by Brother Mike 27 Replies latest jw friends
if you were a JW and lived in Germany in WWII, how would you deal with the harsh cruelity of hitler? Would you join his side so you may have a chance to live (meaning you'd serve in the miliatry and be on the front line) or would you keep on serving God and be executed?
No i don't think i would have joined not as a JW. I knew a JW in this country who was imprisioned in the war for being neutral and i would assume it was the same in Germany.
It's worth remembering that the German people really bought in to Hitler's facist fantasies. Most were not reluctant conscripts.
Would I have been this man? I like to think so but who knows?
cofty, that man, if noticed-, would have been severly beaten on the spot. i have been there, I have seen it.
perhaps convinced Bible students would have resisted Hitler- conversion-and not signed the collaboration promise required to get out from captivity and possible execution.
Few JWs in germany were fully aware of Rutherford's teachings, maneuvers, they would not have died for him, but perhaps for the principles of not supporting wars and it's killings.
would I have been ready to die as a martyr?
NOT if there was any way out of it.
I was just wondering cause I was reading up on the Holocaust.
Difficult to answer this question given the many variables .
If I were JWS back then living in Germany I would probable let myself be arrested with all the other JWS in
the community as a form of protest toward religious freedom (including the Jews)
and the fact that Hitler wanted to take control over all of Europe by invading other established countries.
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There were alot of Germans who thought that Hitler was a power crazed fascist that was out of control,
during the war and even before it, when he did get into power there was so much watching and listening
toward any opposers, people just went along as to not draw attention to themselves out fear and reprisals.
This question could go round and round the campfire for a long time...
As a little girl listening to my sisters small portable record player to some probably Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, there was the inevitable story of a genie granting out of the 3 wishes. I always thought as a child, if I had that chance offer given to me, my first wish would to ask for 10 more wishes... no , let's make it 100 wishes... Then it became everything I would ever wish for would come true.
So, if I were a JW during WWll? I would gather up all my family and friends, and high tail it onto the next boat, train, ship, get out of there as soon as I could and I would wish that I had all of the money, passports and maps so I would know what I was doing, so I could make the great escape, successfully.
Would I stand for the brutish, cruel, devilish way Hitler worked his country? No.
I would be involved in the underground someway. Save people. Help people. Do something.
I appreciate this refection on what would I do considering I stayed a WT/GB controlled drone all my life, until recently.
I hope I would think what's best for me and my family and friends, not what's good for Hitler or Jehovah. YHWH is the Israelite God of war. I don't like war and killing and fighting. So I guess I don't like Hitler and I don't like Jehovah aka YHWH. They are cruel and I am not.
LoisLane
the good thing about not being caught up with the Nazi ideology, as a jw would be,- is: not to have to feel guilty or defeated at the end.
jazz, boogy available at last. (not for jw though, still verboten)
I knew JWs who were in concentration camp. I think it was there were my distant relatives encountered them and became drawn into the cult. Many JW went to camp to face martyrdom and wanted to die for the truth. I heard story from elderly JWs who were interrogated by gestapo in my hometown. Gestapo under the threat of death wanted them to renounce faith. People who did, were shot, but who stayed in were sent to camp. Interrogation happened behind the closed door and every interrogation ended with gunshot sound (into air or into head), while JWs were in the waiting room hearing the shots. Majority did not renounce faith because they were stron in it. Also I heard that some JWs were accused of colaboration and were DFs because they did such things like shaving gestapo and SS-men. The nazis trusted nobody, but allowed JW to work as barbers without fear getting their throats cuts. I had relatives in camps, so not only JWs sufferred.
Under communism in Czechoslovakia, JW split into two groups. One that pursued collaboration with the communist regime under exchange of non-inteference by the government and other hardliners who wanted to suffer martyrdom. The moderate wing in 1960's won and the hardliners were DFs. My elder was a guy who was during Stalin era sent to labor camp in the 1950's and tortured. After this experience, some JWs believed that communist government could read and censor WT that were printed underground in exchange of not persecution. Some JWs thought that communist tools of opporession, the individuals could be brought into truth. This had happened. After 1989 various JW groups were unified together under directive of Brooklyn.
Nazi and communist regimes were barbaric. However, martyrdom was something that made people drawn into the faith. They wanted to die for theri faith and suffer in exchange for promised eternal life.
Considering that Rutherford did everything but suck Hitler's dick, and you knew about it, you would have set sail from the Borg at that time.
zed
my favourite quote is.
the past is a different country, they do things differntly there.
Its impossible to answer what you would do in such a terrible situation, as for me, I have enough Jewish heritage for the, not to want me..
What if you were a JW during WWII? Would you give in to Hitler and fight?
...............I`d put On a Mickey Mouse Costume and Beat the Crap Out of Hitler..
...........................................Under His Own Christmas Tree!!..
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...OUTLAW
