GERMANY (Nazi)
(Also called Third Reich)
(See also Concentration Camps; Evangelical Church in Germany; Hitler, Adolf; Holocaust [Nazi Era]; Nazism; Saarland)
(Note centered headings below: Jehovah’s Witnesses; Quotations)
anti-Semitism: g90 10/22 27
Aryan race: g90 12/8 7
Catholic Church: w89 4/15 10-12
book The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany: re 270
comments by German historian: g89 11/8 20
concordat with Nazi State: re 237-238; g95 8/22 14; w90 3/15 30; w89 4/15 10-11, 22-23; w89 5/1 6
converted Jewess beatified as Catholic martyr (1987): g87 11/22 13
document We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah: g99 6/22 30; g98 10/22 26-27
French bishops support Nazism: g92 9/8 29
incites government against Witnesses: jv 659-660
letter from Awake! reader and reply: g95 5/8 30
priest lauds Hitler’s action against Witnesses: re 40; jv 659-660
priest martyred: g93 5/8 4
priest refuses to heil Hitler: g94 10/22 10
reports Witnesses to officials: re 270-271
silent cooperation of clergy: g87 8/8 28; g87 11/22 13-14
support of Nazism: re 237-238; g95 8/22 12-13; g94 10/22 8-10; w89 3/1 4; w89 4/15 10-12, 22-23; w89 5/1 6; g87 4/8 18; g87 4/22 6; g87 8/8 28
support of war: g94 10/22 3
churches use forced labor: g01 4/22 28
church silence: g95 8/22 12-15
clergy opposition: g95 8/22 13-14; g89 11/8 22; g87 4/22 6
clergy support: re 39-40; w97 8/15 32; g95 8/22 13-14; w89 1/1 21; w89 4/15 23; g89 11/8 21-22; g87 4/22 6
news clippings: g95 8/22 13
revised “New Testament”: w97 10/1 19
courts:
child-custody philosophy: g88 10/22 7
disabled are sterilized or killed: g89 11/8 21
church silence: g89 11/8 21-22
Eichmann, Adolf: g86 4/8 13-14
Himmler, Heinrich:
attitude toward Jehovah’s Witnesses: w20.07 12-13; g93 4/22 7
attitude toward other nationalities: g87 3/22 26
statement on annihilation of Poles: g89 4/8 9, 11
Hitler’s Peace Speech: g87 3/22 27
Holocaust: ijwbq article 45; g95 8/22 3-15; g89 4/8 2-20
death marches: brfi 25-26, 31; w13 8/15 18, 22; w03 10/1 19; w98 1/1 27-28; jv 665
extermination squads (Einsatzgruppen): g89 4/8 5-6
Kristallnacht: g90 9/8 18
not against Jews only: g89 4/8 9-16; g87 11/22 14
ordinary citizens unconcerned: g 10/12 27
Polish people: g89 4/8 9-11
reality of: g89 4/8 4-8
“Spa Terezín” (Czechoslovakia): g 3/12 19-20
Vatican’s awareness of: g89 3/8 29
Holocaust Museum (U.S.): g94 2/8 30; g93 5/8 31; g93 11/8 16-19
invasion of—
Austria: w05 5/1 24; yb89 98-99
France: g87 4/8 20-21
Norway: g87 4/8 20
Poland: g89 4/8 9, 11; g87 4/8 19
Soviet Union: yb08 86-87; g01 4/22 3-4; g87 4/22 16-17
Jews: g89 4/8 2-8
Jewess beatified as Catholic martyr (1987): g87 11/22 13
not sole victims of Holocaust: g87 11/22 14
king of the north (Da 11:30, 31): w20.05 6; dp 264-267
Lebensraum (living space) policy of conquest: g89 4/8 9, 11
Lutheran Church:
admission of weak protest: g89 11/8 21-22
divided over Nazism: g87 9/8 5-6
takes credit for ban on Witnesses: jv 660
Mormon Church: g96 1/8 28
photo of Nazis in Nuremberg stadium: g88 10/22 21
Protestant support: g89 11/8 19
racism: g90 10/22 26-27
religion:
conscientious objectors in various religions: g87 9/8 7
suppression of divine name: g93 5/8 32
rise to power: re 237-238; w89 4/15 10-12
