AS.CEC@forsythe.stanford.edu (Charlie Channel, Jr.) (09/23/89)
>>I wished to speak out for Germans who would have otherwise been passed over >>unnoticed. According to the recently posted Niemoller Poem, I think it is >>a good idea to speak out for somebody who needs it. I'd find it interesting >>to find out what the Heroes of the Jehovahs Witnesses did during the >>war, and what they did to resist evil (or any other group for that matter). "Witnesses are well known for their stand as conscientious objectors during the two world wars and in Nazi Germany they were, for this reason, among the first to be put into concentration camps in the early 1930's." Richard Kennedy, "Jehovah' s Witnesses." _The International Dictionary of Religion_, 1984, p. 100. Postings on this subject have properly acknowledged those in Nazi Germany who made the ultimate sacrafice -- putting their lives on the line -- to do what is right. We all ought to be grateful for the example set by such brave individuals. Not only have their sacrafices shown us the dignity, love and compassion of which humankind is capable, they have enabled us to appreciate what love of right and God truly means. It is for these reason that the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany also stands, and I want to make sure the facts of history known and not overlooked. In their case, they refused to support Hitler at all. Here's the stats: Population of Nazi Germany: 65 million Catholics Protestants Jehovah's Witnesses Others ------------ ----------- ------------------- ------ 20 million 40 million 20,000 4.98 million 31 % 62 % 0.03 % 7.7 % "At the other end of the statistical and ideological spectrum were the 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses who, practically to a person, unequivocally refused to render any form of obedience to the Nazi state...The most cohesive group of resisters were sustained by religion. From the first, Jehovah's Witnesses did not cooperate with any facet of the Nazi state. Even after the gestapo destroyed their national headquarters in 1933 and banned the sect in 1935, they refused to do so much as say '_Heil Hitler_.' About half (mostly men) of all Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps, a thousand of them were executed, and another thousand died between 1933 and 1945." Claudia Koonz, _Mothers in the Fatherland_, 1986. The fact of the matter is that those Jehovah's Witnesses were German citizens. Dr. Gordon Zahn, University of Massachusetts, defined Nazis' victims as follows: o Those who suffered for what they did (homosexuals, political activist and resistors, etc...) o Those who suffered for what they were, (Jews, Gypsies and Slavs). o Those who suffered for what they refused to do (conscientious objectors, Jehovah Witnesses and others). Jehovah's Witnesses were NOT victims. Martyr: "One who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles" or "one who sacrifices something very important to him in order to further a belief, cause, or principle." _The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language_ There is nothing I can say on this subject. Those who know it intimately have already done so. From "The New York Times," May 14, 1985 Jehovah's Witnesses Were Hitler's Victims To the Editor: "My wife and I, both Germans, between us spent a total of 17 years in Nazi concentration camps. I was in Dachau and Mauthausen, and my wife, Gertrud, was in Ravensbruck. We were among the thousands of non-Jewish Germans who suffered because we did what the Nazi criminals failed to do - we were conscientious objectors to Hitler's obligatory idolatry and militarism. While thousands of us survived the camps, many did not. "Your recent letters telling of ordinary Germans who suffered under Hitler's Nazi regime ... provoke me to mention one minority group, usually ignored, that was persecuted ferociously by the Gestapo. They were known as the _Ernste Bibelforsher_ (Earnest Bible Students) or _Jehovas Zeugen_ (Jehovah's Witnesses). "As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, he commenced a systematic persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses because of their stand of neutrality in politics and war. As a result, thousands of German Witnesses, many of whom were friends of mine, became not only victims of the Holocaust but also martyrs. Why the subtle difference? Because we could have left the concentration camps at any time if we had been willing to sign a paper renouncing our religious beliefs. "Two brief examples will show the kind of spirit that burned in the breasts of some Germans who did resist Hitlerism. Wilhelm Kusserow, age 25, from Bad Lippspringe, was shot on April 27, 1940, because he refused to serve in Hitler's armies. "Two years later, Wilheilm's brother, Wolfgang, was beheaded in Brandenburg prison for the same reason. Shooting was by then too dignified for conscientious objectors in Hitler's estimation. Wolfgang was 20 years old. "I could tell of hundreds of German men and women who suffered similar fates because, in the name of God, they dared to stand out against tyranny. Why there were not millions of principled Germans to stand and be counted, instead of just thousands, is perhaps a question for others to answer. Martin Poetzinger, Brooklyn, May 1, 1985" In light of the above, it seems to me that the *observation* is valid. Why is i t that Jehovah's Witnesses are rarely, IF EVER, mentioned by those acknowledging sacrifices of Christians who stood against Hitler? If I may borrow a phrase from Martin Poetziner (who died not long ago), "Why there are not hundreds of millions who know the truth about Jehovah's Witnesses (where they were not only right but on the side of right), instead of just a few million, is perhaps a question for others to answer." Best regards, Charlie Channel, Jr. (I think the path is AS.CEC@stanford.bitnet, but I ain't sure 'bout nuthin concernin' commuters) P.S. I have intentionally NOT considered other questions that arise from the facts - that is, what the 60+ million professed German Christians, excluding those previously mentioned, were doing during the war and what their religions, in the name of Jesus Christ, permitted. A second, related, question is simply this: Assuming 92 percent (approximately the number of professed Christians) of the German citizenry failed to support Hitler, how would history have been changed? To: HEDRICK@ARAMIS.RUTGERS.EDU