I have found some information (that is written by a JW, since it's doctored nicely), and I wonder if some can tell me if the facts are accurate. I intend to use some of this in a setup on the JW history I'm working on.
Anyone that can tell me about errors, please send me a mail.
Kent ( [email protected])
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LONG TEXT:
1870
Charles Taze Russell drops into a dusty, dingy little basement hall near his Federal Street store "to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches. There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists, the preacher being Mr. Jones Wendell . . . Though his Scripture-exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to re-establish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the apostles and prophets are indissolubly linked." --w55 1/1 p 7. Russell and associates learn when Christ comes again he will be invisible to human eyes, object of his return includes blessing all families of the earth (1870-75).
1872
Russell and group comes to appreciate ransom price that Christ provided for mankind.
1875
Nelson H. Barbour writes in his magazine Herald of the Morning that 1914 will mark the end of a period that Jesus called "the appointed times of the nations."—Luke 21:24.
1876
January. Russell receives copy of Herald of the Morning.
Russell meets N.H. Barbour, editor in summer in Philadelphia, PA.
Article by Russell, published in October issue of "Bible Examiner" in Brooklyn, NY points to 1914 as end of Gentile Times. End of appointed times of nations in 1914 first announced.
1877
Barbour and Russell publish Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World.
Russell publishes booklet The Object and Manner of Our Lord's Return at office of Herald of the Morning in Rochester, NY.
1878
August. Nelson H. Barbour publishes an article in Herald of the Morning that denies the substitionary value of Christ's death.
September. C. T. Russell publishes an article "The Atonement" which contradicts Barbour's earlier statements.
1879
May. Russell withdraws support from Herald of the Morning because of Barbour's rejection of the ransom.
May 3. C. T. Russell writes to N. H. Barbour and withdraws all support from the magazine Herald of the Morning.
July. First issue of Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence.
"We found that for centuries various sects and parties had split up the Bible doctrines amongst them, blending them with more or less of human speculation and error . . . We found the important doctrine of justification by faith and not by works had been clearly enunciated by Luther and more recently by many Christians; that divine justice and power and wisdom were carefully guarded tho not clearly understood by Presbyterians; that Methodists appreciated and extolled the love and sympathy of God; that Adventists held the precious doctrine of the Lord's return; that Baptists amongst other points held the doctrine of baptism symbolically correctly, even tho they had lost sight of the real baptism; that some Universalists had long held vaguely some thoughts respecting 'restitution.' And so, nearly all denominations gave evidence that their founders had been feeling after truth; but quite evidently the great Adversary had fought against them and wrongly divided the Word of God which he could not wholly destroy." --C. T. Russell
November. The Watch Tower identifies Babylon the Great with the "Papacy as a SYSTEM."
December 28. George Storrs, zealous advocate of the doctrine of "conditional immortality," dies at the age of 83.
1880
Russell tours northeastern U.S. to form study groups.
March. The Watch Tower magazine links the rule of God's Kingdom with the ending of "the appointed times of the nations," or "the times of the Gentiles."
1881
Bible Students discover through Bible study that the soul is mortal.
First tracts published by Bible Students. Yearly tract distribution totals tens of millions of copies in 30 languages. Distribution of 300,000 copies of "Food for Thinking Christians" to church-goers in principal cities in Britain.
Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is organized.
Call goes out "Wanted: 1,000 Preachers" (some to be regular colporteurs, others to give what can in time). Colporteur work begins. Groups holding meetings are asked to notify Society.
1882
Bible Students discover through Bible study that the Trinity is unscriptural.
1883
Bible Students discover through Bible study that hell is not a place of torment, but refers only to the grave.
Watch Tower reaches China; former Presbyterian missionary soon begins to witness to others there.
1884
"Food for Thinking Christians" reaches Liberia, Africa; appreciative readers write for copies to distribute.
December 15. Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is legally chartered in Pennsylvania.
1885
Watch Tower publications are being red by some truth-hungry people in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Publications in German are produced.
1886
The Divine Plan of the Ages is published; first volume in the series called Millennial Dawn (later known as Studies in the Scriptures).
"This volume contained a chart linking the ages of mankind with the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It was thought that this memorial of Pharoah Khufu was the pillar referred to at Isa 19:19, 20. What relationship could the pyramid have with the Bible? Well, as an example, the length of certain passages in the Great Pyramid was said to indicate the time for the beginning of the "great tribulation" of Matthew 24:21, as it was then understood. Some Bible Students became engrossed with measuring different features of the pyramid to determine such matters as the day they would be going to heaven! This so-called Bible in Stone was held in esteem for some decades, until the Watchtower issues of November 15 and December 1, 1928, made it clear that Jehovah needed no stone monument built by pagan pharoahs and containing demonic signs of astrology to confirm the witness given in the Bible. Rather, Isaiah's prophesy was seen to have a spiritual application. (Rev 11:8) . . . " --w2000 1/1 p 9, 10
March. The Watch Tower invites every reader to an annual commemoration of the Lord's Evening Meal, to be held on Sunday, April 18.
April 18. A series of special meetings begin for the attendees of the Lord's Evening Meal in Allegheny, PA.
1887
Jehovah's Witnesses begin to worship in Russia.
1888
The Time Is at Hand (Millennial Dawn, Volume II).
1889
The Bible House is constructed on Arch Street, in Allegheny, PA as Society's headquarters.
1890
April 19-25. Allegheny, PA. First gathering of Bible Students that is called a convention.
Society begins Bible publishing with Rotherham's New Testament, Second Edition.
Poems and Hymns of (Millennial) Dawn.
1891
C. T. Russell's first trip abroad as Society's president.
Thy Kingdom Come (Millennial Dawn, Volume III) .
1892
Missionary work in foreign countries becomes a subject of discussion among Watchtower Society members.
1894
Traveling overseers known as pilgrims (today circuit overseers and district overseers) are sent out in connection with Society's program for visiting congregations.
Speakers from the Watchtower society are sent to congregations.
1895
Dawn Circles for Bible Study begin.
1896
Name Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is changed to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
1897
The Day of Vengeance (Millennial Dawn, Volume IV) .
1898
Tower Publishing Company is donated to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
1899
The At-one-ment Between God and Man (Millennial Dawn, Volume V).
1890
April 19-25. Allegheny, PA. First gathering of Bible Students that is called a convention.
Society begins Bible publishing with Rotherham's New Testament, Second Edition.
1891
C. T. Russell's first trip abroad as Society's president.
Thy Kingdom Come (Millennial Dawn, Volume III) .
1892
Missionary work in foreign countries becomes a subject of discussion among Watchtower Society members.
1894
Traveling overseers known as pilgrims (today circuit overseers and district overseers) are sent out in connection with Society's program for visiting congregations.
Speakers from the Watchtower society are sent to congregations.
1895
Dawn Circles for Bible Study begin.
1896
Name Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is changed to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
1897
The Day of Vengeance (Millennial Dawn, Volume IV) .
1898
Tower Publishing Company is donated to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
1899
The At-one-ment Between God and Man (Millennial Dawn, Volume V).
1900
First Watch Tower branch opened in London, England.
Witnessing by Bible Students is done in 28 countries; message reaches 13 other lands.
1903
Intense house-to-house distribution of free tracts on Sundays by Bible Students (earlier, much of the tract distribution was done on streets near churches).
The first group of Jehovah's Witnesses is formed in the province of Turin, Italy.
The Herald of the Morning by N. H. Barbour ceases publication.
1904
Sermons by Russell begin to appear regularly in newspapers; within a decade they are being printed in about 2,000 papers.
Studies in the Scriptures (Series I-VI) (simultaneous with Millennial Dawn, Volumes I-VI), The New Creation (Millennial Dawn, Volume VI).
1905
"There will be more war ere long . . ." --Watch Tower, September 1
1907
The (Divine) Plan of the Ages (Studies in the Scriptures, Series I) (A Criticism of Millennial Hopes Examined added).
1908
The (Divine) Plan of the Ages (Studies in the Scriptures, Series I). Tabernacle Shadows bound in.
1909
April. Headquarters of Watchtower Society are moved to Brooklyn, NY. Peoples Pulpit Association formed.
