Hello,
rather puzzled...*
*** w51 2/15 105-6 An Open Answer to "The Vindicator" ***
That is why during the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to 1945 Jehovah’s witnesses in that land refused to heil Hitler! as their Fuehrer or Leader, and went to concentration camps and prisons, where 2,000 died cruel deaths, and of the 8,000 that came out alive, 2,000 were invalided for the rest of their lives.
*** w54 12/1 724-5 The Fight for Freedom to Preach World-wide ***
17 It is a familiar story about the fight for freedom fought by Jehovah’s witnesses to preach in Nazi- and Fascist-dominated lands from 1933 to 1945. Thousands were thrown into the concentration camps. Many were tortured and killed. Countless numbers died because of their loyalty to Jehovah God.
*** w55 8/1 462-3 Part 15: Foreign Activities Under Fascist-Nazi Persecution ***
Thus a mad national effort was embarked upon, to eliminate Jehovah’s witnesses from the German national scene. In the course of the dark years that followed thousands of witnesses were arrested, falsely convicted and put in prisons and concentration camps where many of them suffered unspeakably. Some two thousand witnesses lost their lives in this struggle to keep faithful integrity to Jehovah.
*** yb74 212 Germany (Part Three) ***
A total of 2,000 brothers and sisters had been put into concentration camps, where they had spent 8,078 years and six months, an average of four years. A total of 635 had died in prison, 253 had been sentenced to death and 203 of these had actually been executed.
*** g74 1/22 32 Would You Remain Loyal? ***
In Nazi Germany Jehovah’s witnesses refused to compromise. They remained loyal to righteous principles. They had no share in Hitler’s political or military aggressions. Just a few decades ago, hundreds died in his concentration camps. But thousands came out strong in faith.
*** w79 11/1 7 Neutrality in a Mixed-up World ***
NEUTRALITY A PROTECTION
Many Christian witnesses of Jehovah in Nazi Germany and elsewhere lost their lives in maintaining neutrality.
*** w84 10/1 8 Impressed by the Integrity of Jehovah's Witnesses ***
The title of Dr. King’s book is The Nazi State and the New Religions: Five Case Studies in Non-Conformity.
Most outstanding among Dr. King’s findings are the figures of deaths and imprisonment of Jehovah’s Witnesses. These indicate that the figures previously published by the Witnesses were greatly underestimated. Dr. King’s source for these statistics was a volume published in Munich, Germany, by Michael Kater. “My own perusal of Court and Gestapo records,” she declared, “would certainly support these higher figures.”
What are these figures? “Some 10,000 were imprisoned, and together they received sentences totalling 20,000 years. One out of every two German Witnesses was imprisoned, one in four lost their lives.
*** g84 12/8 13 Nazi-Fascist Attacks on Witnesses ***
See The Nazi State and the New Religions: Five Case Studies in Non-Conformity, by Dr. Christine E. King.
Of the 10,000, about 2,500 never did go free, according to the above source—they died in Dachau, Belsen, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, Mauthausen and other camps—faithful to their God, Jehovah, and their exemplar, Christ.
*** w86 1/1 10 Days Like "the Days of Noah" ***
And as to persecution, Jesus forewarned his disciples, saying: “They will put some of you to death.”
Hundreds of our brothers died at the violent hands of Nazi Hitler. Jehovah will remember all of such in the resurrection.
*** re 40 8 Striving to Be Conquerors ***(PUB. IN 1988)
9 During Nazi rule in Germany, Hitler completely banned the preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
For years, thousands of Witnesses were cruelly confined in concentration camps, where many died, while hundreds of young men who refused to fight in Hitler’s army were executed.
*** re 185 27 God's Kingdom Is Born! ***(PUB. IN 1988)
28 This vicious flood of persecution reached a high point during World War II. In Europe some ten thousand Witnesses were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps, and thousands died.
*** w90 2/1 22 Exposing "the Man of Lawlessness" ***
A review of the book Kirchenkampf in Deutschland (Fight of the Churches in Germany), by Friedrich Zipfel, says regarding the Witnesses: “Ninety-seven percent of the members of this small religious group were victims of National Socialistic [Nazi] persecution.
One third of them were killed, either by execution, other violent acts, hunger, sickness or slave labor.
*** g93 5/8 4 Victims or Martyrs What Is the Difference? ***
During the Nazi period in Germany (1933-45), Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered terrible persecution for daring to remain neutral and for refusing to serve in Hitler’s war effort.
Thousands were sent to the dreaded concentration camps, where many were executed and others died from mistreatment.
*** g97 8/22 26 Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia ***
Because Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to cry out ‘Heil Hitler’ and serve in Hitler’s army, many thousands of believers were sent to Nazi concentration camps, and thousands died.
***W 15.1.2001 p. 10 "… 2000 died …"
J.C. MacHislopp