Vidiot: @ OrphanCrow...
Wow.
I didn't know any of that.
Vidiot, there is much about the JWs and Nazi Germany that is not well known. The WTS has been very active in promoting their own version of events but there are many untold stories of what really happened 'over the pond' in Germany leading up to and during the war years.
Rutherford and the German WT prepared well for the events that led to Hitler "getting pissed off" with the "Declaration of Facts" that were presented to him in 1933.
Not only did the German WT have lawyers who were card carrying members of the Nazi party, the convention that was held in Berlin during the summer of 1933 - the same year that Hitler rose to power - was designed to show support of the Nazi party. The stage had Nazi flags hanging behind the speakers, and the opening song was one that had not been used for quite some time within the ranks of the German JWs.
The song chosen to be sung at the JW 1933 Berlin convention was set to the music of Adolph Hitler's favorite song - one that the German soldiers had sang at the front during the First World War, a soldier's song which had been adopted as the German national anthem in 1922..
Nevertheless, in spite of the efforts of Rutherford to ingratiate the JWs with Hitler by all these preparations (including a history of espousing eugenics in a 1931 Golden Age magazine), where Rutherford failed to please Hitler was in his assertion that the world would be ruled by God - Rutherford laid claim to the Thousand Year Reign of Christ whereas Hitler saw the Thousand Year Reign about to occur on the heels of WW2, as being ruled by the Third Reich. It was on that critical point that Hitler and Rutherford disagreed and Hitler got pissed at Rutherford.
I had said in my other post that Rutherford didn't really piss off Hitler, but he did - he challenged the authority of the Third Reich and, in response, retaliated against Hitler with the JW leaflet campaigns. This resulted in many more arrests of both JWs and Bible Students - of those imprisoned, over half would sign the allegiance to Germany and get released. Of those remaining, it eventually became more advantageous not to sign - signing meant that you would get sent to the front.
The WTS brags about those "who stood up to Hitler" but fails to mention those who collaborated with the Nazis, and those who did sign the release forms required that showed allegiance to Nazi Germany.
The WTS also fails to mention the many, many JWs who were placed in privileged positions both within, and outside of, the work camps. Positions that ensured that many of the JWs sat out the war in relative comfort and safety. These JW 'volunteer prisoners' were considered 'partially free' by the end of the war, released on a handshake by the SS man himself - Heinrich Himmler.
And it is that man - Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS - that is the one is the most interesting to investigate when examining the JWs in Germany during WW2.