Berean Bible Teachers' Manual (Berean Bible Students' Manual).
1911
C. T. Russell conducts a fact-finding tour of Japan. He reports that the missionaries of Christendom are considerably discourage and that the people in general display little genuine interest in religion.
1912
Work begins on Photo-Drama of Creation.
1913
It is estimated that through 2,000 newspapers C. T. Russell's sermons are reaching 15,000,000 readers.
The (Divine) Plan of the Ages (Studies in the Scriptures, Series I). Pyramid chapter added.
1914
January. First showing of the "Photo-Drama of Creation" in New York; before the end of the year it is seen by audiences totaling over 9,000,000 in North America, Europe, and Australia. Scenario of the Photo-Drama of Creation published. (Click here to hear Russell announce the Photodrama.)
October 2. In the Bethel dining room at Brooklyn, Russell affirms, "The Gentile Times have ended". Bible Students are active preaching in 43 lands; 5,155 share in witnessing to others. Memorial attendance is 18,243.
1916
October 31. Death of Russell at 64 years while on a train traveling through Texas.
1917
January 6. J.F. Rutherford becomes president of Society, after executive committee of three has administered the Society's affairs for about two months.
1918
3,868 Bible Students report field service.
February 12. The British Dominion of Canada bans Studies in the Scriptures: The Finished Mystery and the tracts entitled The Bible Students Monthly.
February 24. Discourse "The World Has Ended -- Millions Now Living May Never Die" is first delivered in Los Angeles, CA.
March 31. Boston, MA -- "The World Has Ended -- Millions Now Living Will Never Die".
May 7. J.F. Rutherford and close associates are named in federal arrest warrants issued.
June 5. Trial begins of J. F. Rutherford and associates.
June 21 - July 10. J. F. Rutherford and associates are sentenced to long terms in federal penitentiary. The preaching work is effectively "killed." The foretold period of "a time, and times and half a time" ends. (Revelation 11:7; Daniel 7:25)
August. Brooklyn headquarters closed; operations are transferred to Pittsburgh for over a year.
Brother Clayton J. Woodwort (1918 Imprisonment)
August 30 - September 2. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A four-day convention of the International Bible Students Association is held. A portion of a letter sent by Judge Rutherford who is still imprisoned is printed on the fourth page of the program.
TO THE ISRAEL OF GOD
"Dearly Beloved in Christ:—
"Prison life seems strange; and yet every experience is attended with joy, since we look at all such from the heavenly viewpoint. Truly now we can sing:
‘Fade, fade, each earthly joy,
Jesus is mine!’
"In fact, there are now no earthly joys; but we are looking with joyful anticipation to our gathering home. . . . We often feel in a strait betwixt two—whether we would prefer to depart or to come and serve you a season before we go home. His will be done! I feel sure that all these experiences are ripening the church preparatory to the final ingathering. The letters from the dear ones elsewhere show how sweetly they are yielding to the fire that is consuming the sacrifice. . . .
" . . . Do all you can to encourage the dear sheep of the flock. Comfort them with the sweet promises of an early and glorious home-coming. Never have I loved you all so much as now. How sweet it will be to gather around our Father’s throne and rejoice with joy unspeakable forevermore!. . .
"I thank our dear Father for being so good as to send seven brethren with me, that we may have these privileges together. . . .
"Know of a certainty that we greatly love you all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
"Your brother and servant by His grace,
"J. F. RUTHERFORD."
Rutherford confirmed as president of Watch Tower Society.
1919
Service reports begin to be sent weekly to Watchtower Society.
May 4. Rutherford arranges to give public talk "The Hope for Distressed Humanity" at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA -- the crowd cannot all fit in the auditorium and the talk is given a second time.
May 14. Court of appeals reverses the decision of the lower court and new trial is ordered for Rutherford and companions.
September 1 - 8. Bible Students hold convention at Cedar Point, OH.
October. Publication of The Golden Age is announced. Bulletin (now known as Kingdom Ministry) is published as stimulus to field service. Report for year shows 5,793 Bible Students actively preaching in 43 lands. Memorial attendance 21,411.
1920
Watch Tower Society undertakes its own printing operations in Brooklyn. First Watch Tower and Golden Age printed on Society's press.
Prosecution of Society's representatives withdrawn.
"Millions" discourses resumed.
Watch Tower reprints 1879-1915 (Volumes 1-6).
1921
The Harp of God published.
In Germany, some Roman Catholic priests begin spreading rumors about Jehovah's Witnesses, charging that they are financed by the Jews and are working to overthrow the state. --Religion, p 77.
1922
Watch Tower reprints. 1916-19 with indexes (Volume 7).
Clergy in Germany agitate for police to arrest Bible Students when these engage in public distribution of Bible literature.
Rutherford's first radio discourse.
September 5 - 12. Second International Assembly is held at Cedar Point, Ohio U.S.A. Resolution: "Proclamation-A Challenge to World Leaders" is adopted in the first of a series of seven resolutions in successive years. Appeal is made "Advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom!" Resolution adopted as the first in a series of 7 resolutions in successive years.
The Watchtower Society begins binding books.
"Berean Questions" becomes regular feature of Watch Tower magazine.
1923
Studies in the Scriptures (Series I-VII) (Berean questions dropped). Studies in the Scriptures (Series I-VII) (pocket edition with added matter). The (Divine) Plan of the Ages (Studies in the Scriptures, Series I) (pocket edition with biography of C. T. Russell).
World Distress -- Why? A Remedy. Nine Treatises on Bible Subjects by J. F. Rutherford. International Bible Students Association. Brooklyn, New York.
WBBR construction begins.
The German Watchtower branch office is moved from Barmen to Magdeburg.
1924
The Way to Paradise published.
February 24. WBBR (first radio station owned by Watch Tower Society) begins to broadcast.
1925
Comfort for the Jews published.
March 1. Watch Tower discusses the birth of God's Kingdom in 1914 and shows there are two distinct and opposing organizations -- Jehovah's and Satan's.
August 24 - 31. A General Assembly is held in Indianapolis, IN. Resolution: "Message of Hope" is adopted.
". . . the religionists, both Catholic and Protestant, are conspicuous for their arrogance, self-conceit, impiety and ungodliness. Therefore, it is apparent that the remedies offered by any and all of these aforementioned elements are vain, impotent and powerless to satisfy man’s desire.
Catholicism claims and assumes that which justly belongs exclusively to God. Modernists deny God, deny His Word and His plan of redemption, and offer blind force as a remedy for man’s undone condition. Fundamentalists, while professing to believe the Bible, by their course of action deny the same. They teach false and God dishonoring doctrines, and together with Catholics and Modernists are allied with the political and commercial powers of the world in blasphemously claiming the ability to establish God’s kingdom on earth. All these have combined under Satan their superlord to push God into a corner and to dishonor his name. . . .
. . . Knowing this, and that his time is short, the Devil is trying to overwhelm the peoples with a great flood of false and deceptive doctrines and to turn their minds completely away from Jehovah. The time has come for God to make for himself a name in the earth and for the peoples to know the truth concerning the divine plan, which is the only means of salvation for the world."—Paragraphs 5, 6, 9. See The Watch Tower as of October 15, 1925, pages 310, 311. Note also Revelation 8:12; 16:8, 9.
1926
Deliverance published.
Sunday witnessing offering books for study encouraged. Workers' Meetings monthly begins to be published.
May 25 - 31. International assembly in London, England -- Resolution "A Testamony to the Rulers of the World" is adopted.
The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society begins printing the Bible on its own presses.
House-to-house preaching with books on Sunday is encouraged.
1927
Creation; Year Book of the International Bible Students Association (copyright 1926).
Elders not publicly witnessing removed from congregations.
1927/28. An assembly hall seating about 800 is built in the German Watchtower branch office in Magdeburg. Out of appreciation for the Watch Tower Society's book The Harp of God, the brothers call it the Harp Hall. Its rear wall is embellished with a relief representation of King David playing the harp.
July 20-26. International assembly in Toronto, Ont, Canada. Resolution "To the People of Christendom" is adopted.
1928
23,988 Bible Students report field service.
Bible Students are arrested in New Jersey (USA) for distributing literature. Within a decade, there are 500 arrests per year in USA.
Government; Reconciliation published.
In the Soviet Union, Jehovah's Witnesses first obtain permission to import religious literature.
July 30 - August 6. International assembly held in Detroit, MI. Resolution adopted (final one of series of 7 resolutions).
November. "The Watchtower issues of November 15 and December 1 make it clear that Jehovah needed no stone monument built by pagan pharoahs and containing demonic signs of astrology to confirm the witness given in the Bible. Rather, Isaiah's prophesy ( Isa 19:19, 20) was seen to have a spiritual application. (Rev 11:8) . . . " --w2000 1/1 p 9, 10. (See 1886 for origin of this idea.)
1929
Books Life; Prophecy published.
1930
August 11. The book Light in 2 volumes, released at Watch Tower headquarters explaining Revelation. Light (Book One); Light (Book Two) published.
1931
Vindication (Book One) published.
July 26. The name "Jehovah's Witnesses" is adopted by resolution at convention in Columbus, OH and thereafter at conventions around the earth.
1932
Vindication Book 2 explains why Biblical restoration prophesies apply not to natural Jews but to spiritual Israel. Preservation; Vindication (Book Two); Vindication (Book Three) published.
1933
"Intolerance" -- Bible Students' Tract
Transcription machines (some mounted on automobiles) are used by Witnesses to broadcast Bible lectures in public places. Testimony cards begin to be used.
In 1933, 12,600 Witnesses in the USA volunteered to respond on short notice for house-to-house preaching on special missions in areas of civic opposition . . . when some were arrested in the field service, a call went out and on a Sunday soon thereafter all car groups (10-200 cars of 5 each) were sent to a trouble spot and besieged the town, giving the whole town a witness sometimes within 30-60 minutes. If ones were arrested, then cars would immediately come to replace the lost. "We would always win out."
Preparation published.
April 24. Watch Tower printer in Magdeburg are occupied by German police and storm troopers The facility is searched, but no incriminating evidence can be found.
May 3. The property seized from the Witnesses in Magdeburg, Germany is returned as no criminal charges can be filed. The ban in Prussia on the Witnesses is lifted.
June 25. At a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses at Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen in Berlin, a resolution is adopted by those present representing the 25,000 Witnesses in Germany. The resolution reaffirms that the Witnesses are politically neutral and are not subversives. The resolution states emphatically that the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses is purely religious and they wish only to have the right to religious freedom as stated in the Nazi party platform. The attendees ask that the partial bans on Jehovah's Witnesses be lifted.
After the convention, the country of Germany is blanketed with 2 million copies of "Declaration of Facts" which is a pamphlet that states this declaration word-for-word. Some of those involved in the distribution of this message are arrested and sent to labor camps.
The ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Prussia is re-established. Police are ordered to shut the Witnesses' facilities down.
June 28. A band of storm troopers, or "brown shirts", invade the Watchtower facilities in Magedeburg, Germany. The ban on Jehovah's Witnesses becomes official policy. The Witnesses move underground. The Watch Tower Society opens a branch office in Prague with Edgar Merk from Magdeburg as branch servant.
During intense persecution of WWII, 6,262 are arrested, combined time of imprisonment totals 14,332 years; 2,074 are sent to concentration camps where confinement totals 8,332 years.
August 21-24. Police return to the Watchtower facilities in Magdeburg. 25 truckloads of literature are confiscated and burned.
1934
Jehovah; Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses (name change) (copyright 1933) published.
Portable phonographs are used by Witnesses to play short recorded Bible discourses for interested ones.
Jehovah's Witnesses from all over the world send telegrams to Hitler and the Nazi government demanding the cruel treatment of the Witnesses be stopped.
Text of Telegram from German Witnesses
"Your ill treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses shocks all good people all over the earth and dishonors God's name. Refrain from further persecuting Jehovah's Witnesses, otherwise God will destroy you and your national party." -- telegram from all Witnesses worldwide.
"No other group of prisoners of the named concentration camps was exposed to the sadism of the SS soldiery in such a fashion as the Bible Students were. It was a sadism marked by an unending chain of physical and mental tortures, the likes of which no language in the world can express." -- --Karl Wittig, sworn statement, November 13, 1947
The Nazi hunt for Jehovah's Witnesses continues in earnest, but Bible literature continues to flood into Germany through underground channels. Some literature is even printed in concentration camps.
1935
56,153 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
Meeting place for Jehovah's Witnesses called Kingdom Hall in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"Pre-war concentration camps were 5 to 10% Jehovah's Witnesses. There were Jehovah's Witnesses in almost all prisons (in Germany)."-- Dr. Detlef Garbe, historian
May. The Catholic Freeman's Journal mentions Jehovah's witnesses and the church's response to their preaching work.
"The burden of their message is that all political and eclesiastical organizations are under the control of Satan, Catholics being the more under the diabolical thumb than Protestants; that God is about to smite the lot, Catholic and Protestant; to escape ultimate annihilation men have to become Jehovah's witnesses . . . I could scarcely blame people if they preferred ultimate annihilation. However, there is no need to choose either; in fact ultimate annihilation is an impossibility." --quoted in Riches, 1936
May 21. Nazis ban Jews from serving in the military.
1936
Riches published.
"Whatever is the position occupied by any creature in God's organization, that position is an honorable one. It is the most blessed favor to receive life from Jehovah God, and the condition precedent to receiving this blessing and occupying any position is to love Jehovah with all one's heart, mind and soul. The entire organization of Jehovah is honorable and blessed, and happy is the creature that has any place therein. Some have selfishly craved to be in heaven and help run the universe. Others have said: "Whatever my position given me by the Lord, i shall be glad." The latter is the proper attitude." --pg. 312
Advertising placards are first worn by Kingdom publishers to notify public of Bible lectures. Bible studies using book Riches are conducted. These are frequently group studies.
Legal Department established at headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Right after the Olympics, Jehovah's Witnesses launch another campaign to reveal what is happening in Nazi Germany. A resolution is adopted in Luzern, Switzerland and 200,000 copies of the resolution are distributed in one December night. Outraged, the Nazis claim the accusations are false.
September 9. A resolution is adopted by Jehovah's Witnesses and two to three thousand copies are sent to Hitler, his government offices in Germany, and the pope in Rome. Confirmation of delivery to both the Vatican and the Reichs Chancellory in Berlin is received by Franz Zurcher from Bern. The resolution includes some three and half typwritten pages.
"We raise strong objections to the cruel treatment of Jehovah's witnesses by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and their allies in Germany as well as in all other parts of the world, but we leave the outcome of the matter completely in the hands of the Lord, our God, who according to his Word will recompense in full . . . We send heartfelt greetings to our persecuted brethren in Germany and ask them to remain courageous and to trust completely in the promises of the Almighty God, Jehovah, and Christ . . . " --Resolution selections
December 12. Copies of a resolution adopted on September 9 by Jehovah's Witnesses are distributed throughout Germany in blitz campaign. 3,450 brothers and sisters are given 20-40 copies and rush through their assigned territory, shoving the documents under doors and leaving them in mailboxes. By the time Gestapo agents are made aware of the flurry of activity, it is too late to stop it. Only about a dozen brothers are arrested in the whole of Germany. However, afterwards Gestapo agents begin breaking into Witness homes, demanding information about the campaign. Most brothers know nothing of the campaign, since it was a very secret operation with few participants. At practically every hearing and trial of Witnesses held after this date, this resolution is mentioned in the proceedings.
"Now, according to the press, there is a feeling not only of horrified anger because of our boldness, but also of increased fear. They are completely amazed that after four years of terror by Hitler's government it is still possible to carry out such a campaign in such secrecy and on such a wide scale . . . they feel the populace got our resolution but for certain reasons has refused to admit under questioning by the police, and this is causing them extreme confusion and fear." --Erich Frost, brother in Germany working in the underground
1937
Enemies published.
Portable phonographs are used to play recorded Bible talks on doorsteps. Special pioneers, "back-calls," and "model studies" introduced. Signs "Religion Is a Snare and a Racket".
