Rutherford's love letter to Hitler

by irondork 56 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • irondork
    irondork

    Has anyone ever thought to send a copy of Rutherford's Letter to Hitler & Declaration of Facts to the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.? They have and entire section dedicated to the Jehovah's Witness in that museum. I would hate for tourists to visit the museum and not get the whole story.

    I would also assume there are JW displays at other Holocaust museums around the world. Are they telling the whole story? Do they even know the whole story? Is it not our job to make sure they have all the information they need and not just what the WTS may have provided them? Do we not have an obligation?

    “How comely are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

  • Christ Alone
    Christ Alone

    Feel the love of God's only true organization:

    "Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important position" The Golden Age 1927 Feb 23 p.343

    "Jews [are] no longer important to God. … the Balfour Declaration, sponsored by the heathen governments of Satan's organization, came forth, recognized the Jews, and bestowed upon them great favors. The Jews have received more attention at their hands than they really deserved." Vindication - Book II (1932) pp.257,258

    jwfacts.com gives a portion of the letter in English:

    "Dear Reichskanzler,

    The Brooklyn headquarter of the Watchtower Society is pro German in an exemplary way and has been so for many years. For that reason, in 1918, the president of the Society and seven members of the board of directors were sentenced to 80 years in prison, because the president refused to use two of the magazines published in America under his direction for war propaganda against Germany. These two magazines, "The Watchtower" and "Bible Student" were the only magazines in America which refused to engage in anti-German propaganda and for that reason were prohibited and suppressed in America during the war.

    In the very same manner, in course of the recent months the board of directors of our Society not only refused to engage in propaganda against Germany, but has even taken a position against it. The enclosed declaration underlines this fact and emphasizes that the people leading in such propaganda (Jewish businessmen and Catholics) also are the most rigorous persecutors of the work of our Society and its board of directors. This and other statements of the declaration are meant to repudiate the slanderous accusation, that Bible Researchers are supported by the Jews.

    The conference of five thousand delegates also noted - as is expressed in the declaration - that the Bible Researchers of Germany are fighting for the very same high ethical goals and ideals which also the national government of the German Reich proclaimed respecting the relationship of humans to God, namely: honesty of the created being towards its creator.

    The conference came to the conclusion that there are no contradictions when it comes to the relationship between the Bible Researchers of Germany to the national government of the German Reich. To the contrary, referring to the purely religious and unpolitical goals and efforts of the Bible Researchers, it can be said that these are in full agreement with the identical goals of the national government of the German Reich.

    We are looking forward to your kind approval, which we hope to receive soon, and want to assure our highest respect to you, honorable Mr. Reichskanzler.

    Yours faithfully,
    Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Magdeburg"

    And a portion of the declatation:

    "It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good. This of itself should be sufficient proof to show that we receive no support from Jews and that therefore the charges against us are maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy. The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire . By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.

    The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nations. Such is exactly our position.

    Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles , and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart.

    A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness.

    Let us remind the government and the people of Germany, that it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens. That the League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of Germany." Yearbook 1934 pp.134-138 (English Edition)

  • sd-7
    sd-7

    This was actually one of the first things I learned about in my research, that declaration (thanks to 4jehovah.org). Not something you'll see in the Proclaimers book, that's for sure. Sounds a lot like Nazi ideals were being endorsed here.

    --sd-7

  • Christ Alone
    Christ Alone

    Rutherford was notoriously anti semetic. Here is a theory as to WHY:

    http://ed5015.tripod.com/JwHolocaustMem84.htm

  • glenster
  • whathappened
    whathappened

    I see these mug shots of Rutherford and he looks like he knows he's in big trouble. He liked to drink and knew he would be cut off from his alcohol also.

