jehovah’s witnesSes

UNITED STATES

HOLOCAUST

MEMORIAL

MUSEUM
Jehovah’s Witnesses endured intense 

persecution under the Nazi regime.Actions against the religious group and its individual members spanned the Nazi years 1933 to 1945. UnlikeJews and Sinti and Roma (“Gypsies”), persecuted and killed by virtue of theirbirth, Jehovah’s Witnesses had theopportunity to escape persecution andpersonal harm by renouncing their religious beliefs. The courage the vastmajority displayed in refusing to do so, inthe face of torture, maltreatment in concentration camps, and sometimesexecution, won them the respect ofmany contemporaries.
Founded in the United

States in the 1870s, theJehovah’s Witnesses organization sent missionaries to Germany to seek converts in the 1890s. Bythe early 1930s, only 20,000(of a total population of 65million) Germans wereJehovah’s Witnesses, usually known at the timeas “International BibleStudents.” 

Even before 1933,

despite their small numbers, door-to-door preaching and the identificationof Jehovah’s Witnesses asheretics by the mainstreamProtestant and Catholicchurches made them fewfriends. Individual Germanstates and local authoritiesperiodically sought to limitthe group’s proselytizingactivities with charges ofillegal peddling. There

were also outright bans onJehovah’s Witnesses’ religious literature, whichincluded the booklets TheWatch Tower and The

Golden Age. The courts, bycontrast, often ruled infavor of the religiousminority. Meanwhile, inthe early 1930s, Nazibrownshirted storm troopers, acting outside the law,broke up Bible study meetings and beat upindividual Witnesses.

After the Nazis came 

to power, persecution ofJehovah’s Witnesses intensified. Small as the movement was, it offered, inscholar Christine King’swords, a “rival ideology”and “rival center of loyalty”to the Nazi movement.Although honest and aslaw-abiding as their religious beliefs allowed, 

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Victims of the nazi era

Mug shot of Else

Woieziek, a Jehovah’s

Witness sentenced to

death and executed in

1944. Düsseldorf,

Germany, 1937–38.

Mug shot of Heinrich

Heine, a shop assistant

from Neuss, Germany.

He was placed 

in protective custody

for participating in 

illegal activities as a

Jehovah’s Witness.

Düsseldorf, Germany,

January 8, 1937. 

ptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf. (Top) RW 58-67759
In 1872, Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), the second son of

devout Presbyterian parents, founded the International BibleStudents Association in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was his purpose, through intense Biblical study, to uncover God’s word, whichhad been “buried under a morass of pagan teachings” mistakenlyadopted by mainstream Christian churches over the centuries.

In 1931, the Association under Russell’s successor, Joseph

Franklin Rutherford (1869–1942), changed its name to Jehovah’sWitnesses. Invoking the prophet Isaiah (43:12) — “You are my witnesses, and I am God” — adherents have dedicated themselves to bearing witness to Jehovah’s name and His Kingdom.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses anticipate the establishment of an

earthly paradise under God’s Kingdom. They believe thisKingdom will emerge following Armageddon — a final battlebetween the forces of good and evil. The Witnesses use the Bible,both Old and New Testaments, as the main text for their beliefs.While they do not believe that Jesus is God, they consider Christthe chief agent for his father, who is God. 

The Witnesses meet in churches called Kingdom Halls. Most

members of local congregations are “publishers” expected tospend as much time as circumstances permit in door-to-doorpreaching. The Jehovah’s Witnesses publish books, tracts, recordings, and periodicals, including The Watchtower and Awake, whichappear in more than 100 languages and over 200 nations. Threecorporations direct the activities of the Witnesses: the WatchtowerBible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and the Brooklyn-basedWatchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. of New York and theInternational Bible Students Association. According to their figures, nearly five million “publishers” are presently active in69,558 congregations in 229 countries.

