Request For Information: 1935 trial of Paul Balzereit

by Saintbertholdt 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Saintbertholdt

  Hi there all,

  Has anyone ever come across the court transcript of the trial of Paul Balzereit by the Nazi state in December 1935 in Halle?

  Or has anyone come across the 1936 German yearbook article discussing the matter?
  

  The transcript incensed Rutherford which resulted in Balzereit being publicly disfellowshipped.

  The Watchtower corporation seems to have kept a transcript because they quoted out of it in the 1974 Yearbook.

  Anyway below is what Rutherford wrote in an open letter to the German witnesses in 1936 (as you probably already know):

  “To Jehovah’s faithful people in Germany:

  “In spite of the wicked persecution upon you, and the great opposition put forth by Satan’s agents in that land, it is gratifying to know that the Lord still has a few thousand in that country who have faith in Him and who persist in proclaiming the message of His kingdom. Your faithfulness in standing out against the persecutors and remaining true to the Lord is in striking contrast to the action taken by the one who formerly was the manager for the Society in Germany, and others associated with him. Recently a copy of the testimony taken at the trial of those men at Halle has been furnished to me and I am astounded to find therein not one of those on trial at that time gave a faithful and true testimony to the name of Jehovah. It was especially incumbent upon the former manager Balzereit to hold high the banner of the Lord and declare himself for God and his kingdom amidst all opposition, but not one word was uttered showing his complete reliance upon Jehovah. Time and again I had called his attention to the fact of things that could be done in Germany and he assured me that he was putting forth every effort to encourage the brethren to get on with the testimony. But at the trial he emphatically stated that nothing was done. It is needless for me to here discuss that further. Suffice it to say that the Society will henceforth have nothing to do with him, nor any of those who on that occasion had an opportunity to bear testimony to the name of Jehovah and His kingdom and failed to do so. The Society will put forth no effort looking to release them from prison, even if it had the power to do anything.

  “Let now all those who love the Lord turn their faces to Him, Jehovah and His King, and remain true and steadfast on the side of the kingdom, regardless of all opposition that may come to you. . . .”

  
  
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  Magnum

  I don't remember ever hearing about this. I'd like to know more. What exactly was it that Balzereit did or didn't do that so incensed Rutherford?

  I am astounded to find therein not one of those on trial at that time gave a faithful and true testimony to the name of Jehovah.

  Exactly what kind of testimony did Rutherford want them to give?
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  Saintbertholdt

  Hi there Magnum,

  "I don't remember ever hearing about this. I'd like to know more. What exactly was it that Balzereit did or didn't do that so incensed Rutherford?"

  Balzereit was the head of the German branch. After the preaching ban in 1933 Balzereit wanted to placate the Nazis whereas Rutherford wanted to take a hard line because the Magdesburg printing presses and property had been seized.

  The German witnesses split in two. One group (the majority) stopped preaching whereas the second group (a couple of thousand) kept on preaching. When Balzereit was arrested in 1935 Rutherford charged that during the trial Balzereit denied ever having promoted illegally preaching after the ban. Its unclear whether he had and was lying or whether he actually listened to the ban.

  Rutherford had wanted Balzereit to martyr himself through the trial. When Balzereit didn't he was excommunicated. Rutherford accomplished two things with this:

  1. He got rid of Balzereit who irritated him.

  2. He sent a clear message to all the German witnesses: You better preach or else you're out.

  The Nazi court didn't believe Balzereit had always abided by the ban and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.

  I would like to see the transcript because I want to see the evidence (if any) that was brought against Balzereit and what the exact original charges were.
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  coalize

  I speak little germain and i took a look at some german internet archives I know. But for now i wasn't able to find transcript of trial...

  I keep searching
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  Saintbertholdt

  Hi coalize,

  Thank you for trying. I've been looking as well and I can't find it.

  Perhaps a copy of the German 1936 yearbook?

