Faith Is Practical!

Testimony from the Concentration Camps

CONCENTRATION camps​—What comes to your mind?

You may recall pictures of frightened people being driven from boxcars and directed to their death. Or, overworked, half-starved prisoners forced to live with their own excrement and suffering from disease. Or, it could be inhuman medical experiments or ovens that consumed countless human bodies.

These things are part of the picture of those terrible camps.

Yet there is something else to consider. Horrible as the Nazi camps were, hundreds of thousands of men and women there were trying to live. They were struggling day after day to keep alive despite the sickness, beatings, exhaustion and random killings. They tried to eat, keep warm and avoid disease. They had to work, sleep and deal with those around them.

Thus, despite their horror​—or perhaps because of it—​the Nazi concentration camps are a place for us to look for evidence as to the real practicality of faith. Though we personally may never face life in such camps, we can benefit from lessons involving them.

MANY LOST FAITH

One prominent effect of the camps was loss of faith. Writer Philip Yancy explains: “Some survivors lost their faith in God. Jews, especially, were susceptible: raised to believe that they had been chosen people, they suddenly discovered that, as one Jew poignantly expressed, ‘Hitler is the only one who has kept his promises.’”

Elie Wiesel describes the effect of witnessing a young boy’s hanging. The SS assembled the prisoners in front of the gallows. As the boy died slowly, a prisoner cried, “Where is God now?” Wiesel says, “And I heard a voice within me answer him ‘Where is He? Here He is​—He is hanging here on this gallows . . .’”

Many who claimed to be Christians lost faith too. In The Christian Century, Harry J. Cargas put into these words how many former churchgoers felt: “The Holocaust is, in my judgment, the greatest tragedy for Christians since the crucifixion. In the first instance, Jesus died; in the latter, Christianity may be said to have died. . . . Can one be a Christian today, given the death camps which, in major part, were conceived, built and operated by a people who called themselves Christians . . . ?”

However, there was a group whose faith was not destroyed. Jehovah’s Witnesses understood from the Bible that God was not causing the wickedness of the camps nor the suffering that has plagued mankind for centuries. On the contrary, these things grieve Him and prove that humans cannot direct their steps independent of him. (Jer. 10:23; Eccl. 8:9) He has promised in his Word that at a set point he will eliminate wickedness from the earth. He also will undo the damage that those with faith have experienced, even being able to raise them to life again.​—Rev. 21:4; see also the chapter “Wickedness​—Why Does God Permit It?” in the book Happiness​—How to Find It.a

FAITH AMONG WOMEN

Let us examine, for example, the effects of the concentration camps on women.

In his autobiography Commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoess observed: “The women’s camp, tightly crammed from the very beginning, meant psychological destruction for the mass of the female prisoners, and this led sooner or later to their physical collapse. From every point of view, and at all times, the worst conditions prevailed in the women’s camp.”

Of course, conditions varied somewhat from camp to camp and at different times during the war. Yet Hoess remarked: “When the women had reached the bottom, they would let themselves go completely. They would stumble about like ghosts, . . . until the day came when they quietly passed away.” Contributing to this was the conduct of some prisoners who were given authority. According to Hoess, “they far surpassed their male equivalents in toughness, squalor, vindictiveness, and depravity.”

But Hoess adds: “A welcome contrast were the female Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were nicknamed ‘Bible bees’ or ‘Bible worms.’ Unfortunately there were too few of them.”

How did these female Witnesses of Jehovah hold up amidst the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps? How was their faith affected? Firsthand information was published in the book Under Two Dictators (1949), by Margarete Buber.

She and her husband were prominent members of the German Communist party in the early 1930’s. After being ordered to Moscow, they were arrested for “political deviations.” Though still believing in the theory of Communism, Margarete Buber was sent to a Siberian camp. Later she was handed over to the Nazis and for five years served in the infamous Ravensbrueck concentration camp for women.

During part of that time, she was a Block Senior, a prisoner in charge of a block or barracks of other prisoners. Most of those in her block were Jehovah’s Witnesses (Bible Students). Margarete Buber’s account provides eyewitness information from a political prisoner who was not herself one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Her account is confirmed by Gertrude Poetzinger, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who was a prisoner in Ravensbrueck for over four years and who serves today with her husband at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York. The following is a condensation of portions of the book, in Margarete Buber’s own words and used with her permission.

UNDER TWO DICTATORS

Every newcomer in a concentration camp goes through a terrible period in which she is shaken to the core, no matter how strong her physique, how calm her nerves. And the sufferings of the newcomers became worse and worse each year in Ravensbrueck, and in consequence the death rate was highest among them. According to character, it would take weeks, months, or even years, before a prisoner resigned herself to her fate and adapted her being to existence in a camp. It is in this period that the character of the individual changes. Gradually the interest for the outside world and for the other prisoners declines.