Saarland votes to become part (1935): g87 4/8 18-19
Soviet Union enters nonaggression pact with: g87 4/8 19
Third Reich: dp 265
end (May 8, 1945): brfi 31
von Papen, Franz: re 237; w89 4/15 10-12
marshals Catholic factions: w89 5/1 6
photo: w89 4/15 12
World War II:
battleship Bismarck: g87 10/8 10-12
blitzkrieg conquest of Western Europe: g87 4/8 19-21
defeat: g87 5/8 18-19
Dresden bombing: g87 5/8 17
effect on civilians: g89 10/8 5
Enigma encryption machine: g 8/09 26, 28
Hamburg firebombing: g86 5/22 3
North Africa: g87 4/22 17-18
popular sentiment reverses: g87 5/8 16-17
preparation for: g87 4/8 17-19
unmanned jets: w16.08 4-5
V-1 and V-2 missiles: g04 12/22 21; g87 5/8 18
Jehovah’s Witnesses
ban (1933): brfi 6, 30; w97 5/1 25; jv 660, 693, 720; g89 4/8 13
ban (1935): brfi 30; w01 3/15 9; w96 1/15 4; jv 442, 659
Bible prophecy helps remain faithful: w20.07 12-13
booklet of Holocaust Museum (U.S.) commends: w97 4/15 16
books discussing:
A History of Christianity: jv 194
Anatomy of the SS State: g89 4/8 13-14
Arbeit macht tot—Eine Jugend in Auschwitz: w94 11/15 32
Betrayal—German Churches and the Holocaust: w00 9/1 32
Between Resistance and Martyrdom—Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Third Reich: brfi 5; w11 4/15 21
Commandant of Auschwitz: jv 663
Ideology of Death: w97 8/15 32
Imprisoned for Their Faith—Jehovah’s Witnesses in Auschwitz Concentration Camp: g 4/06 11
Kirchenkampf in Deutschland: brfi 5; re 102; w90 2/1 22
Kreuzzug gegen das Christentum (Crusade Against Christianity): brfi 30-31; g95 8/22 9; yb87 143-144
Les Bibelforscher et le Nazisme: w92 2/1 32
Les Témoins de Jéhovah face à Hitler: w99 10/15 32
Mothers in the Fatherland: pc 27-28; re 39; w89 1/1 21
New Religious Movements: A Perspective for Understanding Society: jv 664-665; w86 9/1 21
Of Gods and Men: w86 9/1 20-21
Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses During the Nazi Regime 1933-1945: brfi 5
The Churches’ Response to the Holocaust: jv 194; w88 4/1 21; g87 4/22 10
The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-45: w94 1/15 5; w90 8/1 19
The Nazi State and the New Religions: Five Case Studies in Non-Conformity: jv 553, 663; w90 8/1 19
The Religious Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Baden and Wurttemberg, 1933-1945: brfi 5
Values and Violence in Auschwitz: jv 663
Widerstand und Emigration. Das NS-Regime und seine Gegner: brfi 5
Widerstand “von unten.” Widerstand und Dissens aus den Reihen der Arbeiterbewegung und der Zeugen Jehovas in Lübeck und Schleswig-Holstein 1933-1945: brfi 5
branch office:
Magdeburg (1933): yb99 134; g98 7/8 11; g95 8/22 6-7; jv 586; yb87 138
claim that Witnesses compromised with Nazism: g05 10/22 10; g98 7/8 10-14
clergy opposition:
Catholic Church incites government against: jv 659-660
Catholic Church reports to Nazis: re 270-271
Lutheran Church incites government against: jv 660
comments by—
author Günter Grass: w07 10/15 32
de Gaulle, Geneviève: g95 8/22 10; jv 664
Himmler: g93 4/22 7
historian Gabriele Yonan: w02 10/1 25
historian Robert Gerwarth: ijwfq article 57
Jews: w11 4/15 21; g95 8/22 11
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Benz: brfi 32