  Supposedly the matter was also discussed there.
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  wifibandit

  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Balzereit

  Paul Balzereit
  Paul Johannes Gerhard Balzereit , pseudonyms Paul Gehrhard and PBGotthilf (* 2 November 1885 in Kiel ; † 6 July 1959 in Magdeburg ) was a German journalist and as a "branch servant" (Country Director) of the Watchtower Society an important figure in the history of confrontation Jehovah's Witnesses with Nazism .
  Born in 1885 Balzereit attended elementary school and completed a business education. After several years working in this profession, he joined the Jehovah's Witnesses to. 1916 transitional editor of the Watchtower , he advanced to 1923 for managers of newly established Golden Age , the German edition of the US Witness publication The Golden Age . In 1925, he was reported for an anti-clerical pamphlet, but acquitted in the following process. Even after the ban of the religious community in 1933 Balzereit allowed the publishing operation initially continue, albeit limited. He sat down for a withdrawal of the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses, became Increasingly criticized for its ready to compromise line. On May 10, 1935 Balzereit was arrested and in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp internment. 1936 Balzereit was the Jehovah's Witnesses of the disfellowshipped . Balzereit went to the prison time for his part at a distance from Jehovah's Witnesses. After the war, he served as head of the association of freestanding Christians , with the support of the Ministry for State Security against the Jehovah's Witnesses of DDR agitated.

  See Also:

  http://www.sektenausstieg.net/sekten/26-zeugen-jehovas/staat/nationalsozialismus/4031-paul-balzereit-und-die-wachtturm-gesellschaft
  

  http://www.neuegeschichte.de/aufsaetze/ehemalige-zeugen-jehovas-im-dienste-des-mfs-der-fall-balzereit

  http://www.uni-magdeburg.de/mbl/Biografien/0845.htm

  Before and after the Nazi ban on Jehovah's Witnesses from 24.06.1933 (Prussia), B. tried in vain to the authorities, the first of the production "harmless writings" (calendars and Bibles) granted to him, over the non-political, purely religious character of IBV enlighten. Especially after 1934 tended as to compromise that did not accept the Brooklyn line so that it distanced itself from the meanwhile on 05/10/1935 arrested and judged in court in October before the Special Court Hall B.. At the Lucerne Congress (04.-07.09.1936) sat Watchtower president Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869-1942) Erich Frost as the new country manager. In Sachsenhausen concentration camp as renounced his faith and went after 1945 own way (establishing the general Bible Training Association; in 1958 renamed Association freestanding Christians, with the support of the Ministry of State Security against the IBV ,Jehovah now witnesses, acted). While B. was a respected speaker before 1933, he is now almost unknown among Jehovah's Witnesses.

  
  

  The 1974 Yearbook mentions him quite a bit. pg. 88, 97, 98, 100, 109, 110, 148-150.

  pg 150

  After serving his term in prison Balzereit was put in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was forced to play an extremely inglorious role. He had signed the declaration abdicating association with the brothers and avoided all contact with them. Because of his conduct he was released about a year later, but meanwhile he was forced to put up with many a humiliation, for, basically, the SS hated traitors too. It was the SS themselves who gave him the name "Beelzebub," and once an SS man required him to stand in front of all his brothers - there wee some 300 in the camp at the time - and repeat his signed declaration abdicating association with Jehovah's witnesses, and this he did!
  In 1946, by which time Balzereit had become a violent opposer of the truth, he wrote a letter to reparations authorities revealing the hostile attitude that he had even before the trial was held. Thus ended a dark chapter in the history of God's people in Germany, the first lines of which had already been written in the 1920's.

  
  

  He is also discussed in: Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics Under Persecution

  By M. James Penton
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  OrphanCrow

  If you can track down Johannes Wrobel, he may have some archival material from Germany.

  There is information about him on this thread from 6 years ago:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/170499/big-news-leader-german-watchtower-history-archives-resignes-leaves-branch-office?size=20&page=1

  From that thread *the link doesn't work anymore)

  He has set up a small website at http://www.jwrobel.de. There he states his whole c.v. including that he resigned as the leader of the Watchtower History Archives in November 08 and that he cancelled his service for the Watchtower Society after 36 years. For the time being, he returned to private life but is available for the support of research projects by request. Finally, he thanks all friends, collegues for their support in the research projects on Bible Students/JW.
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  Saintbertholdt

  Thanks Orphancrow.

  This may turn out to be a promising lead.
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  Saintbertholdt

  Thanks wifibandit,

  I saw most of those documents and I have gone through them.

  BTW, i found part of what I was looking for in the 1936 Watchtower reprints.

  There's enough there to give me a good idea of what Balzereit said that incensed Rutherford.

  Greetings