How many JW died in the concentration camps?

by LDH 33 Replies latest jw friends

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  purplesofa

  http://data.ushmm.org/vlpnamelist/search/searching_group.php

  Jehovah's Witnesses

  Jehovah's Witnesses were subject to persecution in Germany prior to the January 1933 National Socialist seizure of power, but following Hitler's takeover, measures against the group intensified. Initially these measures, including the ransacking of Witness offices and subsequent expropriation of that space, occurred at the regional level. However, by April 1, 1935, both the Reich and the Prussian Ministry of the Interior ordered local officials to dissolve the Watchtower Society. A special unit of the Gestapo subsequently compiled a registry of all persons believed to be Jehovah's Witnesses.

  While Jehovah's Witnesses as such were not banned, many activities integral to their faith were refuted. National Socialist persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses lay in their refusal to swear loyalty to a worldly government or serve in its armed forces. Furthermore, the Watchtower Society's missionary activities and international connections were deemed as overtly political and subversive acts against the National Socialist regime. Despite the intensified persecution of their group, approximately 20,000 of the estimated original 25,000-30,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany continued to practice their faith.

  The first arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses followed the establishment of compulsory military service in March 1935. Many Witnesses refused to be drafted or perform military-related work out of religious conviction. In addition, countless other Jehovah's Witnesses were arrested, tried and incarcerated at prisons and concentration camps, many for continuing to meet illegally.

  By 1939, approximately 6,000 Jehovah's Witnesses from the Reich (including Austria and the Protectorate) were incarcerated in prisons or camps. Of those 20,000 German Witnesses who remained active throughout the Nazi period, approximately one-half were convicted at some juncture during that time. Between 2,000 and 2,500 German Witnesses and 700-800 non-German Witnesses were interned in concentration camps. The number of Jehovah's Witness deaths in the camps totaled approximately 1000 German Witnesses and 400 non-German Witnesses (including 90 Austrians and 120 Dutch). It is worth noting that non-German Jehovah's Witnesses suffered a considerably higher death rate than German Witnesses. In addition to the above number, approximately 250 Germans were executed, mostly following military tribunals for refusal to commit to military service.

  Click here for Jehovah's Witness primary and secondary sources
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  nelly136

  http://www.reexamine.org/wtobserver/apps/pbcs.dll/articlefb44.html?AID=/20040306/JWANDHITLER/9999370

  this one greendawn?

  alas the scans dont seem to enlarge
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  nelly136

  http://www.randytv.com/Hitler/erich_frost.htm these ones work
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  nelly136

  http://www.edition-temmen.com/foreword/index.htm a little foreword from the hans hesse you mention gxjw
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  GermanXJW

  Yes, I own the German book. A long text you quote, so what's your point?
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  fullofdoubtnow

  Whatever figure is correct, and maybe none of them are, this constant fudging of numbers makes it harder than ever to believe anything that comes out of Brooklyn.
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  LDH

  Whatever figure is correct, and maybe none of them are, this constant fudging of numbers makes it harder than ever to believe anything that comes out of Brooklyn.

  BINGO.

  Jehovah has a hard time keeping his historical facts straight.
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  nelly136

  i just find it interesting how theyre eulogised.
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  FreeFromWTBS

  Also, keep in mind that JW's were know as Bible Students then and that they did not distinguish between Russell following Bible Students not part of the society(Current Bible Students) and Rutherford following Bible Students(Current JWs)
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  Jankyn

  Sometimes numbers do change with research. For example, the ongoing updating of the death toll from the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 results in a larger number of dead (the death toll was deliberately under-estimated because business leaders didn't want to scare off investors). I'd imagine the same will happen with the death toll for Hurricane Katrina--and for similar reasons, since there are folks in power with a vested interest in keeping the death numbers low.

  That said, I'm very suspicious of the wildly fluctuating numbers the WT has given over the years. Particularly suspicious to me are the nice, round numbers--1,000; 2,000; 10,000. C'mon. How many perfectly even numbers *to the thousands* do you really think are going to turn up here?

  635 dead makes sense, in light of how well the JWs cooperated once they'd been arrested. See Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess; the Nazis thought so highly of the JWs cooperation once incarcerated that they considered resettling the eastern farmlands with them.

  But Lisa's right on--when it comes to numbers, I don't believe a thing the WTS says. They don't cite sources, as any high school student learns to do. Why should I trust them?