concentration camps: ijwfq article 57; brfi 10-19, 30; jv 659-665, 720; g93 2/8 20-23; g92 11/22 18-19; g89 4/8 13-16
Buchenwald unveils memorial plaque (2002): yb03 13, 21-23
purple triangles: ijwex article 13; w07 9/1 10; w06 2/15 32
survivors praise Witnesses: g 8/07 30; w96 1/15 4; g95 8/22 10-11; jv 664
Witness comments: w01 3/15 9; yb99 144-146; w96 1/15 4
witnessing in: w93 9/15 19
Witness statistics: w07 10/15 32; jv 194
conventions:
Berlin (1933): g98 7/8 12-13; g95 8/22 7
dates of significant events: brfi 30-31
‘declaration renouncing faith’ promoted by Nazis: w11 1/15 11; jv 660-661, 663
content: jv 661
emigrate to serve where need is greater:
in Uruguay: yb99 229-232
map: jv 432
expose Nazism from beginning: g95 8/22 3-12, 14-15
field ministry:
declaration distributed (1933): jv 693
open letter distributed (1937): brfi 5, 7; jv 448-449, 694
resolution distributed (1936): brfi 5, 7; w01 3/15 9; jv 448-449, 694
Gestapo Command to fight Witnesses: jv 553
Hitler’s threat: jv 552-553
letter from Rutherford to Hitler: w01 3/15 9; g95 8/22 7-8; jv 693
letters from Witnesses about to be executed: w09 12/15 27; w07 7/15 31; w05 5/1 18; g03 2/8 18; g95 8/22 5; g89 4/8 16; w86 2/1 13; w86 6/1 11
letters to Hitler and Hitler’s government: brfi 6; w11 10/1 14; g03 1/8 31; w01 3/15 9; g95 8/22 8; jv 315, 552, 693-694
life story of brother whose family’s loyalty motivated him: g98 2/22 12-17
life story of girl whose parents were murdered: w04 12/1 24-29
life story of SS officer: g 2/10 18-20
Memorial: w93 5/15 29
modern history: brfi 1-32; yb99 67-68
Nazis who later become: g90 9/8 17-21; g86 4/22 13-16
neutrality: ijwfq article 57; brfi 21; w16.08 32; w15 9/1 4; ed 20; w09 6/1 14-15; ba 25; jv 194, 669; g87 9/8 7; w86 9/1 20-21
number: brfi 31-32
persecution: ijwfq article 57; w08 9/15 8; re 39-40, 102; w01 3/15 8-9; w00 4/1 19; g98 7/8 11; jv 442, 552-553, 659-665, 720; g93 5/8 4-6, 31; w90 2/1 22; w89 6/15 27; g89 4/8 12-16; w88 2/15 18
beginning: g95 8/22 6-8
children taken from parents: brfi 8-9; w97 8/1 22
executions: ijwfq article 57; brfi 30-31
foretold (Da 11:30, 31): w93 11/1 14-15
imprisonment: ijwfq article 57; w03 3/1 5; w97 5/1 25-27; w97 8/1 22
murder: w04 12/1 28
Purple Triangles exhibitions: brfi 3-4
reasons: ijwfq article 57; w01 3/15 8-9; g98 7/8 11
Witness statistics: w07 10/15 32; w01 3/15 9; jv 194
woman who hid Witnesses: g97 1/22 31
persons: g89 4/8 12-16
Abt, Elsa: brfi 17; bt 223; w88 2/15 18
Alfermann, Joachim: w07 10/15 32
Appel, Rolf: brfi 22
Arnold, Adolphe and Emma: brfi 18
Arnold, Simone: brfi 9
Arzt, Louis: brfi 9
Auschner, Gustav: w95 3/15 20; g89 4/8 14
Auschner, Rudolf: ijwfq article 57
Benink, Gerrit: brfi 28
Bernecker, Heinz: brfi 22
Bernhardt, Gottlieb and Inge: g 2/10 18-20
Cyranek, Ludwig: w89 5/1 11-12; g89 4/8 16
Degen, Johann and Johanna: brfi 19
Dickmann, August: brfi 12, 20, 30-31; w00 5/1 32; jv 660; g93 5/8 6; g89 4/8 14
Franke, Konrad: brfi 7; jv 451
Frost, Erich: foa article 7; brfi 28; mwb17.04 6; jv 268; w88 3/15 21
Fundis, Heinrich: brfi 21
Gärtner, Hans: brfi 15
Gotthold, Helene: ijwfq article 57; brfi 24
Graichen, Rudolf: w97 8/1 20-23
Harms, Johannes: brfi 23; g95 8/22 5; g89 4/8 16
Heim, Adam: brfi 19