I think that nothing is more demoralizing than suffering, excessive suffering coupled with humiliation such as comes to men and women in concentration camps. When the SS struck, you dared not strike back. When the SS bullied and insulted, you had to keep your mouth shut and never answer back. You had lost all human rights​—all, all without exception. You were just a living being with a number to distinguish you from the other unfortunates around you.

I am not thinking here of those prisoners who occupied some post and were able to maltreat those in their charge. I mean the ordinary women prisoners. If one seemed to get a trifle more food, a slightly larger piece of bread, a slightly bigger portion of margarine or sausage, immediately there were hateful scenes of anger and resentment.

From the time we first tumbled out of our bunks to the time we had to line up outside for the roll call there was three quarters of an hour in which to wash, dress, tidy lockers and eat our “breakfast.” That would not be too easy in the best of circumstances, but think what it meant in a hut with 100 other women all rushing around intent on doing the same! The air was blue with bad language and abuse.

[That is a partial description of what her life was like in Ravensbrueck. But then the author was appointed Block Senior in Block 3, which at the time housed the Bible Students.]

I took up my duties that afternoon at Block 3. There was a very different atmosphere here. The place was silent and smelled of cleaning powder, disinfectant and cabbage soup. Two hundred and seventy women sat at the tables. As soon as I went into the room, a tall, blonde woman rose, led me to a seat and served me with a bowl of cabbage soup. I hardly knew what to do.

Wherever I looked along the tables there were the same modest smiling faces. All of them had their hair tied at the back in a tight bun, and they sat there in perfect order and ate their food as though they were all on the same string. Most of them seemed to be peasant women, and their lean faces were brown and wrinkled from the sun and the wind. Many of these women had been in prison and concentration camp for years.

There were 275 prisoners​—all Bible Students. All of them were model prisoners and all of them knew the camp rules and regulations inside out and obeyed them to the letter. One locker looked exactly like the other, and all of them were models of cleanliness and neatness. All the towels hung on the locker doors in exactly the same regulation fashion; every bowl, plate, cup, and so forth, was clean and highly polished. The stools were scrubbed spotlessly clean and always neatly stacked when not in use. Dust was removed everywhere, even from the beams across the hut, for our hut had no ceiling and we looked up straight into the roof. I was told that some of the SS overseers went around with white gloves, passing their fingers over ledges and locker tops and even climbing onto the tables to find out whether the beams were dustless.

Lavatories and washroom were equally clean. But the culminating point of all this neatness and cleanliness was the dormitories, each containing 140 beds. The bed-building here was an astonishing achievement. Straw sacks and pillows were like boxes. The blankets were all carefully folded in exactly the same way and exactly the same size, and all laid out on the beds in exactly the same pattern. On every bunk was a card bearing the name and number of the prisoners who slept in it, and on the door was a carefully drawn plan of the dormitory showing each bunk and exactly who slept in it, so that anyone inspecting could tell at once where everyone was.

While I was Hut Senior among the Asocials,b the whole day had been occupied with some duty or other and disturbed with some new fear. With the Bible Students my life ran very smoothly. Everything went like clockwork. In the mornings, when everyone was intent on getting her jobs done before the roll call, no one spoke a loud word. In other blocks the Block Seniors and Hut Seniors had to shout themselves hoarse before they could get their charges out into the open and into line, but here the whole procedure went off silently and without a word from me, and the same was true of everything else​—the distribution of food, lights out, and all the rest of the prisoners’ day.

My chief task with the Bible Students was to make their lives as tolerable as possible, to ward off the chicanery of the SS Block Leader.

Nothing was ever stolen in Block 3. There was no lying and no tale bearing. Each of the women was not only highly conscientious personally, but held herself responsible for the well-being of the group as a whole. I had not been there very long before they realized that I was their friend.

Once this relationship had been established and I was quite confident that none of them would ever betray me, there were many things I could do for them; for instance, I saved the older and physically weaker prisoners from standing for hours at the roll call with all sorts of excuses and tricks. I could not have done that with the Asocials, for those who were better able to stand the strain would have betrayed me to the SS in their resentment at the idea that anyone was being favoured.

The Bible Students formed the only homogeneous block among the prisoners at Ravensbrueck. When I first went to Block 3 I had only the vaguest idea about their religious convictions and why Hitler disliked them. Dislike is a mild word to describe his attitude toward them; he denounced them as enemies of the State and persecuted them ruthlessly.

