In Germany, when Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in Hitler's concentration camps---?

Question

Why did they refuse to sign the documents that would have guaranteed their freedom?
All they had to do was deny their God and their faith.
They chose imprisonment, torture and death instead. What would you have done?

Answer 1

This is a good question and I wasn't planning on answering it until I read the one answer by the ill-informed person who said the Jehovah Witnesses were a cult. He didn't seem to believe it happened. Obviously he's never ready any history books dealing with WWII or books specifically on the topic of the Holocaust. I would recommend to him Auschwitz (A New History) by Laurence Rees. It's an excellent account of how the camp came to be--much differently than what most people have assumed.

I'm not a Jehovah Witness so I can't speak directly for them. The aforementioned book does briefly describe their ordeal). Renouncing their faith was not demanded of any other religious group although some Jewish people "converted" to Catholicism to save themselves or their children. That was not the norm, however. The Jehovah Witnesses must have had tremendous faith in their God and belief in themselves to withstand the tortures they did just to preserve their religion. It doesn't matter whether anyone of us agrees with their tenets. We need to respect them and admire them for standing up for themselves. How many of us can say that about anything in our lives, much less something so deeply rooted?

The largest group the Nazis killed were the Jews of course. They also killed homosexuals and Gypsies. Horrible experiments (performed mostly by Dr. Mengale) were done on twins, the deformed, dwarves, and the mentally ill that resulted in almost immediate death or excruciatingly painful deaths afterwards.

Answer 2

I pray that if I am ever in a situation like that, Jehovah will give me the courage and strength of my faithful brothers and sisters, who did have a choice even after arriving at the death camp and anytime thereafter. They were regularly presented with the document that would have freed them. Many were presented with the document again before facing the firing squad.

Visiting the Holocaust museum is a very moving experience. You receive a card that identifies you as an actual person who was imprisoned in the death camps. Then, as you walk through you see what life was like inside the camps. At the end you can find out what happened to person whose card you got.

Answer 3

I believe there were 35,000 Witnesses in Germany during Hitlers reign. In fact, many of them were in concentration camps before the Jews, because they would not Hail Hitler or join his army. In fact, they drew detailed diagrams of the concentration camps and told of treatment of the Jews. They were able to get this information out to those on the outside and to the US to let them know what was going on.

One family with 11 children, almost all where put in concentration camps or work camps. The children where taken away and the oldest son I believe was the first Jehovah's Witness to be executed by beheading. The whole family remained faithful, even the young children.

I've been to the Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, FL. It was even more of an eye opener of what went on. They have one of the train cars there, you could just picture in your mind all those cramped in one car, no food or water for days. They would lick the sweat off of each other.
The whole thing was so inhuman, and some have the nerve to say it never happened. How disrespectful to all those who lost their live and or one of their family. I worked with a woman, whose grandparents died in a concentration camp.

Answer 4

Because as Acts 5:29 says 'we must obey God as ruler rather than men". To have signed that document was to renounce their God. It's the same reason the three friends of the prophet Daniel refused to bow down to an image of king nebudchadnezzar and were thrown into a furnace... and why Daniel himself was thrown into a lion's den for refusing to obey an edict that would have kept him from praying to his God.

I would have done exactly the same thing. You must remember our belief that death is not permanent and that those that die faithfully have a hope of resurrection to paradise on earth. Believe that or not. :)

PS: Are you aware that while millions and millions were victims of the Holocaust, only JW's were actually martyrs because they alone were given a way out and chose, as you said, not to take it?

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DSpyder? Please check your history. Modern day Jehovah's Witnesses have been around since the late 1800's. Hitler was around ..........?? Thanks. OH PS: If you're in the mood, take a trip to Washington DC and visit the Holocaust Museum where you'll find displayed the uniform of one of JW's bearing the purple triangle that distinguished them from the rest of the prison population. And if you're really good when you get one of those cards that talks about one of the prisoners, you might just get one that belonged to a JW.

Answer 5

Have you heard of the book "facing the lion" it was written by a witness who was just a girl at the time she was taken away because of her beliefs. A friend of mine said it was a great book. I think that dying for my faith would be easier than facing all the temptations and peer pressure we face in this world. I would definitely die before giving up my loyalty to Jehovah.

Answer 6

Our Dear Brothers and Sisters made the right decision.
We will never denie Jehovah or his Son Jesus to save our own lives !!! If we die faithful we know Jehovah and his Son Jesus will remember us in the Resurrection. When we die we are only sleeping. Anyone can go visit the Holocaust Museum and see how Jehovah's Witnesses stood firm against the Nazi's assault.

Answer 7

They refused to sign those documents because their faith was very strong. That's something I admire.
What would I have done? Hard to say. I'd like to think that I would've done the same thing, that I would've put God above anything.

Answer 8

Yes, they refused to deny their faith which initially identified them as JW's. However, history has proven that like all other prisoners, they were taken by surprise or were misled into believing they were going to be taken to a safer place. Once there, they were kept and it was no longer a choice.

I probably would have died for my faith if I had one rather than live with the personal shame of not standing up for my beliefs.

Answer 9

On one hand it is admirable that they are willing to die for their religious principles of pacifism. On the other hand, suicide bombers also choose to die for their violent religious belief. They commonly believe in an eternal reward that is worth infinitely more than renouncing their beliefs just to temporarily extend their time on Earth.

I'm not religious so I don't know what I would do.

All in all, knowing this, I'd be happy to have a Jehova Witness as a neighbor.

Answer 10

I didn't even know about that until I saw an answer with that in the politics section yesterday - were there any other religions targeted by Hitler (besides Jews of course)? Did you, or anyone you know, lose family members to that?

All I can say is - that's a commendable display of courage.