Henschel, Horst: w23.09 24-25; g98 2/22 12-14
Hombach, Maria: brfi 7; jv 451; w89 5/1 10-13
Jess, Frieda: w03 3/1 5
Jung, Eugène: brfi 9
Kazak, Anastasia: brfi 27
Klohe, Georg: brfi 17
Klose, Erwin: g92 11/22 18-21
Krause, Anneliese: brfi 8
Kühnel, Karl: brfi 24
Kusserow, Wilhelm: brfi 23
Kusserow, Wolfgang: brfi 23; w08 7/1 22; g95 8/22 5; w94 1/15 5; g89 4/8 15
Kusserow family: brfi 8, 19; jv 449; g89 4/8 15
Lang, Hans: g94 4/22 12-15
Letonja, Willi: brfi 20
Liebold, Gerhard: ijwfq article 57
Liebold, Kurt: brfi 21
Liebster, Max: w95 6/15 5-7; w93 12/15 15-16; g89 4/8 7
Löhr, Elfriede: w19.07 12; jv 450
Ludolph, Erna: brfi 10; w05 5/1 31
Mewes, Berthold: brfi 8
Moser, Alois: brfi 27
Moserth, Max: brfi 21
Müller, Charlotte: brfi 11; w97 5/1 25-27
Partsey, Pyotr: yb08 112-113
Peters, August: jv 452
Poetzinger, Martin and Gertrud: foa article 7; brfi 15-16, 32; w19.07 12; jv 452, 661, 663; w89 6/15 27; g89 4/8 13, 16; w88 9/15 31
Rehwald, Hans: brfi 23
Rehwald, Josef (Joseph): brfi 28; g93 2/8 20-23
Riet, Narciso: w05 6/15 32
Rudolph, Richard: w13 12/15 3-5
Schmidt, Hermine: brfi 27
Schmidt, Horst: brfi 19
Schurstein, Karl: jv 452
Seliger, Ernst and Hildegard: brfi 29; w93 9/15 19; jv 452
Soostmeyer, Siegmar: g87 4/22 11-14
Speidel, Sigurd: brfi 21
Sponsel, Theodor: brfi 17
Stark, Jonathan: brfi 10
Stossier, Johann: g93 11/8 18
Thoenes, Katharina: brfi 10
Töllner, Wilhelm: brfi 14
Turpin, Anna Denz: w04 12/1 24-27
Unterdörfer, Ilse: brfi 11; jv 450
Wandres, Albert: brfi 15-16; jv 450
Warter, Eduard and Ruth: w87 3/1 21-24
Wauer, Ernst: w91 8/1 25-29
Weigand, Konstantin: g88 10/22 18-21
Weseler, Paul: brfi 21
Wiesner, Ernst: w13 12/15 4
Winkler, Robert Arthur: brfi 28; jv 453; w88 2/15 17-18; w88 5/15 20
Wohlfahrt, Franz: g94 10/22 8-15
Yarosh, Nadezhda Alekseyevna: brfi 11
Zehden, Emmy: brfi 24; g97 1/22 31
pioneers: jv 432
places:
Holzgerlingen: w89 5/1 12-13
Rollwald labor camp: g94 10/22 13-14
Stuttgart: w89 5/1 12-13
printing: brfi 7; w97 5/1 25
publications:
book Jehovah in miniature: brfi 7
distribution: g95 8/22 11
duplicated locally: brfi 30-31
smuggled in: w13 12/15 3-5; w04 12/1 26-27
refusal to compromise: w06 8/1 6; re 39; jv 660-661; w90 8/1 19; g89 4/8 14-15; w86 9/1 20-21
contrast with churches: w97 8/15 32
refusal to heil Hitler: w04 12/1 25; jv 196, 669
resolution “Declaration of Facts” (1933): g99 9/8 30; g98 7/8 12-14
Rutherford perplexed over what direction to give: w93 2/1 19
service experiences:
prisoner of war: w89 10/1 24-26
spiritual food supplied: brfi 30-31; re 21; yb87 142
telegrams to Hitler’s government: brfi 6, 30; w01 3/15 9; g95 8/22 8; jv 315, 552, 693-694; yb91 148-149; yb87 143
traitors: w89 5/1 12
Müller, Hans: w89 5/1 11-12
underground activities: brfi 7; w89 5/1 11-13
video Jehovah’s Witnesses Stand Firm Against Nazi Assault: w01 6/1 21; yb98 46-47; g97 6/22 14-15
youths: w97 8/1 21-23
Quotations
cross and swastika came ever closer: g95 8/22 13; g94 10/22 3
Jehovah’s Witnesses:
against all odds, Witnesses in the camps met and prayed together, produced literature and made converts: jv 663
all who saw them die were deeply moved, and even the execution squad itself was affected: jv 663
a rock in the mud: w96 1/15 4
