"Most ordinary JWs were unaware of the maschinations in brooklyn, the the 'new light' du jour doctrines even."
Well. Lots (probably all) were very aware of the Society's stance of anti-semitism.
The large convention that drew many of the JWs in Germany happened in 1933 well before any were imprisoned for not joining the army. It was at that convention that their replacement theology was solidified within their membership by both Rutherford and Knorr. It is obvious that all the JWs knew about it - they mounted a large tract campaign to make the whole of Germany aware of it. The JW women talked about in Hess' book had to have been blind, dumb and deaf not to know.
i find it more believable that the women knew of the stance that was widely publicised in Germany at the time - both by the Watchtower and by outside sources. Their stance was that they did not oppose Nazi Germany and that they hated the Jews too.
http://yadlachim.org/?CategoryID=203&ArticleID=577
*the intro from the above link:
"One of the most aggressive missionary groups operating today in the State of Israel is the sect which calls itself 'Jehovah’s Witnesses'.
Lately, this sect started an aggressive publicity campaign in order to build for itself a positive image in the eyes of the public. They hope to succeed based on the fact that most people in Israel are unaware of the true nature of this sect and of its sordid history. They’re pouring a lot of money into this publicity campaign from their vast resources (their income in USA alone is surpassing $1.25 billion dollars).
As a part of this propaganda they sent an expensively produced book and a videocassette to every member of the Knesset. There they describe in great detail the suffering that members of the sect underwent during the Nazi regime. Our brochure is the first modest step in exposing the true face of this fanatical sect, which bases all of its propaganda on historical revisionism and outright lies."