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Jehovah’s Witnesses were

denounced for their international and American ties,the apparent revolutionarytone of their millennialism(belief in the peaceful 1,000-year heavenly rule over theearth by Christ, preceded bythe battle of Armageddon),and their supposed connections to Judaism, includinga reliance on parts of theBible embodying Jewishscripture (the Christian“Old Testament”). Many ofthese charges were broughtagainst more than 40 otherbanned religious groups, but none of these were persecuted to the same degree.The crucial difference wasthe intensity Witnessesdemonstrated in refusing to give ultimate loyalty orobedience to the state.

In April 1933, four months

after Hitler became Chancellor, Jehovah’sWitnesses were banned inBavaria and by the summer 

WHO ARE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES?

In the nearly 125years since its beginnings in the UnitedStates, the Jehovah’sWitnesses organizationhas gained adherentsin over 200 nations.
Government:

God, as set out in the Holy Bible, is the

it is our sole guide for the reason that we

s to God and are true and sincere followers

and contrary to God’s law and in violation

orbidden us as Jehovah’s Witnesses to

God’s Word and worship and serve Him. 

nds us that we shall not forsake the assem

her. (Hebrews 10:25) To us Jehovah com

esses that I am God. Go and tell the 

saiah 43:10, 12; Isaiah 6:9; Matthew 24:14)

t between your law and God’s law, and, 

e faithful apostles, ‘we ought to obey God

his we will do. (Acts 5:29) Therefore this is

y cost we will obey God’s commandments,

he study of His Word, and will worship and

mmanded. If your government or officers

use we are obeying God, then our blood

ou will answer to Almighty God.

n political affairs, but are wholly devoted

r Christ His King. We will do no injury or

uld delight to dwell in peace and do good

pportunity, but, since your government

 in your attempt to force us to disobey 

niverse, we are compelled to now give 

by His Grace, obey Jehovah God and fully

rom all oppression and oppressors.

in most of Germany. Twiceduring 1933, police occupiedthe Witnesses’ offices andtheir printing site inMagdeburg and confiscatedreligious literature.Witnesses defied Nazi prohibitions by continuingto meet and distribute their literature often covertly.Copies were made frombooklets smuggled in mainlyfrom Switzerland. 

Initially, Jehovah’s

Witnesses attempted to fend off Nazi attacks byissuing a letter to the government in October1934, explaining their religious beliefs and politicalneutrality. This declarationfailed to convince the Naziregime of the group’s harmlessness. For defyingthe ban on their activities,many Witnesses werearrested and sent to prisonsand concentration camps.They lost their jobs as civilservants or employees in

private industry and theirunemployment, social welfare, and pension benefits.

From 1935 onward,

Jehovah’s Witnesses faceda Nazi campaign of nearlytotal persecution. On April1, 1935, the group wasbanned nationally by law.The same year, Germanyreintroduced compulsorymilitary service. For refusing to be drafted orperform war-related work,and continuing to meet,Jehovah’s Witnesses werearrested and incarceratedin prisons and concentration camps. In 1936 some400 Jehovah’s Witnesses were imprisoned at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In 1936 a special unit 

of the Gestapo (Secret State Police) began compiling a registry of all personsbelieved to be Jehovah’sWitnesses, and agents infiltrated Bible study 

esses’ statement of principles (1934) The letter (left), dated

October 7, 1934, was

sent to the German

government by every 

congregation of

Jehovah’s Witnesses 

in Germany. 

This declaration of

political neutrality

failed to convince the

Nazi regime that the

Witnesses were 

harmless. 

ehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s

htower Bible and Tract Society, 1993), p. 694.
mind. That was a life, when we were all at home together! — And

suddenly separated!

Well Satan knows that his time is short. Therefore, he tries with all

his power to lead astray from God men of good will, but he will haveno success. We know that our faith will be victorious.

In this faith and this conviction I leave you.A last greeting from this old world in the hope of seeing you again

soon in a New World.