a thorn in the side of the Monarch of Munich: w88 4/1 21
beam of light in a dark age: g97 6/22 14
behavior embodies virtues essential to continued existence of a democratic state: brfi 3
bravest: g95 8/22 14; g87 4/22 6
brought morally to their knees the might of that Gestapo power: g95 8/22 12
Christian martyrs, unshakable opposition against coercion of conscience: g95 8/22 14; g93 5/8 4
collective and uncompromising defiance that commands respect: w11 10/1 14
commanded eventually even the respect of the SS: jv 664
diamond hard in their resistance: g93 5/8 5; g89 4/8 14
did not cooperate: pc 27-28; re 39
did not doubt their own roots, for their faith had been evident since the time of Abel: jv 665; w86 9/1 21
did speak out, from the beginning, with one voice, with tremendous courage: g98 10/22 27; g95 8/22 15
faith in God and trust in promises of Bible gave strength to resist: g97 6/22 15
first religious organization to be hit by the Nazis, and hit the hardest: brfi 5
have an exemplary place in the saddest chapter of our history: brfi 3-4
like a light that never flickers: w88 4/1 21
many sentenced to death for refusing military service: g98 11/22 13; jv 194
most important of the Nazi objections was their political neutrality: g98 11/22 13; jv 194; g87 4/22 10
Nazis panicked in face of: w86 9/1 21
never allowed themselves to be “reeducated”: w92 2/1 32
no other group exposed to sadism of SS-soldiery in such a fashion: w93 9/15 14; jv 553
no other resistance organization took comparable initiatives: brfi 5
no other sect displayed anything like the same determination in the face of the full force of Gestapo terrorism: w90 8/1 19
no other sect suffered as much: brfi 5
one out of every two imprisoned, one in four lost lives: w96 2/1 6; w90 8/1 19
one third were killed: w90 2/1 22
only against the Witnesses was the government unsuccessful: w01 7/15 19; w93 9/15 15; jv 553; w91 11/1 12
only people who didn’t deal with all this by hatred but by love: w96 1/15 4
only they resisted: w97 8/15 32; w86 9/1 20-21
persecuted on religious grounds only: jv 660; w86 6/15 27
refused any cooperation with the Nazi state: g95 8/22 14; w93 2/1 5; g87 4/22 6
refused to endorse or collaborate with the regime: w00 9/1 32
refused to have anything to do with Nazis: w04 2/15 6-7
seemed protected against the camp experience: w92 2/1 32
solid ideological force: w93 2/1 5; jv 663; g89 4/8 14-15
SS was never quite equal to the challenge: brfi 13; g95 8/22 12; g89 4/8 15
stance positively influenced other prisoners: g 4/06 11
surprisingly, for the Nazis, they could not be eliminated: g93 5/8 5; g89 4/8 14
these slandered and scoffed-at people stood up first: w97 8/15 32; g95 8/22 14
time-honored methods of persecution, torture, imprisonment, and ridicule were not resulting in the conversion of any Witnesses: jv 664; w86 9/1 21
tiny island of unflagging resistance: g98 11/22 13; jv 663; g89 4/8 14-15
to think that we Christians of today are ashamed of the so-called sect: g95 8/22 14
uncompromising faith: re 102; w90 2/1 22
unusual heights of human dignity and moral behavior: w92 2/1 32
we hold in honor the memory of these people: g97 6/22 14
won their battle against Nazism: w93 2/1 5; jv 663; g89 4/8 14-15