588-593, 18 June 1937.
95. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 50050/37 II i B/b, 22 May
1937.
96. Bavarian State Archives, 2 October 1936, op. cit.
97. N. Cameron and B. Stevens (Eds.), Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1945, London,
1973, p. 519.
98. G. Bitter, ‘Wunschträume Heinrich Himmlers am 21 Juli 1944’, in Geschichte
in Wissenschafte und Unterricht, nr. 3, 1954, pp. 162-168.
99. B. Höss, Commandant of Auschwitz, London, 1959, pp. 89 ff.
100. Bavarian State Archives, nr. 1729, 10 July 1937; B. nr.
50 699137 II i B b, 2 July 1937.
101. Bavarian State Archives, B. nr. 41451/36 II i B b, 24 December 1936.
102. Bavarian State Archives, nr. 8/4, 11 March 1938.
103. Estimates vary considerably, but a consensus of Witness, government and
other sources would suggest a mean of about 6,000. N. Kater, op. cit., gives an
estimated number of 10,000 Witnesses in concentration camps and prisons during
the course of the Third Reich.
104. Bavarian State Archives, Oberkommande der Wehrmacht, 14 n 16 WR (1/3)
796/44, 15 August 1944.
105. Interestingly, negative returns were still filed by the
Gestapo on a regular basis, interspersed with occasional reports on pockets of
Witness activity or of individuals captured. The war years appear to have
brought no real cessation of pressure on the police to track down all active
Witnesses. At the same time, it must be noted, the other Sects under discussion
were spared close scrutiny. What appears to have been a random check on the
Mormons in 1943, for example, merely reported that all was well. Only the
Witnesses continued to remain an obsession with the authorities. [285]
106. H. Boberach, op. cit., p. 345.
107. Ibid., p. 395.
108. Bavarian State Archives, Tagesrapport, nr. 7, 42180, or. 27, 16-17 July
1940.
109. Ibid., 42296, 15-17 June 1940.
110. Bavarian State Archives, 42289, June 1940; 42173, 15 July
1940.
111. Dr. H. J. von Freyenwald, Jüdische Bekentnisse ass allen Zeiten und Ländern,
Nuremberg, 1941, passim.
112. F. Zipfel, op. cit., document 68, pp. 527 ff.
113. M. Kater, op. cit., p. 188.
114. H. Boberach, op. cit., p. 888.
115. Telegram H. 0222---SS-Gericht/Roem: 1A 128 nr. 25, 29
September 1944.
116. B. Echterholter, op. cit., p. 385.
117. G. Ritter, op. cit., pp. 162 ff.
118. M. Buber, Under Two Dictators, London, 1950, p. 227. The ‘denial’ read: ‘I
declare herewith that from this day on I no longer consider myself a Bible
Student and that I will do nothing to further the interests of the International
Association of Bible Students’.
119. R. Höss, op. cit., p. 132, 136; H. Langbein, Menschen in Auschwitz, Vienna,
1972, p. 279-80; Wiener Library Files of Survivors, P 111 h. nr. 1091; P. Berben,
Dachau 1933-1945, the Official History, London, 1975, p. 161; E. Kogon, The
Theory and Practice of Hell, New York, 1973, p. 51.
120. E. le Chêne, Mauthausen, London, 1971, p. 130.
121. M. Buber, op. cit., p. 229 and passim.
122. Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, p. 171.
123. Watchtower, 15 April 1961. [286]
124. E. H. Robertson, Paul Schneider, Pastor of Buchenwald, London, 1956, p. 97.
125. M. Kater, op. cit., p. 181.
126. K. Hutten, Seher, Grübler, Enthusiasten, Stuttgart, 1953, p. 69.
127. Ibid.
128. P. Neurath, ‘Social Life in the German Concentration Camps of Dachau and
Buchenwald’, Doctoral Dissertation, Columbia University, 1951, Ann Arbor
Microfilm, p. 111; E. le Chêne, op. cit., p. 130; Germany no. 2. Papers
concerning the Treatment of German Nationals in Germany 1938-9, Cmd 6120,
London, 1939; Wiener Library Files of Survivors, op. cit.
129. Consolation, 16 January 1946; Watchtower, 15 April 1961.
130. Bavarian State Archives, 1/AZ l4b4 nr. 1, 071/43, 15
October 1943.
131. B. Bettleheim, The Informed Heart, London, 1961, p. 20. For a discussion of
the prisoners’ psychology see, for example; E. A. Cohen, Human Behaviour in the
Concentration Camp, London, 1954; P. Berben, op. cit., E. Federn, ‘Terror as a
System’, in Psychiatric Quarterly Supplement, vol. 22, part 1, 1948, pp. 52-86;
B. Bettleheim, op. cit; B. Bettleheim, ‘Individual and Mass Behaviour in Extreme
Situations’, in Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 38, nr. 4,
October 1943, pp. 417-452; C. Bondy, ‘Problems of Internment Camps’ in Journal
of Abnormal and Social Psychology, op. cit., pp. 453 ff.
132. C. Burney, op. cit., pp. 2, 15 ff, and passim.
133. Interview with Mrs. Dorota Wind, 19 October 1978; see Appendix 4.
134. There is an interesting contemporary postscript to this persistent charge
of Marxism levelled against the group. M. Gebhardt, in his book Zeugen Jehovahs,
Eine Dokumentation, published in East Berlin in 1971 portrays the Witnesses as
pro-Nazi collaborators. Gebhardt’s purpose is clearly political.
135. In the ‘continuous revelation’ of the movement, the teaching on the
‘gathering’ of the Jews to Palestine which had once been important was abandoned
[287] after 1932. Nevertheless, in popular opinion, the Witnesses were
frequently still believed to hold this view.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1. T. Hodges, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Central Africa, Minority
Bights Group Report, nr. 29, 1976, p. 5.
2. Sunday Telegraph, 14 January 1973.
3. M. Bordeaux et. al., Religious Minorities in the Soviet Union, Minority
Rights Group Report, no. 1, Third Edition, 1977, passim.
4. Ibid., p. 23 ff.
5. Report of First Area General Conference held in Munich, Germany, August 24,
25, 26, 1973, Salt Lake City, 1974, p. 111.
[Chapter VI] [Chapter VII] [Appendices]
[Notes]
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