This information is taken from thesis by Peter Strawhan, 1984, re JWs in Australia in WW2. Rees was head of JWs in Australia, who were banned 1941-43. JWs contributed £10,000 to war bonds from cash accumulated during ban, reported to Knorr July 1943. Rees: ?of course the fact that we took out the bonds has not been publicized, but we have seen to it that the Government Officials such as Security, Army, Manpower, etc, know of it. This action has been largely responsible for the promise to lift the Restriction Orders.? Restriction orders were placed on most leading JWs by Security during the ban. They were confined to a particular area or town, not allowed to associate with other JWs, except their family, & forbidden to drive a car or to have a telephone.
War Bonds WW2 Australia
by JW83 17 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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ValiantBoy
Actually I believe there is ome discussion of this in the 1983 yearbook. I may have the year wrong, but it was either 82 or 83. It discussed the factt hat the organization in Australia had compromised their neutrality. It blamed stagnation within the organization on the removal of Jehovah's blessing due to these compromises. Of course, once the situation was corrected, the organization moved forward
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JW83
Hi ValiantBoy,
No, that was in relation to commercial interests owned by the Witnesses in this period (printeries, canteens etc). There has never been any Witness admission of buying 10,000 pounds worth of war bonds to influence the government!! Strawhan got his information from gov files (AA (SA) AP538/1, SA29378) & I presume that is a private letter from Rees to Knorr censored by the government.
Jayne
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ValiantBoy
Hey Jayne..Thanks for the info. It's been so long since I read that yearbook that I'm surprised I remebered any of it. I wanted to look it up to see if I was correct before I posted, but, alas, for some ungodly reason I've discarded all my Witness literature...