It was not long before they realized that I was a very unlikely convert, but they continued to show me their sympathy and never ceased to hope that one day I might “see the light.” As far as I could make out they believed that the whole of humanity, with the exception of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was soon to be cast into everlasting darkness when the world came to an end. Good was to triumph finally over Evil. Nation would no longer lift up sword against nation, the leopard would lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and no one would hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain. And there would be no more dying and everyone​—the survivors—​would live happily ever after and there would be no end to their felicity.

This simple and satisfactory belief lent them strength and made them able to stand the long years of concentration-camp life and all the indignities and humiliations and still retain their human dignity. They were given cause to prove, and they proved, that death had no terrors for them. They could die for their beliefs without shrinking.

They took the Sixth Commandment seriously and in consequence they were determined opponents of all wars and all military service. Their constancy in this respect cost many of the male Witnesses their life. The women of the sect also refused to perform any work that in their opinion was calculated to further the war effort.

Their sense of duty and their feeling of responsibility were unshakable; they were industrious, honest and obedient. The Witnesses were, so to speak, “voluntary prisoners,” all they had to do in order to secure their immediate release was sign the special Bible Students’ form that 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.”

Before I became their Block Senior, they suffered much from the fact that [the notorious former Block Senior] Kaethe Knoll did her utmost to prevent them from engaging in religious discussion with one another. To stop them from talking about it all and comparing notes​—“studying the Bible,” in short—​was a kind of Chinese torture, and Kaethe Knoll had applied it with malicious zeal.

I had been their Block Senior for some time before I discovered that my “Bible Worms,” as they were known in the camp, possessed Bibles and Bible Students literature. They began to bring them in, hidden in pails and floor cloths, and so on, when they came in from work. When I discovered it I suggested that it would be less dangerous if they hid them somewhere in the block, and this suggestion was enthusiastically adopted. After that Bible study went on quite openly in the block in the evenings and on Sundays. And in bed at night, before the SS women came around with their dogs, they would sing their hymns softly. My job was to see that they had ample warning of danger and an opportunity to hide away their forbidden literature.

I was running no small risk. I was Block Senior and responsible for everything that went on. It was the “Golden Age” of my life in concentration camp​—post-Armageddon so to speak—​but how I managed to survive inspection after inspection headed by that brute Koegel without landing in Punishment Block or Bunkers I don’t know to this day.

But there was a still more dangerous game I played. When a prisoner felt ill she had to report through me to the medical post. The acid test was the thermometer. According to its reading, the sick woman would be sent into the sick-bay, be permitted to do “inside work,” or be sent out mercilessly to her ordinary labours. Now, among the “Witnesses” there were quite a number of older women who, although they had no fever, were just so weak that work was really beyond them. The only way to spare them and let them have a day off from time to time was for me to give false reports of the numbers in the gangs, and this I did. What would have happened to me if this had been discovered I hesitate to think. It was made more difficult by the fact that we were the Inspection Block [the barracks to which visiting Nazi officials were brought. The author thus describes such an unannounced visit:]

I would report in the appropriate subaltern voice:

“Block Senior Margarete Buber, No. 4,208. Report obediently Block No. 3 occupied by 275 Bible Students and three Politicals, of whom 260 are at work, eight have hut duties and seven permits for inside work.”

Koegel would stare at me with his watery blue eyes, his clean-shaven jowls twitching, and then he would grunt something. Then I would go ahead on the routine inspection, opening one door after the other, and the first three lockers. And as we approached the prisoners properly and legitimately present, I would snarl “Achtung!” whereupon they would all spring up like jacks-in-the-box. All the visitors, whether male or female, SA, SS, or what-not, would invariably be impressed by the shining tin and aluminum. Koegel was usually the only one to put questions to the prisoners. “Why were you arrested?” and invariably the answer would come: “Because I am a Witness of Jehovah.” That would be all the questioning, for Koegel knew from experience that these incorrigible Bible Students never missed an opportunity for a demonstration [of their being witnesses]. After that the visitors would look into the dormitory, and invariably there would be loud exclamations at the spotless order they found there.

Although the SS Senior Supervisor Frau Langefeld favoured and protected the “Witnesses,” one of the leading overseers, a woman named Zimmer, regarded them as her “bête noire.” Frau Zimmer was satisfied with nothing; not even the most exemplary bed met with approval in her eyes, and she never missed an opportunity to abuse and bully the Witnesses.

[To disrupt the Witnesses’ peace and Christian unity, the authorities put about 100 Asocials in the block.]

It was as though the wolves had come down on the fold. Denunciation, theft and brawling became part and parcel of our daily lives. The Asocials immediately began to denounce the “Witnesses” for Bible studies and religious discussions; they stole everything they could lay hands on; and, feeling themselves the representatives of authority, conducted themselves generally in a thoroughly aggressive and provocative fashion. And how sad it was for me! But to the credit of my “Witnesses” be it said that they rallied to me in my difficulties and supported me in every possible way. Thanks to them, we managed to struggle through for six months​—as long as the scourge lasted—​without serious trouble.