"Jonadabs" given positions of congregation responsibility. Separate classes for young people discontinued. Zone assemblies (circuit assemblies) begin.
From this year on, Jehovah's Witnesses released from prison are sent directly to concentration camps. By the end of this year, 6,000 will be interned in such camps. A purple triangle begins to be put on their prison uniforms to identify the "Bibeiforisher". Since no other religious group in the camps are so numerous, no such arrangement is made for any other religious group. Himmler brags to female Witnesses in Lichtenburg: "You too will capitulate, we will cut you down to size, we will hold out longer than you!"
June 30. In response to the blatant refusal of the Nazis to admit their cruel treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses, an open letter is published, giving names, places, and dates of incidents, proving the accusations of persecution are true. It is sent to all leading German officials. (1974 Yearbook says this event happened on June 20)
"Christian patience and shame have held us back long enough from calling the public's attention, both in Germany and elsewhere, to these outrages. We have in our possession a crushing amount of documentation showing that the above-mentioned cruel mistreatment of Jehovah's witnesses has taken place. Especially prominent in responsibility for such mistreatment have been a certain Theiss from Dortmund . . . . We are in possession of names and details of some eighteen cases where Jehovah's witnesses have been violently killed." --selections from the "open letter"
"The distribution of the 'open letter' must have struck the Gestapo unawares, because they had boasted for months that they had completely destroyed the organization. This only increased their excitement. It was as though someone had suddenly stirred up an anthill. As though in a frenzy with no clear goal before them, they ran around in the greatest of confusion, especially persons like Theiss." --1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses.
"If I had only known, I would never have started trying to destroy the Bible Students. It can drive a person crazy. You think you've imprisoned one of the beasts and suddenly there are ten others rushing forth. I am sorry that I ever started the whole thing." --Theiss
1938
47,143 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
Throughout British Empire and British Commonwealth, 23 nations ban JW's or place prohibitions on their Bible literature.
In Japan, 110 colporteaurs are distributing magazines and books.
"At the end of that wonderful vacation, Dad said: 'Tomorrow, Mum will go with you to school. Your classmates are right. You, we, are not Catholics anymore. Your mum has found the truth; the Bible is the truth, and we all will hold to it as closely as possible.'" --Simone Liebster, Facing the Lion
March. Jehovah's Witnesses detained in Nazi camps and prisons are not allowed any correspondence with their relatives or vice versa. After nine months the ban is lifted, but letters are thereafter limited to five lines of writing a month which are prepared statements that read "Your letter has been received; thank you very much. I am well, am health and hearty . . . " Many times these letters arrive days after a death notification of the brother or sister has been received. On the empty space on the letter the following text is stamped (which ironically brings comfort to relatives and friends who are joyful that the prisoner is loyally sticking to his or her faith):
"The prisoner remains, as before, a stubborn Bible Student and refuses to reject the Bible Students' false teachings. For this reason the usual privileges of correspondence have been denied him."
March 13. Annexation of Austria to the Third Reich. Nazis apply anti-Semitic laws (the "Anschluss"). As German troops invade country after country, Jehovah's Witnesses are chased down and arrested. A vast network of smuggling literature across borders begins. Involved in the process is translating, which is done using typewriters.
Crusade Against Christianity is published by Jehovah's Witnesses in French, German, and Polish which details concentration camp diagrams and conditions.
"Even though few, yet there are cases where Gestapo agents and other party members have been so shaken by the steadfastness of Jehovah's witnesses that they have seen the error of their ways and have quit their jobs." -- Kreuzzug gegen das Christentum (Crusade Against Christianity, German)
March and April. Study series of articles "His Flock" in the Watchtower make clear the relative places of the annointed remnant and their companions, the great crowd.
March 20. "Foursquare", commander of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, places a group of Jehovah's Witnesses into "isolation crew" and defiantly challenges their God to stop him. (Within a few months, the brothers are released from the "isolation crew" and in less than two years, "Foursquare" is dead from illness.)
"I have taken up a fight with Jehovah. We will see who is the stronger, I or Jehovah!" --Baranowsky, "Foursquare"
Spring. The Arnolds begin to attend meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses.
"How different from catechism! Finally, I could freely ask any question and would be shown in my Bible how to find the answer. The hour was always too short for me, but too long for some others. And there were even complaints when Laure ran overtime." --Simone Liebster, Facing the Lion
Theocratic arrangements for selecting overseers in congregations replace democratic procedures in harmony with Watchtower, June 1 and 15 from the article "Organization". "Two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings" begin. (Prophetic reference: Daniel 8)
"'He is just a worm.' 'A very harmful worm, one made of rotten material.'" --Simone Liebster, quoting conversation among Jehovah's Witnesses concerning Hitler and the book Crusade Against Christianity, Facing the Lion
"'Bibelforscher are Communist agents!' 'You must earn lots of money running around like you do.' 'You fool! You only make those American leaders rich.' 'You are paid by the Jewish world power and are undermining the Church.' 'I never should have raised you! Never will you see my face anymore unless your epent and come with me to confess and take Communion in my presence. As long as you don't return to church, your family doesn't exist anymore! You will be doomed!'" --Simone Liebster, on comments made to her mother and father by her family, Facing the Lion
Autumn. Emma Arnold is baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
October 2. Judge Rutherford's talk "Fascism or Freedom: Which Shall We Have?" is broadcast by 50 radio stations all over the world. Rutherford speaks out against the attacks on Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany.
"In Germany the common people are peace-loving. The Devil has put his representative Hitler in control. A man who is of unsound mind, cruel, malicious, and ruthless, and who acts in utter disregard for the liberties of the people . . He rules with an iron hand. He persecutes the Jews because they were once Jehovah's chosen people and bore the name of Jehovah and because Christ was a Jew." -- Judge Joseph Rutherford
1939
Salvation published.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact secretly carves up Eastern Europe between Germany and Soviet Union.
Name Peoples Pulpit Association changed to Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. First Watchtower subscription campaign.
Because of the violent persecution against Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, many German pioneers leave their homeland to serve in South America. Six of these pioneers arrive in Uruguay, penniless and with few belongings.
May 3. The magazine Consolation published by the Watchtower socieity states concerning the atrocities happening to Jews in Germany : "How can one reamain silent?"
"I've never met a survivor (of the Nazi concentration camps) who does not remember Jehovah's Witnesses. And they all say similar things: 'Very small group of people, very clearly identified' -- they all speak of the purple triangle they wore on their prison uniforms -- they will talk about the way they shared food and cared for each other and they will talk about how they were willing to talk with and help and support other prisoners. It really appears to have stuck in people's minds." -- Dr. Christine King, Professor of History
May 15. Ravensbruck concentration camp opened. Jehovah's Witnesses become some of the first prisoners there. In this camp which grows to a population of 950, 400 of them are Jehovah's Witnesses. In the Holocaust, 1:3 Jehovah's Witnesses will die.
June 21. 130 members of the Todaisha ("Lighthouse Association", local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan) are arrested and imprisoned, effectively ending organized activity during the war years.
"Most of those from before the war who excelled in ability and intellect left God's organization when subjected to great pressure . . . . Those who remained faithful had no special abilities and were inconspicuous. Surely all of us must trust in Jehovah with all our heart." --Matsue Ishii, one of the first Japanese pioneers ("colporteurs"), imprisoned for years.
Execution of Jehovah's Witnesses becomes official policy over the issue of refusal to serve in the military.
September 16. The execution of August Dickmann, a "conscientious objector", is reported in the New York Times as announced by Heinrich Himmler. Himmler declares the young man was sentenced for "refusing to fulfill his duty as a soldier."
October. Kingdom News, Volume 1, Number 5.
Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in France.
November 1. The Watchtower of this date points out plainly that theocratic warfare in the days of Israel was different than the wars being fought by the nations. In an article called "Christendom Not Theocratic" it is explained that Christians who support Theocracy should be neutral toward human wars. (Prophetic reference: Daniel 8: 9, 10) --w71 12/1 p 723-8.
