Everytime I start poking around I find something new . . .
I know this is not new info for most of you - but I just saw this and said, "What the F*CK!" out loud.
It just never ceases to amaze me!
From Observer.org
During the Nazi regime from 1933-1945 in Germany, 635 Jehovah?s Witnesses actually lost their lives. The WTBTS increased the numbers in 1950 to 1000, in 1951 to 2000, in 1964 to 4000 . In the 1974 yearbook they came clean and the number was 635, but in 1989 the numbers increased again to 2000.
*** w50 12/15 500 Jehovah's Witnesses Again Endure Totalitarian Hate ***
Already during the Hitler regime about 1,000 Jehovah?s witnesses were executed as traitors, because they not only refused to serve in the war but openly opposed Hitler?s authority. Another 1,000 of Jehovah?s witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps,
*** 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.
*** w64 1/1 13 They Listened to an Angel ***
19 Hitler, a Roman Catholic, the arm of his church in Germany, forbade Jehovah?s witnesses to preach the kingdom of God, and these modern-day Christians had to say to Hitler?s Gestapo police: ?Whether it is righteous in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves.? They kept preaching even though 10,000 of them were put in concentration camps and over 4,000 died there. The rest nearly starved to death. The war?s end aided their survival.
*** yb74 212 Germany (Part One) ***
But despite the hard conditions, how those who worshiped Jehovah rejoiced! They had been privileged to prove their integrity to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. During Hitler?s rule 1,687 of them had lost their jobs, 284 their businesses, 735 their homes and 457 were not allowed to carry on their trade. In 129 cases their property had been confiscated, 826 pensioners had been refused their pensions and 329 others had suffered other personal loss. There were 860 children who had been taken away from their parents. In 30 cases marriages had been dissolved due to pressure by political officials, and in 108 cases divorces had been granted when requested by mates opposed to the truth. A total of 6,019 had been arrested, several two, three or even more times, so that, all together, 8,917 arrests were registered. All together they had
been sentenced to serve 13,924 years and two months in prison, two and a quarter times as long as the period since Adam?s creation. A total of 2,000 brothers and sisters had been ut 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. What a record of integrity!
*** w89 1/1 21 "To Jehovah Belongs the Battle" ***
13 An outstanding modern example of bullying by Goliathlike political rulerships took place in Hitler?s Germany. The mainline religions, both Catholic and Protestant, compromised woefully in paying homage to Nazism, idolizing the führer, saluting his swastika flag, and blessing his troops as they sallied forth to slaughter their fellow believers in neighboring nations. So-called Christians of all faiths?but not Jehovah?s Witnesses?were caught up in the patriotic fervor. The book Mothers in the Fatherland reported: ?[Jehovah?s Witnesses] were sent to concentration camps, a thousand of them were executed, and another thousand died between 1933 and 1945. . . . Catholics and Protestants heard their clergy urge them to cooperate with Hitler. If they resisted, they did so against orders from both church and state.? How bloodguilty both Church
and State became!?Jeremiah 2:34.