Your son and brother (signed) Wolfgang

1942

 dear brothers and sisters!

ven the opportunity to write you. Well, now I,

er, shall leave you tomorrow early in the

 time will come when we shall all be together

w with tears, will reap with joy. “Those sowing

even with a joyful cry.”

be, when we see all of us again, although it is

e all this, but through belief and hope in the

e conquer the worst. “For I am convinced

e nor angels nor governments nor things now

nor powers nor height nor depth nor any

e to separate us from God’s love that is in

om 8: 38–39).

k forward to the future.

hat I was not allowed to visit you early in

ear ago from tomorrow I saw you and

me. In the meantime I have visited Lenchen.

e to see Mummy once again. Well, dear

d me your dear letter during her visit...

y in the baking factory (prison), so you are 

nd you have something to eat. Lenchen is

 camp.

ted, but everybody is steady. Yes we shall

s. Read this in James 1:12: “Happy is the man

rials, because on becoming approved he will

which Jehovah promised to those who con

 more special thanks to you for all your

Lord reward you. I have you all constantly in

On March 28, 1942,

Wolfgang Kusserow, 

a twenty-year-old

Jehovah’s Witness, was

executed for refusing

military service. The

day before his death he

wrote his family a last

letter, translated here.

OLFGANG KUSSEROW

SHMM. Kusserow family collection, USHMM.

This old Opel car wasused by the Kusserowswhen they traveledhouse to house handingout religious tracts. The painted sign on the side of their house in Bad Lippspringe,Germany, reads “Lesen Sie das GoldeneZeitalter” (“read The

Golden Age”).

’s witnesses ~ Victims of the Nazi Era ~ 1933-1945

Wolfgang Kusserow,standing third from theleft in the last portraittaken of the family, wasone of eleven children of Frans and HildaKusserow, devoutJehovah’s Witnesses.
Concentration camp..................................

Department II

DECLARATION

I, the..................................................................................................................................born on.............................................................................................................................in ......................................................................................................................................herewith make the following declaration:

1. I have come to know that the International Bible Students Association is proclaiming erroneous teachings and under the cloak of religion follows hostile purposes against the State.2. I therefore left the organization entirely and made myself absolutely free from the teachings of this sect.3. I herewith give assurance that I will never again take any part in the activity of the International Bible Students Association. Any persons approaching me with the teaching of the Bible Students, or who in any manner reveal their connections with them, I will denounce immediately. All literature from the Bible Students that should be sent to my address I will at once deliver to the nearest police station.4. I will in the future esteem the laws of the State, especially in the event of war will I, with weapon in hand, defend the fatherland, and join in every way the community of the people.5. I have been informed that I will at once be taken again into protective custody if I should act against the declaration given today.

................................................................................., Dated ............................................

......................................................................................................................... Signature

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toward Communists, theremilitarization of Germany,the Nazification of schoolsand universities, Nazi propaganda, and theregime’s assault on mainstream churches. 

The children of Jehovah’s

Witnesses also suffered. Inclassrooms, teachersridiculed children whorefused to give the “Heil,Hitler!” salute or sing patriotic songs. Classmatesshunned and beat up youngWitnesses. Principalsexpelled them from schools.Families were broken up asauthorities took childrenaway from their parents andsent them to reform

schools, orphanages, or private homes, to bebrought up as Nazis.

After 1939 most active

Jehovah’s Witnesses wereincarcerated in prisons orconcentration camps. Somehad fled Germany. In thecamps, all prisoners 

Jehovah’s Witnesses incarcerated in prisonsand concentrationcamps were given the opportunity to befreed, if they signedthe statement (right)renouncing theirbeliefs. Few did so,even when beaten or tortured by theirguards. Reprinted and translated in Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.,

1993), p. 661.

Declaration renouncing beliefs
Helene Gotthold with

her two children, Gerd

and Gisela, in 1936.

Arrested many times

for defying the Nazi

ban on Jehovah’s

Witness activities,

Helene was convicted,

condemned to death,

and beheaded on

December 8, 1944, in

Berlin. Gerd and

Gisela survived.

wore markings of variousshapes and colors so thatguards and camp officerscould identify them by category. Witnesses weremarked by purple triangular patches. Even in thecamps, they continued tomeet, pray, and make converts. In Buchenwaldconcentration camp, theyset up an undergroundprinting press and distributed religious tracts.

Conditions in Nazi camps

were generally harsh for allinmates, many of whomdied from hunger, disease,exhaustion, exposure to thecold, and brutal treatment.But, as psychoanalystBruno Bettelheim and others have noted,Witnesses were uniquelysustained in the camps bythe support they gave eachother and by their beliefthat their suffering waspart of their work for God.Individual Witnesses

astounded their guardswith their refusal toconform to military-typeroutines like roll call or toroll bandages for soldiers at the front. At the sametime, Witnesses were considered unusually trustworthy because theyrefused to escape fromcamps or physically resisttheir guards. For this reason, Witnesses wereoften used as domesticservants by Nazi camp officers and guards.

According to Rudolf

Höss, Commandant ofAuschwitz, SS ChiefHeinrich Himmler oftenused the “fanatical faith” of Jehovah’s Witnesses asan example to his own SStroops. In his view, SS men

had to have the same“unshakable faith” in theNational Socialist ideal andin Adolf Hitler that theWitnesses had in Jehovah.Only when all SS men 

SHMM.
VISIT THE PERMANENT EXHIBITION

Enemies of the State (4th floor)Prisoners of the Camps (3rd floor): purple triangular patches; Biblebelonging to a Jehovah’s Witness who died in Sachsenhausen concentration campThe Victims (2nd and 4th floors): concentration camp uniforms bearing inverted purple triangular patchesIn the Camps (3rd floor): wooden box given to a Jehovah’s Witnessprisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp by a Polish politicalprisoner

VISIT THE WEXNER LEARNING CENTER (2nd floor)

From the MENU choose TOPIC LIST. From the alphabetical list oftopics choose “MOSAIC OF VICTIMS: Victims of Nazi persecution.”Touch “Jehovah’s Witnesses” to learn more about the persecutionof Jehovah’s Witnessses during the Holocaust.From the MENU choose ID CARD. Type in the following numbersto read about the experiences of Jehovah’s Witnesses who werepersecuted during the Holocaust: 5056; 5222; 3095; 4704; 5474;5454; 5466; 2775; 2765; 4874; 5213; 4424; 5234; 4123; 3243; 4101;5374; 1434; 5422; 2454.

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Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück,Auschwitz, Mauthausen,and other concentrationcamps. An estimated 2,500to 5,000 Witnesses died inthe camps or prisons. Morethan 200 men were tried by the German War Courtand executed for refusingmilitary service.

During the liberation of

the camps, Jehovah’sWitnesses continued theirwork, moving among thesurvivors, making converts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
LIBRARY

ovah’s Witnesses.

COLLECTIONS

s of personal documents, relating to the

families in particular. The material docu

prisonment in various concentration camps

espondence, arrest orders, records of trials

esses to the camps, and photographs.

eotaped interviews with Jehovah’s Witness

llection of its kind.

 depicting prewar life and imprisonment.

Friedman, Ina R. The Other Victims: First-Person Stories of Non-JewsPersecuted by the Nazis (Boston, 1990), pp. 47–59.King, Christine E. “Jehovah’s Witnesses under Nazism,” in MichaelBerenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murderedby the Nazis (New York, 1990), pp. 188–193.King, Christine E. The Nazi State and the New Religions: Five CaseStudies in Non-Conformity (New York, 1982).Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. Jehovah’sWitnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (Pennsylvania, 1993).Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. 1974 Yearbook ofJehovah’s Witnesses (Pennsylvania, 1973).On Video: Purple Triangles, the story of the Kusserow family. A

Starlock Pictures Production for TVS, 1991. English version distributed by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

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