1940
Religion; Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses (name change) (copyright 1939) published. The Memorial attendence of 1938 is reported as 73,420 with 39,225 persons (53 percent of those present) partaking of the emblems. (By 1998 attendance is 13,896,312 with only 8,756 partaking, an average of less than 1 partaker to every 10 congregations.)
'The annointed followers of Christ Jesus now on earth are few in number, and never will their number be greater . . . The Lord is now gathering to himself his "other sheep" who will form the "great multitude" . . . From this time forward these composing the "other sheep" will increase in number until the "great multitude" is gathered." -- 1939 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Street distribution of Watchtower and Consolation become regular feature of the Witnesses' activity.
"Foursquare", the commander of Sachsenhausen, is struck with an illness. When officers visit him at his sickbed, he whimpers, "The Bible Students are praying me to death because I let their man be shot!" referring to the execution 5 months earlier of August Dickmann. After "Foursquare" 's death, his daughter tells everyone who asks how her father died, "The Bible Students prayed my father to death."
May 29. Consolation on Flag Issue
June 3. In the United States, while the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is not officially banned, there are many attempts made to silence the witnesses. Throughout the then 48 states mob action is employed in many places. To fan the fires of violence and hatred, the Supreme Court of the United States by a decision of 8-1 determines that the flag-salute ceremony is compulsory for citizens of the country. Any schoolchild refusing to perform the act is subject to being expelled from school. Persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses after that runs rampant. (Prophetic reference: Dan 8:11, 12) --w71 12/1 p 723-8
June 16. The Solicitor General, in a broadcast over a coast-to-coast network of the National Broadcasting Company, says: "Jehovah’s witnesses have been repeatedly set upon and beaten. They had committed no crime; but the mob adjudged they had, and meted out mob punishment. The Attorney General has ordered a immediate investigation of these outrages." (Prophetic reference: Dan 8:11, 12) --w71 12/1 p 723-8
Simone Arnold's aunt, Eugenia is baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
August 12. USA. Life magazines publishes an the illustrated article "Jehovah's Witnesses, Who Refuse to Salute U. S. Flag, Hold Their National Convention." The article is a two page spread with two paragraphs of text and twelve very interesting photographs illustrating the preaching work, the Detroit convention, and the persecution in Litchfield, Monessen, Rockville and Kennebunk. The Litchfield, Ill., picture shows destroyed Witness cars. The Monessen, Pa., photo shows sisters crammed into a small jail cell. The Rockville, Md., and Kennebunk, Me, pictures show vandalized Kingdom Halls. Four pictures illustrate a phonograph "set up," and others show views of the Detroit convention, including a view of the audience, sisters engaging in the street work, the baptism, and the attendants with the canes they now carry for protection.
1941
Active Witnesses pass the 100,000 mark, reaching a peak 109,371 in 107 lands in spite of WWII that engulfs Europe and spreads through Africa and Asia.
Children published.
January. The preaching work of Jehovah's witnesses is banned in Australia and Fiji. South Africa, the southernmost country of Africa, take official action against the work. Bans spread throughout practically all of the British possessions in Africa, including Nigeria on June 17. The British possessions of Asia also take similar actions. (Prophetic reference: Dan 8:11, 12) --w71 12/1 p 723-8
One of the main contacts in the Witness underground chain is Heinrich Himmler's personal physician, a Finnish doctor named Kersten. A Witnesses from Ravensbruck, Anni Gustavsson is taken to his house in Sweden to work as a maid. Through her, he obtains literature which he takes back to his farm in Hartzwalde, Germany near Ravensbruck. Witnesses there start the literature traveling through the camps. Kristen convinces Himmler to ease up on his treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses in many cases. "Letter from Himmler Concerning New Treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses"
March 10. A press report released in the Netherlands makes the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in the country official, accusing the Witnesses of waging a campaign "against all state and church institutions."
April 11. On the first Memorial of Christ's Death held since the German occupation of France, Simone Arnold tells her parents she wishes to be baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Marcel Sutter begins to study the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Gestapo raid the Arnold's house. Finding the book Children and seeing its dialogue format, they assume it is a "love story" and leave the book behind.
1942
The New World published.
"The righteous new world is the very opposite of that selfish and ambition human scheme. Such scheme seeks realization by harsh, brutal might, by the destruction of millions of lives and peaceful homes, by the forcing of the common people contrary to their conscience and personal free choice, and, for shame! by the co-operation of religion to persuade the subjected peoples that such "new order" is according to the will of Almighty God. Set up by such means and ways and for such purposes, that proposed "order" could never be the expression of the will of a God of truth and justice. It shall never endure, even though backed up by religion. Because it stands in the way of the new world, and poses as a counterfeit substitute for it, that "order" shall go down, and its allies with it." --The New World, pgs 10, 11
The British Tribunals hears the cases of and convicts 1,593 men and women who are maintaining neutrality as Jehovah's Witnesses, sending most of them to prison. Of these, 334 women serve prison sentences. This has the effect of taking many active proclaimers from the service of offering the sacrifice of praise to God publicly. (Prophetic reference: Dan 8:11, 12) --w71 12/1 p 723-8.
January 8. Rutherford dies in San Diego, CA.
January 13. N.H. Knorr becomes third president of Society.
Emma Arnold tells her husband, still imprisoned at Dachau about the new arrangement through a coded letter.
"Remember the man who supervised the street, Mr. Ruder, the one who lived in the last house? He is now gone (German: fort), and I can assure you everyone is enjoying the Knorr soup!" --Simone Liebster, Facing the Lion
Simone Arnold (Liebster) is expelled from school for refusing to give the German salute.
September 18-20. New World Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses held in Cleveland, OH. 53 conventions in the United States of America, holding simultaneous sessions. This assembly grows to earth-wide proportions when 80-conventions on 4-continents besides islands join in having the same program. The president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society speaks on the subject "Peace-Can It Last?", showing that WW II will end, and points to the ascent of "wild beast" out of "abyss" afterwards, but that it will finally go off into destruction. Edition of the King James Bible, printed on the Watch Tower Society's rotary web presses is released.
1943
"The Truth Shall Make You Free" published.
US Supreme Court renders decisions favorable to Jehovah's Witnesses in 20 out of 24 cases.
"Freedom of conscience is much older than the Declaration of Rights or the common law. Peter and John first invoked it when they were commanded by the high priest and the Roman rulers to speak and teach no more in the name of God. Acts 4:17-21. So the soil from which it springs like many other cherished precepts of the common law reach back to Hebrew origin and historically reveal why a free press, speech, and religion are in a preferred class, protected by the State and Federal Constitutions and immunized from charge by the State." --Singleton v. Woodruff, Chief of Police
"Petitioners spread their interpretations of the Bible and their religious beliefs largely through the hand distribution of literature by full or part time workers . . . The hand distribution of religious tracts is an age-old form of missionary evangelism -- as old as the history of printing presses. It has been a potent force in various religious movements down through the years. This form of evangelism is utilized today on a large scale by various religious sects whose colporteurs carry the Gospel to thousands upon thousands of homes and seek through personal visitations to win adherents to their faith. It is more than preaching; it is more than distribution of religious literature. It is a combination of both. Its purpose is as evangelical as the revival meeting. This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment (to the United States Constitution) as do worship in the churches and preaching from the pulpits. It has the same claim to protection as the more orthodox and conventionally exercises of religion. It also has the same claim as the others to the guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press . . ." -- Murdock vs. Pennsylvania
"Freedom to distribute literature to every citizen wherever he desires to receive it is so clearly vital to the preservation of a free society that, putting aside reasonable police and health regulations of time and manner of distribution, it must be fully preserved." -- Martin vs. City of Struthers
"To sustain the compulsory flag salute we are required to say that a Bill of Rights which guards the individual's right to speak his mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind . . . If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein . . . That certain acts, exercises and symbols at certain times, or to certain people, connote a significance or meaning which, at other times or to other people, is completely absent, is a fact so obvious from history, and from observation, that it needs no elaboration . . . . The statue, while it absolves pupils from joining in exercises of devotion or religion to which they or their parents, object, does not further define or specify what such exercises are or include or exclude. Had it done so, other considerations would apply. For the Court to take to itself the right to say that the exercises here in question had no religious or devotional significance might well be for the Court to deny that very religious freedom which the statue is intended to provide." --West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette
"We do not doubt the right of the state to suppress religious practices dangerous to morals, and presumably those also which are inimical to public safety, health and good order, but so far as appears from the testimony in this case, the teachings of Jehovah's witnesses cannot, in our opinion, be classed in any one of these categories." -- Stone vs. Stone, 16 Wash. 2d 315, 133 P. 2d 526.