I did my best to isolate the troublemakers. I kept the “Witnesses” at separate tables so that they could discuss their affairs during meals without the danger of denunciation, and at night I put the Asocials in the top bunks and the “Witnesses” below. However, as it transpired, the authorities​—the prime mover in the scheme was Frau Zimmer—​must have picked us out all the notorious bed wetters in the camp, and night after night it rained down on the innocents in the bunks beneath.

One day our old enemy, Frau Zimmer, came in to survey her handiwork. She immediately spotted my separation of the sheep from the goats and turned on me indignantly.

“You needn’t think I’m blind,” she declared. “I know perfectly well you shield and protect the Bible-punchers here. Don’t you dare separate the Bible Worms and the Asocials, do you hear?”

Well, that was it; I had to mix them all up and hope for the best. It was at this point that Jehovah intervened. The Bible Students accepted the Asocials like long-lost sisters: Were they hungry? Were they! Would they like an extra piece of bread? Would they! And so it went on. I watched this Christian charity in operation with mixed feelings, but it worked. The Asocials were softened up with kindness and friendliness, and then a campaign began to show them the light. In quite a short space of time there were quite a number of Asocials​—a Gypsy, a Pole, a Jewess and a Political—​who presented themselves at the SS office, declaring that henceforth they wished to be regarded as Jehovah’s Witnesses and demanding the lilac triangle for their sleeves. When it got too bad, the SS just stormed and raved at the converts and threw them out. In the end the SS got so fed up that they removed the Asocials from our block and peace descended again. I breathed a sigh of relief, and the “Witnesses” held a prayer meeting to render thanks to Jehovah.

FAITH IS PRACTICAL FOR YOU

It is tragic that anyone, for any reason, had to face the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Yet it did occur. What can we learn from it?

The account in Under Two Dictators testifies to the faith that those Christian women had. It certainly was not a faith of convenience. Yet we cannot escape noticing the practical benefits resulting from their living by such strong faith in God, as they awaited the time when God will eliminate all wickedness from the earth.

Their faith gave them standards. It helped them to maintain mental and moral balance. Their health was not undermined by worry, nor their strength sapped by despair. Thus, their faith helped them to keep living day by day.

Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim observed Jehovah’s Witnesses firsthand in the camps. He wrote that they “not only showed unusual heights of human dignity and moral behavior, but seemed protected against the same camp experience that soon destroyed persons considered very well integrated by my psychoanalytic friends and myself.”​—The Informed Heart (italics added).

The Dungeon Democracy adds: “They were an object of mockery for some, but ignored it and kept their dignity of men when the others contemptuously bartered their own for supremacy in the tooth-and-claw struggle for survival.”

Even if you never experience suffering anywhere near as great, can you not see that such faith can aid you? As with all persons today you, too, face daily problems and pressures. But faith in God will help you to live a more secure life.

Faith in God and his Word will also prove practical in your dealings with other people. For example, when you live in accord with deep faith others will likely treat you with more fairness and respect. Does that sound unlikely in today’s dog-eat-dog world? Well, consider Bettelheim’s comment about the Witnesses in camp: “Even though they were the only group of prisoners who never abused or mistreated other prisoners (on the contrary, they were usually quite courteous to fellow prisoners), SS officers preferred them as orderlies because of their work habits, skills, and unassuming attitudes.”

It is similar today. Because of their faith and God’s spirit, Jehovah’s Witnesses still strive to be friendly, mild, honest and hard working. (Gal. 5:23; Rom. 12:16-18, 21; Jas. 3:13; Eph. 4:28) Thus they are often valued as employees. Frequently, they have found it relatively easy to get a job and are retained when others are laid off, or they are promoted quickly to positions of trust.

In many other ways, too, faith can prove to be practical. It can help youths to be happier, with more purpose in life. It is practical as to family life and matters involving sex. It can bring you better health and longer life.

But what many might view as the ultimate evidence that faith truly is practical is highlighted by the words at Hebrews 11:6. The apostle Paul there wrote: “Without faith it is impossible to please [God] well, for he that approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.”

Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses are, in faith, looking forward to God’s promised reward of life in peace, righteousness and happiness on earth. (2 Pet. 3:13) We urge you to find out from them more about that reward and about how faith can now, and forever, be practical in your life.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 8]

Gertrude Poetzinger in 1944. She was among the 275 of Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned at Ravensbrueck

[Picture on page 9]

Gertrude Poetzinger today. She serves at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses