Letter from the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council. Stuttgart, June 20, 1933
Translation
Supreme Ecclesiastical Council.
Stuttgart,
June 20, 1933.
No. A.4613.
To
all Dean's Offices
Subject: Restriction of Propaganda Activities
of "Earnest Bible Students" and
New Apostolics.
Encl.: 2 copies.
Dek.Reg. C.V.4.
The Ministry of the Interior, by its decree dated June 14, 1933, based on the
decree of the Reichspräsident dated February 28, 1933 (Reichsgesetzbl. I page
83), forbade that the followers of the International Bible Students Association
and the New Apostolic Sect in Württemberg, call on any individuals, who do not
belong to the declared members of this association, for the purpose of
distributing printed matter of these associations, or of explaining their
teachings.
Contravention is punishable with imprisonment for no less than one month or with
a fine of 150 to 15,000 RM [Reichsmark], based on § 4 of the decree dated
February 28, 1933. In an issue to the district and local police authorities, the
following was explained:
It has been established that the International Bible Students Association e.V.
and the New Apostolic Sect with their propaganda activities went far beyond the
permissible limits, which have to be drawn from the viewpoint of the German
Christian State, under full observation of freedom of religion and conscience.
Messengers of the "Earnest Bible Students" prefer going from house to house on
Sundays and Christian holidays and force on the population in a pestering way
the writings of the Watchtower Bibel and Tract Association of Magdeburg, which
are filled with spiteful attacks against the major Christian churches and their
organs. In the same way, members of the New Apostolic Sect seek to gain
followers for their teachings by an intensive treatment of the population,
which, at times, degenerates in trespass. In doing so, they often do not even
shrink back from the worst slander of the Christian churches and their organs,
which are recognized in Germany as Religious Public Law Associations , and it is
not rarely the case that they work by means of threats and misuse of
superstition.
These subversive activities, which represent a misuse of the right to free
expression of one's opinion, and are suited to carry religious discord not only
into individual families, but into the entire community, is incompatible with
the idea of a Christian German People's Community, and therefore can no longer
be tolerated by the State. For this reason, by means of a decree, the members of
these sects are forbidden to practice any propaganda outside of the circle of
their members from today onwards.
The sects' own religious life, which is guaranteed by Art. 135 of the Reich's
Constitution, is not touched by this.
The police authorities have been provided with the necessary orders for
controlling the observance of the ban. At the same time, the population is
called upon to support the authorities in their fight against the harmful
consequences of sectarians' activities by reporting to the police any
contravention against the ban as well as by instituting legal proceedings in
cases of trespasses occurring in connection with the propaganda activities of
these sects.
The parish offices have to be informed about this.
p.p.
[several illegible handwitten signatures or notes]
Schw. Hall [date]
[stamp]