You will find a very good example of what the Watchtower liars and spin doctors do when they want to gloss over their despicable history from Nazi Germany. Let us take a look at all the claims made in that article and examine them in the light of reality.
*** g98 7/8 p. 10 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril ***BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY JEHOVAH?S WITNESSES are well-known for their firm adherence to God?s Word, the Bible. This often calls for courage, and it certainly affects their lives and their relationships with others.?
They are no doubt well known for their firm adherence to what their leaders consider ?God?s Word? and naturally that kind of unlimited stupidity is bound to affect you life and your relationships with others.
*** g98 7/8 p. 10 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** For example, the Witnesses have deep regard for people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They love God and their neighbor. (Matthew 22:35-40) Indeed, they are in full agreement with the apostle Peter, who declared: ?For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.??Acts 10:34, 35.?
The Witnesses has absolutely no regard for anyone regardless ?of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds?. They live and pray for the day when their God is going to slaughter them all; they even know the percentage of mankind that will ?perish?:
w58 10/15 p614-615:
"On Satan's side will be all the rest of mankind, more than 99.9 percent, even as we read: "The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one." That includes all the governments of the world together with their supporters, the commercial, religious and social institutions. Even the professedly Christian organizations? Yes, because all such that are friends of the world are making themselves enemies of God."
The above quote doesn?t seem to be containing much respect for anyone but themselves, does it?
?*** g98 7/8 p. 10 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril ***Jehovah?s Witnesses are also known worldwide for their respect for law, order, and governmental authority. They have never been a seedbed of insurrection and never will be. This is true even when they are persecuted in some lands because of their taking the apostolic position: ?We must obey God as ruler rather than men.? (Acts 5:29; Matthew 24:9) At the same time, the Witnesses recognize the right of others to worship in harmony with the dictates of their conscience.?
Well, they don?t respect the law when it comes to reporting child molesters, they don?t respect the law when they subject people who want to vote in political elections to sanctions. They don?t respect confidentiality in medical institutions where they rat on fellow Jehovah's Witnesses which has ?transgressed? against Watchtower rules. All in all they only ?respect? what they want. The ?persecution? they harp on is usually caused by some completely idiotic behavior from themselves, like in Malawi, Africa.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 10 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril ***The courageous Christian stand of Jehovah?s Witnesses in Germany and other lands dominated by Adolf Hitler is a matter of record. A notable event in Berlin, Germany, in 1933 illustrates their courage, their love for God and neighbor, and their respect for law, order, and religious freedom.?
Some individual Bible students were no doubt quite courageous, completely misguided of course but still very brave. The Watchtower Society represented by their sovereign leader and dictator J. F. Rutherford was however very far from courageous or firm with Hitler as the real facts about that ?event? in Wilmersdorf Sporthalle in Berlin in 1933 will demonstrate.
*** g98 7/8 p. 10. No Compromise With Hitler
It was more than 50 years ago that Hitler?s monstrous 12-year reign of racism and murder came to an end. Yet, that Nazi regime inflicted wounds that grieve humanity to this day. History recognizes that only a few groups courageously stood up and spoke out against Nazi terror. Among them were Jehovah?s Witnesses, described as ?a tiny island of unflagging [moral] resistance existing in the bosom of a terrorized nation.? Their courageous stand is well documented by respected historians.?
Those ?historians? might be respected but I am afraid that in regard to their information about Jehovah's Witnesses their research is extremely inadequate. I am not an historian, but yet I have been able to find a lot of very interesting facts about the Watchtower history fraud by just researching the Watchtower Society literature alone. I sincerely hope the above mentioned historians have done a better job with the rest of the material they write. Regarding the so-called documentation about the alleged Jehovah's Witnesses ?resistance? it is very far from well documented.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 10 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** A few critics, however, including some former associates of Jehovah?s Witnesses, charge that the Witnesses attempted to compromise with the Hitler regime in its early days. They claim that representatives of the Watch Tower Society tried unsuccessfully to curry favor with the new government and that, at least for a time, they endorsed the racist ideology of the Nazis, which eventually led to the murder of six million Jews. These serious allegations are absolutely false. The following is a frank examination of the events in question, based on available documentation and historical context.?
Well. As we are about to see whatever one might call this ?examination? it is very far from frank.
? *** g98 7/8 pp. 10-11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Jehovah?s Witnesses have been active in Germany for more than 100 years. By 1933, there were about 25,000 Witnesses worshiping Jehovah God and distributing Bible literature throughout Germany.?
Already here the expression ?frank? is blown out of the water, as the Watchtower Society use the false figure of 25000 witnesses in Germany in 1933. The truth is that this number was reported as being present at the ?memorial supper? that year and anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of Jehovah's Witnesses knows that the majority of those present at those gathering is very far from ?worshiping Jehovah?. Still the Watchtower Society don?t hesitate to use this number in the manner they do thus revealing their devious nature.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Despite the freedoms granted by the German constitution of that time, Jehovah?s Witnesses were frequently the target of defamation campaigns, launched primarily by religious opponents. As early as 1921, the Witnesses, then called Ernste Bibelforscher (Earnest Bible Students), were accused of being linked with the Jews in subversive political movements. The Bible Students were branded as the dangerous Bolshevik ?Jewish worm,? though no proof of the charges was ever produced. Swiss theologian Karl Barth later wrote: ?The accusation that Jehovah?s Witnesses are linked with the Communists can only be due to an involuntary or even intentional misunderstanding.?
Like the Watchtower Society the Nazi?s wasn?t very concerned with truth and reality, so all kinds of fanciful and stupid accusations was thrown around. The Watchtower Society first president C.T. Russell was very pro Jewish according to Historian and Professor J. Penton:
?During the first half of their history, the Bible Student-Jehovah's Witnesses were notable for their sympathy to the Jews. Even more than most late nineteenth- and twentieth-century American Protestant premillennialists, the Watch Tower's first president, Charles T. Russell, was a thoroughgoing supporter of Zionist causes. He refused to attempt the conversion of the Jews, believed in the Jewish resettlement of Palestine, and in 1910, led a New York Jewish audience in singing the Zionist anthem, Hatikva. For more than a decade after Russell's death in 1916, Judge Rutherford followed in his footsteps.?
This simple fact might have been more then sufficient to convince the Nazi?s that the Watchtower Society was suspect.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** A church magazine in Germany charged that the Witnesses and the Jews were coconspirators in revolutionary movements. In response, the April 15, 1930, German edition of The Golden Age (forerunner of Awake!) stated: ?We have no reason to regard this false accusation as an insult?as we are convinced that the Jew is at least as valuable a person as a nominal Christian; but we reject the above untruth of the church tabloid because it is aimed at deprecating our work, as if it were being done not for the sake of the Gospel but for the Jews.? Thus, professor of history John Weiss wrote: ?The Witnesses were free of German racial nationalism and had not brooded for centuries over the failure of the Jews to convert. The Witnesses still held to the original, if patronizing, Christian belief of the need to persuade all potential converts to Christ.?
It must have been very hard to find anything sensible to quote from the Golden Age Magazine, which mostly contained material which would be extremely embarrassing to the Watchtower Society today.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** What Happened When Hitler Came to Power?
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Germany?s new chancellor. In the beginning, the Hitler government worked to conceal its violent and extremist nature. Hence, the Witnesses, along with millions of other Germans in early 1933, viewed the National Socialist Party as the legitimate ruling authority of the time. The Witnesses hoped that the National Socialist (Nazi) government would realize that this peaceable, law-abiding Christian group posed no subversive threat to the State. This was no offer to compromise Bible principles. As has been the case in other lands, the Witnesses wanted to inform the government of the true nonpolitical nature of their religion.?
Just like the Nazi?s the Watchtower Society today struggle fiercely to conceal it?s extremist nature, where the ultimate result is the extermination of 99,9% of mankind.
Lying about and falsifying their history during the Nazi years seem to be a very important part of that effort. The Watchtower Society couldn?t care less about Hitler and the Nazi?s and what they did to other people. It was first when the Nazi?s laid their hands on the most holy of holies in the Watchtower Society world which is Watchtower property that Rutherford jumped into action.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** It quickly became apparent that Jehovah?s Witnesses were to be among the first targets of brutal Nazi suppression. The Witnesses were again branded as accomplices in an alleged Bolshevik-Jewish conspiracy. A campaign of persecution began.
Why would such a small religious community attract the fury of the new regime? Historian Brian Dunn identifies three fundamental reasons: (1) the international scope of the Witnesses, (2) their opposition to racism, and (3) their position of neutrality toward the State. Because of their Scriptural views, the German Witnesses refused to give the Hitler salute, to support the National Socialist Party, or later on to participate in military activities.?Exodus 20:4, 5; Isaiah 2:4; John 17:16.?
The real reason for the Nazi?s interest in the Watchtower Society was in all probability quite accidental. It was all because of one particular man, a certain Ewald Vorsteher this was a man that really did show courage and actually did stand up against Hitler.
This man had been a Bible student working in the Watchtower Society branch office in Barmen. According to Mehmet Aslan: who has researched the history of Vorsteher it was all quite accidental, Aslan writes:
?In 1921 and 1922, Ewald Vorsteher from Wuppertal-Barmen was a fellow worker at the branch office of the Watch Tower Society in Barmen. In 1923, he was disfellowshipped or excommunicated for having conscientiously refused to follow the religious and political dictates of Judge J. F. Rutherford, the Watch Tower's American president. Others gathered around him, calling themselves 'Friends of Truth'. The Nazis held Jehovah's Witnesses responsible for Ewald Vorsteher's activities. This was an error on their part, but it gave them a substantial basis for outlawing the Witness movement.?
The German Watchtower officials knew very well of this misunderstanding and tried desperately to distance themselves from Ewald Vorsteher, whom they had kicked out long ago, but the Nazi?s didn?t listen. Read it all here:
http://watchtower.observer.org/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040306/JWANDHITLER/10630001
? *** g98 7/8 p. 11 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** As a result, the Witnesses endured threats, interrogations, house searches, and other harassment by the police and SA (Hitler?s Sturmabteilung, storm troopers, or Brownshirts). On April 24, 1933, officials seized and shut down the Watch Tower office in Magdeburg, Germany. After a thorough search yielded no incriminating evidence, and under pressure from the U.S. State Department, the police returned the property. By May 1933, though, the Witnesses were banned in several German states.?
As Aslan show above this was due to the activities of Vorsteher which which really did stand firm against Hitler and the Nazi?s. In a letter to the Nazi regime, a Watchtower spokesman, Hans Dollinger really demonstrate how ?firm? they were with Hitler. They really couldn?t demonstrate eagerly enough how much they distanced themselves from Vorsteher, Aslan notes:
'The cause of the proscription [of Jehovah's Witnesses by the German government] of 24 June 1933, and the only specific incident affecting that proscription was the report given by the chief of police in Wuppertal on 31 May 1933, Ref.-Nr. I Ad 60001. This report was given erroneously, as the police headquarters in Wuppertal concedes. The report to the police headquarters in Wuppertal was given on the assumption that the incident in question related to the Bible Students Association [Jehovah's Witnesses]. This was subsequently recognized as an error.'
'The incident reported by the police headquarters, which subsequently lead to the prohibitive order against the society, consisted of spiteful charges against the Chancellor of the Reich made by a certain Ewald Vorsteher from Barmen on 31 May 1933, who was arrested immediately . . . . After 1923, he no longer maintained any contact with the Bible Students Association, the society, on its part, having disfellowshipped him officially (1923).
Dollingers plea that they had gotten rid of this horrible Nazi critic 10 years ago didn?t impress the German Nazi government. The Awake! Goes on to boast and sugarcoat their history:
? *** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Witnesses Take Courageous Action
During this early period, Hitler carefully cultivated his public image as a champion of Christianity. He proclaimed his commitment to religious freedom, promising to treat Christian denominations ?with objective justice.? In order to enhance his image, the new chancellor made appearances in churches. This was a time when many people in countries that later would be at war with Germany were expressing admiration for Hitler?s achievements..?
Indeed, Hitler?s propaganda machine had a lot to teach the Watchtower Society in those days. And no doubt Rutherford was very impressed with the guy until he was confiscating Watchtower property.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Concerned about the rising tensions in Germany, Joseph F. Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, together with the Germany branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, decided to mount a campaign to inform Chancellor Hitler, government officials, and the public that Jehovah?s Witnesses posed no threat to the German people and the State. Rutherford evidently believed that Hitler was unaware of the attacks against Jehovah?s Witnesses or that he had been misinformed by religious elements regarding the Witnesses..?
Yes, Rutherford composed a letter to Hitler that was to be accompanied by a Declaration which was supposed to be ?approved? or ?adopted? by the delegates of the upcoming assembly.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Therefore, the Magdeburg office arranged a convention to make use of the German citizens? right of petition. On short notice, Jehovah?s Witnesses from all over Germany were invited to the Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen in Berlin on June 25, 1933. About 5,000 delegates were expected. Despite the hostile atmosphere, more than 7,000 courageously attended. The delegates adopted a resolution entitled ?Declaration of Facts.? This document protested the restrictions that had been put on the work of the Witnesses. It made a clear statement of their position and denied charges of seditious links with political causes of any sort. It stated:
Again we get an excellent example of how ?frank? the Watchtower Society is. In the declaration which was published in the 1934 yearbook it is clearly stated that there were 5000 delegates present. This number was in all probability already quite inflated. Old people who were present have estimated the real number to be between 3000-3500. But of course they had to pump it up to 5000 in the letter that was sent to Hitler. Today, that isn?t good enough so now they inflate it further to 7000 thousand, ?frank? indeed.
Then we get two short quotes in the best Watchtower Society tradition is quite nondescript and safe to quote but tell you nothing about the real content because they surgically avoid the most embarrassing parts:
" *** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** ?We are wrongfully charged before the ruling powers of this government . . . We do respectfully ask the rulers of the nation and the people to give a fair and impartial consideration to the statement of facts here made.? ?We have no fight with any persons or religious teachers, but we must call attention to the fact that it is generally those who claim to represent God and Christ Jesus who are in fact our persecutors and who misrepresent us before the governments.?
Then comes some really weasel worded sentences which set up straw men:
? *** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Convention of Courage or Compromise?
Some now hold that the 1933 Berlin convention and the ?Declaration of Facts? were attempts on the part of prominent Witnesses to show support for the Nazi government and its hatred of the Jews. But their assertions are not true. They are based on misinformation and on misinterpretation of the facts.
For instance, critics claim that the Witnesses decorated the Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen with swastika flags. Photographs of the 1933 convention clearly show that they displayed no swastikas in the hall. Eyewitnesses confirm that there were no flags inside.?
Absolutely false, no ?critics? on the face of the earth has ever claimed that the Bible students placed any such Nazi symbols in and around the hall. No critic has ever suggested that any Bible student ever saluted any of those symbols. What we have claimed, me included is that there were indeed such symbols in and around the hall and we are all grateful to the Watchtower Society that they now finally admit to this fact as they do in the next paragraph:
?*** g98 7/8 p. 12 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** It is possible, however, that there were flags on the building?s exterior. A Nazi combat troop had used the hall on June 21, the Wednesday prior to the convention. Then just the day before the convention, crowds of young people along with units of the SS (Schutzstaffel, originally Hitler?s Blackshirt bodyguards), SA, and others celebrated the summer solstice nearby. So Witnesses arriving at the Sunday convention might have been greeted with the sight of a building decked with swastika flags. Had there been swastika flags decorating the hall?s exterior, corridors, or even its interior, the Witnesses would have left them alone. Even today, when Jehovah?s Witnesses rent public facilities for meetings and conventions, they do not remove national symbols. But there is no evidence that the Witnesses themselves hung any flags or that they saluted them.?
Then to the next weasel worded paragraph with a new straw man argument:
? *** g98 7/8 pp. 12-13 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Critics further state that the Witnesses opened the convention with the German national anthem. Actually, the convention began with ?Zion?s Glorious Hope,? Song 64 in the Witnesses? religious songbook. The words of this song were set to music composed by Joseph Haydn in 1797. Song 64 had been in the Bible Students? songbook since at least 1905. In 1922 the German government adopted Haydn?s melody with words by Hoffmann von Fallersleben as their national anthem. Nevertheless, the Bible Students in Germany still sang their Song 64 occasionally, as did Bible Students in other countries. The singing of a song about Zion could hardly be construed as an effort to placate the Nazis. Under pressure from anti-Semitic Nazis, other churches removed Hebrew terms such as ?Judah,? ?Jehovah,? and ?Zion? from their hymnals and liturgies. Jehovah?s Witnesses did not. The convention organizers, then, certainly did not expect to win favor with the government by singing a song extolling Zion. Possibly, some delegates may have been reluctant to sing ?Zion?s Glorious Hope,? since the melody of this composition by Haydn was the same as that of the national anthem.?
Again it is great that the Watchtower Society finally admit what we have been claiming all along. The song they did sing had the same melody as the German national anthem. No one - no critic has ever suggested that they did sing the German national anthem.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 13 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** A Statement of Intent
With the government in transition and the country in turmoil, the Witnesses wanted to make a clear statement of their position. By means of the ?Declaration,? the Witnesses strongly denied accusations of financial involvement or political ties with Jews. Thus, the document stated:?
Now they have to thread lightly as quoting the declaration is indeed a hazardous undertaking. Let us see what they have left out. What is NOT quoted is in bold.
