Eden: Also, one thing that I have always wondered. In several publications, it is mentioned an episode where Hitler receives a letter from Rutherford where he threats that Jehovah will destroy the Reich, and Hitler explodes in rage and swears something like "This race shall be exterminated from Germany". I always wondered: Who witnessed this? Where is this account taken from? Or it it all just made-up stuff?
The alleged quote from Hitler has been reported to have occurred after the "letter to Hitler" was sent. You can find the letter quite easily in various places - it was called the "Declaration of Facts". When the letter didn't get the WTS' printing presses released, Rutherford responded with a huge leaflet campaign that resulted in many arrests. It was after that leaflet retaliation that it was reported that Hitler "flew into a rage" and uttered the quote that has been reported in different forms since then.
Jehovah‘s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose reports the incident:
...Karl R.A. Wittig, a plenipotentiary of General Ludendorff, deposed in an
affidavit sworn 13 November 1945:
"On October 7, 1934, having been previously summoned, I visited Dr.
Wilhelm Frick, at that time Minister of the Interior of the Reich and
Prussia, in his home office of the Reich. . . . During my discussion with
Dr. Frick, Hitler suddenly appeared and began taking part in the
conversation. . . . Dr. Frick showed Hitler a number of telegrams
protesting against the Third Reich’s persecution of the Bible Students,
saying: ”If the Bible Students do not immediately get in line we will act
against them using the strongest means.”
After which Hitler jumped to
his feet and with clenched fists hysterically screamed: ’This brood will
be exterminated in Germany!” Four years after this discussion I was
able, by my own observations, to convince myself, during my seven
years in protective custody in the hell of the Nazi concentration camps
at Sachsenhausen, Flossenburg and Mauthausen-I was in prison until
released by the Allies-that Hitler’s outburst of anger was not just an
idle threat. No other group of prisoners of the named concentration camps
was exposed to the sadism of the SS-soldiery in such a fashion as
the Bible Students were. It was a sadism marked by an unending chain
of physical and mental tortures, the likes of which no language in the
world can express."
The above account claims that Karl Wittig deposed his affidavit in November 1945.
However, in 1938, Rutherford, in Face The Facts, said that the following was Hitler's response:
These so-called “Earnest Bible Students” are trouble-makers; they disturb the harmonious life amongst the Germans; I consider them quacks; I do not tolerate that the German Catholics be besmirched in such a manner by this American “Judge” Rutherford; I dissolve the “Earnest Bible Students” in Germany; their property I dedicate to the people’s welfare; I will have all their literature confiscated.”
Hitler's words have also been reported as being:
"I will exterminate the Earnest Bible Students" or "I will exterminate this brood!".
It appears like the quote was originally printed in Watchtower literature, and has been used extensively since then. The quote pops up in various places, and it is difficult to find the original source...I think the original source was Rutherford. Wittig's affidavit was sworn years after Rutherford and others had already said it.
Irkr: Thank you for this. As usual there is so much more than the tales we've been told.
Any idea what the symbolism of the purple triangle is about?
There is always more to every story. Following the history of events during and after WW2 is interesting, especially when examining documentation that has been released since the 50 year moratorium passed in 1995 that was placed on certain classified information pertaining to the war.
The purple triangles were assigned 1937/8. Hans Hesse, on pg 72 of Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi Regime tells us that the Purple Triangle designated the following prisoner groups:
- Bible Students
- Seventh Day Adventists
- Baptists
- pacifists
- possibly New Apostolic community
I have read elsewhere that some Catholic prisoners also wore the purple triangle. The category was not exclusive to the Bible Students.
If a Bible Student was also a Jew, they were required to wear a yellow badge in addition to the purple triangle.
By the end of the war, there were many imprisoned JWs who were not required to wear the purple triangle. They were working on estates and elsewhere that allowed them to wear regular clothing instead of camp uniforms, and they were considered "partially free", having been released on a handshake.
