by objectivetruth 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
http://www.auschwitz.dk/hoess.htm
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http://mailstar.net/Hoss-Memoirs.html
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KEEP THIS IN MIND: Translated by Andrew Pollinger
When you read the words "Jehovah's Witness" you are likely reading the words of the Translator--not necessarily of Hoess himself!
Hess would have said Bible Students as remnants of Russellism which Rutherford was trying to shore up by visits there to the congregations.
Excerpt from my book: I WEPT BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON:
J.F. Rutherford said
"Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the
finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important
position. 28*
Jews [are] no longer important to God . . .the Balfour Declaration, sponsored by the heathen governments of Satan's organization, came forth, recognized
the Jews, and bestowed upon them great favors. The Jews have received more attention at their hands than they really deserved." 29*
28 The Golden Age 1927 Feb 23 p. 343
29 Vindication - Book II (1932) pp. 257, 258
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Rutherford continually pressured the German Earnest Bible Students to ignore the bans Hitler was enforcing. The sect was already banned all over
Germany. On June 28, the Magdeburg headquarters were again seized and much literature confiscated and publicly burned, mostly Rutherford’s own
published writings.
Rutherford insisted German Witnesses hold a high profile and engage in banned public preaching campaigns leading to their arrest. Watchtower articles
practically encouraged martyrdom. In the November 1, 1933 issue, printed a month later in German, Rutherford wrote:
“Some will say: ‘If in the face of so much persecution and opposition we continue to go out amongst the people and publicly tell these truths, then I fear
we may be killed.’
That is true; and probably many of the faithful will be killed because they continue to faithfully proclaim the truth which they have learned in the secret
place of the Most High.”34
Source: Jehovah's Witnesses, Anti-Semitism and the Third Reich: The Watch Tower Society's Attempted Compromise with Nazism, by Professor M. James Penton University of Leth
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For what “truth” were they dying? Hubris was leading to Nemesis for every loyal reader of the Watchtower.
On June 24, 1936, State police and the Gestapo formed a special unit to fight the Watchtower movement. Through a number of arrests and infiltration,
it succeeded in bringing the movement to a standstill in September 1937.
Nazi prison wardens offered immediate release to any Bible Student who renounced Rutherford’s propaganda.35
Of the 25,000 Witnesses and Earnest Bible Students in Germany, 13,400 spent at least some time serving prison sentences.
According to Gestapo files, more than half recanted. This was known as “swearing off.” German Branch Overseer, Paul Balzsereit, had tried in vain to
discourage incautious publicity. For this he was disfellowshipped and scorned. Rutherford’s implacable attitude had cost many fine souls their lives for no
other reason than his gamble with absolute certainty."
I think the best resources will be in archives in Germany, Austria, and Czech republic that would deal with the situation of JWs before, during, and after war within Germany. I would not rely on WT publications or hersay from others as I have heard or read. Unfortunatelly many of the contemporary people died long time ago, and we do not have anymore direct witnesses of these events. I remember hersay that JWs were after 1945 charged with complinace and later defense at the retributional court in postwar Czechoslovakia. These courts were closed between summer of 1947 and spring of 1948. Only court records in archives of department of Justice and Institute of totalitarian regimes in Prague would have these information. However, I am not aware that anyone have really looked into these records, especially in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, which were not avialable until 1990's.
Yes, Kaik, there are many wartime records that have yet to see the light of day. And I am sure that archives in Germany, Austria and Czech republic would have valuable material.
The fifty year release date for the declassification of some war records has come and gone which has seen an upsurge of research material being presented, yet there are classified files that are still sealed - some have a 100 year release date and some will be never be unsealed. And then, there are the missing files, ones that have yet to be found. Like the box of files that mysteriously disappeared from Wewelsburg. Wewelsburg Castle had JW caretakers that looked after the castle until the end of the war. It would be interesting to know what was in that particular box of files.
As much as the Watchtower Society is perceived to be a USA based corporation with a religious arm/front, there are activities in other countries that have been critical to how their religion developed and Germany's role in the Watchtower Society's historical development is not always considered well enough.
I had posted earlier that the Society had major upheavals, financial difficulties, and re-structuring that occurred during the 20s and 30s. It was during this time period, between the two wars, that Rutherford changed his political/doctrinal stance and re-emerged from the dust as a brand new religion with American friends in high places and a mansion in California. What I left out of that earlier post on this thread was a mention of the activities that were happening in Germany with the Watchtower during those same years.
At the time that the USA Watchtower Society had major strife happening within its ranks, the same thing was going on in Germany. Conrad Binkele, of the German Watchtower Society, had a falling out with Rutherford and Binkele left the German Watchtower Society in 1925, leaving the Watchtower in Germany as a playground for Rutherford's plans to re-organize the Society's activities and re-structure the religion. From 1925 onwards, Germany was used as a 'testing ground' for congregational reorganizing. There is a good past thread on this forum that lays out the details of how, in Germany, the congregations were made smaller, the number of meetings changed, and the material simplified in the literature - all with a goal of retaining control and managing the sales force for the distribution of the literature. By the time Rutherford made his announcement about the new name for his religion in 1931, the 'market testing' for the most effective ways on how the religion was going to change had already been done in Germany. Germany had a much larger influence on how the American based religion developed during the critical years of 1925-1931, and then emerged as a 'new' religion, than most people realize.