A song begins to circulate through the concentration camps in Eastern Europe among Jehovah's Witnesses entitled "Forward, You Witnesses!"
"In 1943 the Watch Tower Society's book "The Truth Shall Make You Free" did away with the nonexistent extra 100 years in the period of the Judges and placed the end of 6,000 years of man's existence in the 1970's. It also fixed the beginning of Christ's presence, not in 1874, but in 1914 C.E." --w74 8/15 p 507
February. First class of Watchtower Bible School of Gilead begins its studies.
March. Simone Arnold and other Witness children from her local congreagation are subjected to an "intelligence test" which is actually an interrogation.
"If Jehovah sees in your heart the firm determination to keep faithful to him, he will give you the means for it no matter the circumstances. No one can stand up by himself. Always remember that!" --Emma Arnold, advice to her daughter Simone after an interrogation, Facing the Lion
March 25. A report is filed about Simone Arnold (Liebster) and the "danger" she is in being raised by Witness parents.
"Marie-Simone gives a fine impression. She is a quiet and good girl and is well liked by everyone. Her political and ideological education, though, leaves much to be desired. In spring she had to be expelled from school for refusing to give the German Salute . . . . Marie-Simone's education is in such danger that other accommodations are absolutely necessary. On the basis of the Reich Youth Welfare Law, it is warranted to initiate a process to remove the child Marie-Simone and have her raised in an institution of the German Reich. Signed, Wurch Representative for Youth Welfare."
April. Course for Theocratic Ministry (now School) for congregations introduced at assemblies.
Simone Arnold is humiliated by a teacher when she refuses to attend a school ceremony that bothers her conscience.
"Learn to look through people without seeing their faces. Look through them." --Emma Arnold, advice to her daughter Simone, Facing the Lion
When Simone Arnold refuses to sort materials that will be used for the war effort, she is beaten by the same teacher. She is helped up by fellow students, but is hurt so badly she requires a week's rest. On the following Monday a policeman delivers the message that Simone is required to return to school despite her injuries and her mother must pay a fine of 300 marks for each day she has missed school. When Emma Arnold tries to get her doctor's help, he refuses for fear he will be sent to a concentration camp for helping a Bibelforscher.
Photograph of Simone
June 2. It is decided that Simone Arnold (Liebster) will be removed from the home of her Witness parents.
"Since the youth is misled in being raised by sectarian principles, it will result in conflict with basic civic responsibilities and an increasingly decadent character. Additionally, she represents a danger to her peers. Signed, Dr. Menzel, Associate Judge, Lower District Court."
June 14. High Court in Australia lifts ban on Witnesses.
July 5. Simone Arnold is hailed before the entire school of 500 students to give the German salute in front of the swastika.
"I cried to Jehovah for help: 'I do not want to tremble in front of your enemies! Please, O Jehovah! I can't stop shaking!' . . . Suddenly I got stiff, ice-cold. Inside I continued to shake, but outside I stood like marble. I looked straight in (the teacher's) eyes, ready to face whatever might come. An unknown strength came over me . . . . My unexpected calm changed Mr. Ehrlich's triumph into anger. In a stuffy voice, he started talking about Germany's grandeur, liberty, and prosperity. I was indifferent to all of those promises. I had learned very early in life that adults can lie without blushing. A Nazi paradise with people like Ehrlich certainly didn't appeal to me at all." --Simone Liebster, Facing the Lion
Unbeknownst to her, all eight times she has pointedly refused to make the gesture, her father is called to camp headquarters in whatever concentration camp he is in and is told that he is personally responsible for her "rebellious" behavior.
"I felt in me such a powerful uplift when I heard the SS accusing me for your conduct. This gave me the proof of my family's faithfulness!" --Adolphe Arnold
July 6. Simone Arnold (Liebster) is arrested.
"O Jehovah, help my little girl to stay faithful." --Emma Arnold
July 8. Simone Arnold arrives at the Nazi penitentiary home in Constance. Before long she is assigned a job in one of the headmistresses' bedrooms. She hides her small Bible in the bedsprings of the woman's bed.
August. Friends from her local congregation are able to visit Simone Arnold secretly for a few moments. They give her news about other children from the group as well as Marcel Sutter's situation.
August 8. Adolphe Arnold writes to his wife and daughter from Dachau.
"Now I truly know that reminders and guidelines are not necessary for you anymore, since you are yourself old enough and God has helped you and formed in you a pure heart; he will also further guide you. As long as we follow our heart, we won't lose our joy, because our heart will judge us . . . The Lord above us is not slumbering, yet very soon all our longings and hopes will have been fulfilled in a serene reunion of peace and hope . . . . Best wishes to the whole family. Especially, though, to the beloved ones from the garden." --Adolphe Arnold
August 15. Emma Arnold writes to her daughter, Simone, from Bergenbach.
"Everything passes away including the test, and since we have to go through it, it has its purpose . . . . Your two letters have been so beautiful; yes, you have a courageous heart, my child. I got so much pleasure in reading about your keen, appreciation of the Truth. Continue to write to us always as you do so, that I may find out if you are continuing to walk on the right path . . . . We wish you all the best, especially that you may endure until the end, a happy reunion in Christ's Kingdom when the ugly clouds of tribulation will be gone and we wil laud and praise our Creator, this is my desire, I always pray for it and God will certainly listen . . . . You too will have a share in His vindication and become like a precious gem in the hand of Jehovah." --Emma Arnold
August 24. Emma Arnold is arrested and sent to Mulhouse prison, Schirmeck and Gaggenau. (File No. 895, Alsatian Archives 76857.)
September. Simone learns of her mother's arrest from a letter from her aunt Eugenie.
November 7. Adolphe Arnold writes to his sister-in-law and daughter from Dachau.
"On Monday, October 25, I received the package with the 12 vitamin tablets . . . My beloved, once again, I am delighted that the garden is thriving so wonderfully despite the bad weather." --Adolphe Arnold
1944
"The Kingdom Is at Hand" published.
Singing at meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses resumed.
Madame Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of Charles de Gaulle) is arrested for French Resistance activities and is sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. There she meets many Jehovah's Witnesses and is impressed by their conduct.
"What I admired about them was that they could have left at any time just by signing a renunciation of their faith. Ultimately these women, who appeared to be so weak and worn-out, were stronger than the SS who had power and all the means at their disposal. It was their willpower that no one could beat." -- Madame Genevieve de Gaulle
June 2. Brother Engelhardt and seven additional defendants are sentenced to death for distributing the Watchtower magazine and being involved in mimeographing copies for others. From this point conditions in Germany become more and more confused, and it is no longer possible to determine for sure where Watchtowers are being mimeographed, but they do continue to be produced.
June 9. Emmy Zehden is beheaded at Berlin-Plotzensee for concealing contentious objectors.
August 12. The president of the Watch Tower Society addresses the assembly on the subject "This Gospel Shall Be Preached," and after his address the 384-page book entitled "The Kingdom Is at Hand" is released to the visible audience.
