To me this is most insidious. I think the WTBS has enough martyrs without stealing others for their roster! I am sure RR can fill you in on more.
This is another question I get asked from time to time. I think one of the things that you need to know about Bible Students is ... they tend NOT to make a big stink over these matters. They tend to leave everything in the Lord's hands. Nothing in life comes by accident, it is always "the Lord's overruling providance." So when the Judge took over, despite the Bible Students efforts to keep out the civil authorities and keep it scripturally by applying Matthew 18:15 and keep it within the Lord's congregation, it was the Lord's overruling that the the split happened.
We have hundreds of documents of Bible Students who spent years in Nazi concentration camps. It is a known fact that the Bible Students today as they were yesterday were Christian Zionist, always supportive of Israel. Russell was loved by the Jewish people.
Did you know that in Germany the Witnesses did not officially adopt the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" until the 1950s? So you have two Bible Student groups, one Zionist, the other anti-Zionist. Who can tell who from who?
I'm sure if you went to Romania today, and went to a Kingdom Hall, you'd have to ask a few questions before you'd figure out if you were associating with independent Jehovah's Witnesses of Watchtower Jehovah's Witnesses.
I believe Jerry Bergman some years ago did a paper on the Bible Students and the issue of the holocaust and sent them to the holocaust museum committee, I don't know what ever happened. I'm sure the Society gave a heft donation to the museum to have themselves looked at in a good light. Bible Students don't have that kind of money. We don't care about fancy buildings and amassing worldwide recognition and pushing magazines under every door. It's a big thing for us.
Remember the Lord uses the foolish to confound the mighty, and I'd be more than happy to look foolish for His sake!
RR