"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."
Then it continues and this time you can see the full text before and after their quote, again what they didn?t ?see fit? to quote is in bold:
?Having mentioned money, the "Declaration" went on to denounce unfair practices of big business. It said: 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.'
Then follows another bit of helpless spin:
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense. Some have claimed that Jehovah?s Witnesses shared the hostility toward the Jews that was commonly taught in the German churches at the time. This is absolutely untrue. By their literature and conduct during the Nazi era, the Witnesses rejected anti-Semitic views and condemned the Nazi mistreatment of the Jews. Certainly, their kindness toward Jews who shared their lot in the concentration camps provides a resounding rebuttal to this false accusation.?
No of course not, they didn?t know about the well known conspiracy theory of the Jews taking over the world and exploiting the masses? They didn?t try to suck up to Hitler by their nice anecdote about the greedy Jews owning New York? This Declaration reeks of servility to the Nazi?s. Was this servile bleating Rutherford?s idea of standing firm against Hitler? Then follows more helpless spin:
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** The ?Declaration? defined the Witnesses? work as religious in character, stating: ?Our organization is not political in any sense. We only insist on teaching the Word of Jehovah God to the people. The ?Declaration? also reminded the government of its own promises. The Witnesses upheld certain high ideals, and these happened to be publicly espoused also by the German government. Among these were family values and religious freedom.
In this regard, the "Declaration" added: "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."
The little quotes above were from a far safer part of the declaration. It is however quite interesting that there is no mention of the letter to Hitler accompanying the declaration. This letter is very interesting as we shall see in the next claim from the Watchtower Society.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Thus, the Witnesses never expressed support for the Nazi Party. Moreover, in the exercise of religious freedom, they did not intend to stop their public preaching.?Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20.
Indeed? In that case take a look at this little love song from the letter to Hitler:
?Further, it was stated at the five-thousand-delegate convention-a expressed in the Declaration-that Bible Students are fighting for the same high, ethical goals and ideals that the National Government a the German Reich proclaimed regarding the relationship of man to God, namely: honesty of the created towards the Creator!? Letter to Hitler, June 25. 1933.?
Not only did the WTS share the ?high ethical goals? of the Nazi regime but they were ?fighting? for them. The Declaration itself also praises the Nazi regime:
?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.?
As we can see, even Jehovah and Christ were behind the principles of the German government.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah?s Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the ?Declaration? was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case. Evidently, an impression to the contrary was based on the subjective observations of some who were not directly involved in the preparation of the ?Declaration.? Their conclusions may also have been influenced by the fact that Balzereit renounced his faith only two years later.?
Quite interesting to see that this article clear Paul Balzereit of the accusations made against him in the 1974 Yearbook. It is however no wonder that the delegates at the convention was appalled at the declaration. Many of them were probably quite shocked at the blatant kissing up to the Nazi?s. No doubt the rumor about Balzerzeit was planted to protect Rutherford from being regarded as the opportunist he was.
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** It is now known that a ban on Jehovah?s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention. The convention organizers and the police learned of this ban a few days later. In view of the climate of tension and the evident hostility of Nazi officials, it is remarkable that the convention was held at all. It is no exaggeration to say that 7,000 Witnesses courageously put their liberty at risk by attending the gathering.?
Again they are continuing with the falsification of numbers. Somehow it is so important to them to inflate numbers. Was this because of the upcoming claims of compensation made to Swiss banks?
? *** g98 7/8 p. 14 Jehovah?s Witnesses?Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril *** Following the convention, the Witnesses distributed 2.1 million copies of the ?Declaration.? Some Witnesses were arrested immediately and sent to labor camps. Thus, the Nazi government fully revealed its oppressive, violent nature and soon launched an all-out attack on this small group of Christians.
Wrote Professor Christine King: ?Brute force could not suppress the Witnesses, the Nazis were to learn.? It was as the ?Declaration? stated: ?The power of Jehovah God is supreme and there is no power that can successfully resist him.?
Rutherford was really in a hurry to get out of Germany and he was of course furious that his attempt to get chummy with Hitler had failed. So he ordered the poor idiots to irritate the Nazi?s further by sending them out to distribute the incredible Declaration crap. Of course the Nazi?s didn?t tolerate such activity, but Rutherford was safe, far away from harm so it didn?t matter much to him, 635 of the ?faithful? however paid with their lives. The faithful Witnesses proved to be even more fanatical then the Nazi?s.
Norm