September 30 - October 2. A special Service and business Assembly is held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., where the registered offices of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society are located. On the opening day the Society’s president addresses the gathering of 5,000 on the subject "The Theocratic Alignment Today." The following day the public address is on the subject "One World, One Government." The Society’s annual business meeting is postponed from this day to the next day, Monday, October 2. This business meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. is noteworthy. After the Society’s directors and its officers are elected by the shareholders there represented, consideration is directed to six amendments that are proposed for the Charter of the Society, which is a Pennsylvania corporation incorporated sixty years earlier, in the year 1884. These will amend Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10. The first amendment resolution that is adopted proposes the enlarging of the purposes of the Society so as to assume properly the great worldwide work that is ahead. Also, this amendment puts God’s name, Jehovah, into the Charter. Amendment Three does away with the original charter’s provision that fixes one’s membership in the Society on the basis of one’s money contributions to the Society; henceforth the membership are to be limited to not more than 500, all of whom are to be chosen on the basis of their active service to Jehovah. As the Watchtower issue of November 1, 1944, says in its report: "This amendment will have the effect of bringing the charter as near to Theocratic arrangement as the law of the land permits." All six amendment resolutions are adopted. The following year (1945) the Amendments are duly recorded and thus became part of the Charter. With such an amended Charter the Watch Tower Society has served as a legal instrument of the anointed remnant worshiping Jehovah at his "sanctuary" or "holy place," ever since. --w71 12/1 p 723-8 (Prophetic reference: Dan 8:13, 14.)
October 13. Amersfoort. An eighteen-year-old Bible Student is taken from solitary confinement and instructed to dig tank traps. When he refuses to perform any action in support of the war, he is ordered to dig his own grave and is shot.
October 15. The Watchtower: "Organized for Final Work" is published.
October 16. The "corrective training" of Simone Arnold (Liebster) is reported by the overseer of the Wessenberg Institution for Juvenile Education.
"Report of contact for the period March 23, 1944 through October 16, 1944. Maria Simone Arnold . . . is developing properly in accord with her age and has adapted herself nicely . . . . A certain dreaminess on her part gives reason for complaint; it is occasionally necessary to awaken her from this state of mind." --Ch. Lederle
October 30. Anne and her sister, Margot, are sent to Bergen-Belsen.
November 1 issue of The Watchtower contains the leading article announcing "Theocratic Organization in Action." Under appropriate subheadings this article discusses "President," "Diakonos, Servant," "Qualifications," "Governing Body," and "Theocratic Conduct." The term "president" here does not refer to the president of the Watch Tower Society, but paragraph 12 says: "The elders in the congregations, who were also spiritual overseers thereof, presided at meetings of the disciples. Any elder thus acting as chairman of a meeting would be the president of the gathering on that occasion." Under the subheading "Governing Body" paragraphs 33, 34 says: "In the first century it was the group of the apostles in particular, together with the body of elders that they associated with them at Jerusalem, that made up the visible ruling body of Jehovah’s Theocratic organization on earth. . . . That governing body was not made up of perfect men." In the article that follows the above, in the same issue of The Watchtower, namely, "The Theocratic Alignment Today," paragraph 3 says: "The visible governing body of the Theocratic organization is and must be appointed only by Jehovah God the Supreme Ruler, and Christ Jesus the Head of His church. Its purpose is to issue directions and spiritual provisions to all God’s people. Acting in harmony with the governing body, all the Theocratic organization and its associates act in unity throughout the earth." --w71 12/1 p 723-8 (Prophetic reference: Dan 8.)
November 17. Bible Student Bernard Polman from the Netherlands is shot in a labor camp for refusing to assist in the war effort.
"This month, in spite of much foul weather and the difficulties that Satan has put on our path, we have been able to gain much ground. The number of hours spent in the field went up from 429 to 765 . . . While preaching, on brother met a man to whom he was able to give a good witness. The man asked if this was the same faith as that of the man who had been shot. Upon hearing that it was, the man exclaimed; 'What a man, what a faith! That's what I call a hero in faith!'" --report from congregation located near the shooting of Bernard Polman
1945
127,478 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1944, 16,973). Theocratic Aid to Kingdom Publishers published. Average number of free home Bible studies conducted is 104,814.
January 19. Adolphe Arnold is transferred to Strafkommando. (Jehovah's Witness)
April 24. Simone Arnold (Liebster) is released to the custody of her mother. (Jehovah's Witness)
As Himmler is fleeing capture, he meets a Witness named Lubke at Harzwalde and asks him, "Well, Bible Student, what happens now?" Brother Lubke gives him a through witness and shows that Jehovah's Witnesses had always reckoned with the collapse of the Nazi regime and with their deliverance. Himmler turns away without a word.
October 1. Society's board of directors is no longer selected by voters who qualify because of donations.
1946
158,034 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1945, 30,556).
During preceding 7 years, over 4,000 JW in US and 1,593 in Britain have been arrested and sentenced to prison terms ranging from a month to five years because of neutrality.
During the previous years of Nazi rule in Germany, 1,687 Witnesses lost their jobs, 284 their businesses, 735 their homes, 457 not permitted to carry on their trade, 129 cases of property confiscated, 826 pensioners refused pensions, 329 suffered other personal losses, 860 children taken from parents, 30 marriages dissolved due to pressure from political officials, 106 divorces when mates opposed the Witness mate's stand, 6,019 arrested and, as many were rearrested many times, 8,917 arrests took place. 2,000 brothers and sisters were put in concentration camps, 63 died in prison, 253 sentenced to death with 203 being executed.
6,504 share in full-time service as pioneers in this year.
"Equipped for Every Good Work"; "Let God Be True" published.
Awake! begins publication -- total printing of 13,934,429 for the year.
Over 470 JW are taken before the courts in Greece because of sharing Bible teachings with others.
Jehovah's Witnesses Convention. August 4 -11. Cleveland, Ohio, 1946
1947
181,071 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1946, 23,037).
In Quebec, Canada, 1700 cases involving the evangelizing work of JW's are pending in courts.
Number of congregations reaches 10,782 -- first passing the 10,000 mark.
15,856 Witnesses are sharing in the field ministry in Germany.
1948
230,532 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1947, 49,461). Servants to the brethren renamed circuit servants.
1949
279,421 (peak 317,877) Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1948, 48,889).
A group of "Hawaiian" pioneers come to Japan. These first Witness missionaries in Japan come to be called "the 49ers."
Jehovah's Witnesses petition Soviet officials for legal recognition. Soviet government exiles thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses to Siberia and Far East.
1950
328,572 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service. (Increase over 1949, 49,151).
"This Means Everlasting Life" published.
August 2. "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures" in English is released to 82,075 attendees at Theocracy's Increase International Assembly convention in Yankee Stadium, New York City.
The branch offices in Magdeburg are expropriated by Communist officials.
"Between 1950 and 1961 [when the Berlin Wall was constructed], East German officials arrested 2,891 of Jehovah's Witnesses; 2,202 of them, including 674 women, were brought to trial and sentenced to a total of 12,013 years imprisonment. During incarceration, 37 men and 13 women died either of mistreatment, sickness, malnutrition, or old age. The courts sentenced 12 men to life imprisonment but later reduced their sentences to 15 years." --Berliner Morgenpost, German newspaper, 1990
1951
442,380 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
What Has Religion Done for Mankind? published.
"Clean Worship" International Assemblies is held in the United States of America, Australia, France, Far East (Japan), Italy, Germany, Norway, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. [328,572 publishers with 116 countries reporting in 1950, 18% increase over the 1949 service year, 13,238 congregations.]
April. A large number of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Soviet Union are rounded up, loaded up on trains and sent to Siberia.
"This is not the end of the 'Witnesses' in Russia, but only the beginning of a new chapter in their proselytising activities. They even tried to propagate their faith when they stopped at stations on their way into exile. In deporting them the Soviet Government could have done nothing better for the dissemination of their faith. Out of their village isolation the 'Witnesses' were brought into a wider world, even if this was only the terrible world of the concentration and slave labour camps." --Walter Kolarz, Religion in the Soviet Union
1952
426,704 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
"Let God Be True" (revised) published.
"Press on to Maturity" District Assemblies is held in select cities and countries. [394,694 publishers with 120 countries reporting in 1951, 17% increase over the 1950 service year, 13,470 congregations.]
The nineteenth class of Gilead is held in South Lansing, New York. Simone Liebster is one of the graduates.
February. Roundups of Witnesses in the Soviet Union continue.
1953
519,982 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
"Make Sure of All Things" ; "New Heavens and a New Earth" published.
March 27-28. The first mock trial of principal overseers of Jehovah's Witnesses takes place in Czechoslovakia. (The second takes place a month later.)