    Thanks for posting these, I have never seen these before.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    The shift to more overt antisemitic views seems to have started in the latter 1920s and was became prominent during the Great Depression. I think it was driven by a larger cultural economic antisemitism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_antisemitism), and Rutherford's castigation of "Big Business" frequently had Jews in view. Rutherford in particular may well have been influenced by Rep. Louis T. McFadden (R-Pennsylvania), who proposed a bill in Congress (H.R. 7986) in support of Jehovah's Witnesses and whose testimony in the hearings closely paralleled Rutherford's own views about Big Business. McFadden was a populist Jew-baiter and Clayton Woodworth, editor of the Golden Age, believed that McFadden was used by God to accomplish his divine purposes (GA, 16 January 1935, p. 237).

    In my opinion, the most egregious statement was in Balzareit's German edition of the Declaration of Facts, which condemned the American boycott of German businesses in response to the Nazi policy then launched against Jewish businesses in Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Nazi_boycott_of_1933). The German harassment of Jewish businesses (which included a threat of annihilation for German Jewry) reflects the statement in Section 24 in the Nazi Platform quoted in the Hitler Letter that the Party "opposes the Jewish materialist spirit (bekampft den judisch-materialistischen Geist) domestically and abroad". Although the section was quoted to support the freedom of religion for JWs, the Letter declares that this statement embodies "just principles", and the other statement about the boycott in the Declaration would indicate solidarity with this particular principle.

  • Jaime l de Aragon
    Jaime l de Aragon

    While rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses were executed by Hitler, Watchtower leaders supported Hitler and the Nazi regime. Jehovah's Witnesses, Anti-semitism and the Third Reich:

    The Watch Tower Society's Attempted
    Compromise with Nazism

    By profession M. James Penton
    University of Lethbridge

    http://www.bible.ca/jw-penton-3rdreich.htm

    Letter to Hitler

    Russell, founder of the Watchtower, was a Zionist and sympathetic to Jews as part of modern day fulfilment of Bible prophecy. Rutherford initially continued such support, but changed by the 1930's to an anti-Semitic stance.

    "Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important position" The Golden Age 1927 Feb 23 p.343

    "Jews [are] no longer important to God. … the Balfour Declaration, sponsored by the heathen governments of Satan's organization, came forth, recognized the Jews, and bestowed upon them great favors. The Jews have received more attention at their hands than they really deserved."Vindication - Book II (1932) pp.257,258

    http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/hitler-nazi.php

    It may be difficult to understand why Hitler banned the Witnesses in light of the comments in theLetter to Hitler and the Declaration of Facts, so it is necessary to recognise the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the letter.

    During the time of Rutherford, Witnesses became known as a religion of hate, due to the Watchtower's tirade of insults against other Churches and governments. The Catholic Church come under the greatest condemnation and bought this to the attention of the Nazi government, petitioning against the Watchtower Society. Rutherford's Letter and Declaration were an effort to appease Hitler, but to no avail - too little, too late. The result was that Jehovah's Witnesses suffered unspeakable atrocities in Nazi concentration camps. Many individuals displayed tremendous courage and conviction, and it is tragic that this unnecessary suffering was a result of the words and actions of Rutherford.

    With Rutherford's efforts at appeasing Hitler having not achieved its aims, Rutherford instead started to antagonise Hitler through his publications, potentially making the plight of Witnesses in concentration camps even worse.

    Golden Age

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phvc_jV6vtE

  • Twitch
    Twitch

    He looks like a psychotic accountant.

    Which he was, come to think of it...

  • mP
    mP

    The NT itself is anti semitic. THe jews are blamed for killing Jesus and this has been repeated for nearly 2000 years. Everytime the church, or king wanted to rob the Jews, these scriptures were the justification. Most people not that long ago really believed in racism and other nasties. Unfrotunately this same attitude meant they could keep slaves simply bcause they were black and yet at the same time claim they were god fearing xians.

    If you examine who wrote the Bible, you will understand the NT was produced as a curse against the Jews for their rebellous, racist, pig headed views in the first century. If theres one thing you can be sure, they were a nasty bunch back then. This of course meant they were disliked by all and their elitist attitudes drove them to want to rebel against Rome against all sensible odds. Naturally Titus and Vespasian had to come and crush them. Jesus is the product of this.

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