"American imperialists, in their hatred for the people's democratic Czechoslovakia, shun no means of leading our working masses away from the road to Socialism . . . The circuit court in Prague dealt with one form of destructive activity by the American imperialists . . . On trial were the leading members of a religious sect whose adherents call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. This organization, directed in Brooklyn, U.S.A., and which has been banned in our country since 1949 for its destructive tendencies, has smuggled into Czechoslovakia cosmopolitan ideologies which under the veil of pure Christianity are designed to undermine the morale of our working masses, to encourage hatred toward the State and its laws, and which began preparing its adherents for eventual war in which they would play the role of the fifth column." --Rudé právo (The Red Law), Communist Daily paper.
July 22. At the "New World Society International Assembly" is held in the Yankee Stadium in New York, N.Y., U.S.A., the first in a series of five volumes of the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures is released to a crowd of 132,811 attendees This series will be completed in 1960. [426,704 publishers with 127 countries reporting in 1952, 11% increase over the 1951 service year, 13,942 congregations.]
September 1. An extensive program of training of Jehovah's Witnesses in house-to-house preaching gets under way.
1954
525,924 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
80 District Assemblies held world-wide, The United States of America, the islands of the Caribbean, Central & South America, Japan. [468,106 publishers with 121 countries reporting in 1953, 10% increase over the 1952 service year, 14,163 congregations.]
November 1. New understanding of Haggai 2:7-9 is explained in the Watchtower.
"There was a time when Jehovah's people thought that this desire of all nations was God's kingdom, but since Bible prophesy shows that the Kingdom would be first established and then the shaking would take place it could not refer to the Kingdom. Then it was thought that Christ Jesus was the desire of all nations, but since the expression is obviously in the plural, for which reason modern translators render it as the desireable, choicest, precious things or "the treasures of all the nations," it could not apply to him . . . . Prophesies such as these, together with the physical facts in fulfillment of them, help us to identify the desire of all nations as the great crowd of praisers now flowing to Jehovah's organization at the rate of 50,000 a year and that were present in such large numbers at the 1953 Yankee Stadium convention. And certainly in view of their love of truth and righteousness, their humility and unselfishness, they are the treasures, the choicest, the precious things of the nations." --w54 11/1
1955
570,694 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
Qualified to Be Ministers; You May Survive Armageddon Into God's New World published.
Name Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society changed to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.
"Triumphant Kingdom" Assemblies held in the United States of America, islands of the Caribbean, France, Germany, Italy, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. [525,924 publishers with 161 countries reporting in 1954, 12% increase over the 1953 service year, 14,531 congregations.]
1956
591,556 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
Name Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., changed to Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
District Assemblies held in the United States of America, Alaska, Argentina, Australia, Far East, Fiji, India (3),Japan, Philippines, Taiwan. [570,694 publishers with 158 countries reporting in 1955, 8.5% increase over the 1954 service year, 16,044 congregations.]
Jehovah's Witnesses petition Soviet Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin for legal recognition and for permission to publish and import Bible literature.
September. Simone Arnold and Max Liebster marry.
"Confronting a new situation, one of us would sometimes panic. In our deepest souls, feelings of unworthiness of being incapable and weak, creep to the fore. Only someone who has been deeply humiliated, who has experienced degrading pressures, an extreme, debasing treatment, can know how this brands one's innermost consciousness, leaving deep scars." --Simone Liebster, Facing the Lion
1957
653,273 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
"Make Sure of All Things" (revised) published.
"Life-Giving Wisdom" District Assemblies held in the United States of America, Far East, Italy, Japan, Liberia, and Taiwan. [591,556 publishers with 162 countries reporting in 1956, 3.6% increase over the 1955 service year, 16,240 congregations.]
In 169 lands, 100,135,016 hours are devoted by JW's to proclaiming God's Kingdom and conducting Bible studies.
1958
717,088 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
Branch Office Procedure of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania; From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained; "Your Will Be Done on Earth" published.
1959
"Awake Ministers" District Assemblies held in the United States of America, Africa, Belgium, Ghana, Liberia, South Africa, and Zambia. [717,088 publishers with 175 countries reporting in 1958, 9.8% increase over the 1957 service year, 17,878 congregations.]
Brochures
Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose published.
1960
"Peace-Pursuing" District Assemblies held in the United States of America, American Samoa, and the Philippines. [803,482 publishers with 175 countries reporting in 1959, 12% increase over the 1958 service year, 19,982 congregations.]
Kingdom Ministry School Course published.
December 25. A number of Jehovah's Witnesses from East Germany are invited to a meeting to discuss the possibility that East Germany may soon be cut off from the rest of the world.
1961
First group of Society's branch overseers attends special 10-month training course at Brooklyn, NY.
"Let Your Name Be Sanctified" published.
1962
"Courageous Ministers" District Assemblies held in the United States of America, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, El Salvador, and India. [884,587 publishers with 185 countries reporting in 1961, 3.9% increase over the 1960 service year, 21,557 congregations.]
1963
"Everlasting Good News" Assemblies held in a world tour 24-cities. [920,920 publishers with 189 countries reporting in 1962, 4.1% increase over the 1961 service year, 22,166 congregations.]
"New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures" is released in six more languages (Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish). "All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial" ; "Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" God's Kingdom Rules! published.
Over a million JW's are now active in 198 lands; peak of publishers is 1,040,836; 62,798 baptized.
1964
"Fruitage of the Spirit" Assemblies held throughout the United States & Canada, also in El Salvador, Liberia, Nigeria, and the Solomon Islands. [956,648 publishers with 194 countries reporting in 1963, 3.9% increase over the 1962 service year, 22,761 congregations.]
1965
"Word of Truth" Assemblies heldin the United States, Canada, Belgium, Fiji, Ireland, and Norway. [1,001,870 publishers with 194 countries reporting in 1964, 4.7% increase over the 1963 service year, 23,483 congregations.]
Branch Office Procedure of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (revised); "Make Sure of All Things; Hold Fast to What Is Fine"; "Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie" published.
First Assembly Hall, a renovated theater, is put to use in New York.
1966
"God's Sons of Liberty" District Assemblies held in the United States, Canada, British Isles, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zambia. [1,034,268 publishers with 197 countries reporting in 1965, 3.2% increase over the 1964 service year, 24,158 congregations.]
Life Everlasting-In Freedom of the Sons of God published.
1967
"Disciple Making" District Assemblies held in the United States, Canada, British Isles, Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Israel, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Zambia. [1,058, 675 publishers with 199 countries reporting in 1966, 2.4% increase over the 1965 service year, 24,910 congregations.]
Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation?; Qualified to Be Ministers (revised); "Your Word Is a Lamp to My Foot" published.
October 20. Malawi bans Jehovah's Witnesses with a signed executive order. (A peak of 18,519 Witnesses are reported in Malawi at the time.)
October 23. Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Malawi because they are an "unlawful society." In Lilongwe, 170 homes are burned over the period of three nights. Eventually 1,095 are destroyed with 115 Kingdom Halls wrecked. Thousands of Witnesses are beaten and thrown into prison. Tens of thousands flee to Mozambique and Zambia, but are forced to return. (JW's number 18,000 at this time)
1968
1,155,826 Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life published.
"Good News for All Nations" District Assemblies held in United States, Canada, British Isles, El Salvador, and Zambia. [1,094,280 publishers with 197 countries reporting in 1967, 3.4% increase over the 1966 service year, 25,206 congregations.]
1969
1,336,112 (peak) Jehovah's Witnesses report field service.
"Peace on Earth" International Assemblies held in the United States, Canada, England, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii, Burma, Nigeria, El Salvador, Liberia, and Mexico. [1,155,826 publishers with 200 countries reporting in 1968, 5.6% increase over the 1967 service year, 25,409 congregations.] Home Bible studies exceed a million; reports show average of 1,097,237].
Aid to Bible Understanding (A-Exodus); Is the Bible Really the Word of God?; "Then Is Finished the Mystery of God"published.
http://www.vanessascollection.com/main/tm1969.htm
Yakki Da
Kent
Daily News On The Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses:
http://watchtower.observer.org