"Did not the "Declaration" also include a clause that the signee would support the Nazi /National cause in addition to stop the wt propaganda?"
The following is a copy of the declaration as it was published by the Watchtower Society in one of their publications:
*from the website http://www.holocaust-trc.org/jehovahs-witnesses/declaration-renouncing-beliefs/
Declaration Renouncing Beliefs
Jehovah’s Witnesses, incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps, were given the opportunity to be freed if they signed this statement renouncing their beliefs. Few did so, even when beaten or tortured by their guards.
DECLARATION RENOUNCING BELIEFS
Concentration camp …………………………………………………………..
Department II
DECLARATION
I, the ……………………………………………………………………………….
Born on ……………………………………………………………………………
In ……………………………………………………………………………………
herewith make the following declaration:
- I have come to know that the International Bible Students Association is proclaiming erroneous teachings and under the cloak of religion follows hostile purposes against the State.
- I therefore left the organization entirely and made myself absolutely free from the teachings of this sect.
- I herewith give assurance that I will never again take any part in the activity of the International Bible Students Association. Any persons approaching me with the teaching of the Bible Students, or who in any manner reveal their connections with them, I will denounce immediately. All literature from the Bible Students that should be sent to my address I will at once deliver to the nearest police station.
- I will in the future esteem the laws of the State, especially in the event of war will I, with weapon in hand, defend the fatherland, and join in every way the community of the people.
- I have been informed that I will at once be taken again into protective custody if I should act against the declaration given today.
……………………………………………………..Dated………………………..
………………………………………………………………………….Signature
Reprinted and translated in Jehovah’s Witnesses: Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 1993); p. 661.
This is a good example of how the Society's bias informs their presentation of history. In the previous post, I presented information from an outside researcher that claimed over 50% of the Bible Students signed the pledge while imprisoned and 10% signed after they were sent to the camps and the reasons were given as to why it was more favorable not to sign than sign once a person reached the camps.
And yet the Society's spin is quite different, claiming very few signed.
That is a significance difference in perspective and which is the correct one? Or do the true figures or 'correct' viewpoint lie somewhere in between? I tend to gravitate towards the independent and outside researcher. The Society's track record for presenting truthful facts is not good. In fact, the Society's entire history is riddled with lies and confusion.
This is why researching history is so fascinating and frustrating at the same time. There are so many different accounts with each having their particular bias and ethnocentric point of view that it is important to acknowledge the biases behind the interpretation of historical 'facts'. For example, I once tried to track down a comment made in one of the Society's publications concerning Felix Kersten, Heinrich Himmler's personal 'doctor'. Apparently, the quote was taken from Kersten's Diary. So, I got Kersten's Diary, read it, never found the quote or any reference whatsoever to what the Watchtower claimed. Then I found out that Kersten had left behind so many pages of handwritten material, that it was heavily edited, not once, but, I believe, six times, which each edited version being published in different countries, and with different material presented in each. The diaries have been criticized for deliberately presenting material in order to either hide certain details or distort what Kersten actually recorded. I had read the version published in Britain. There was a version published in New York which is more than likely the edition the Society used.
And speaking of different versions of publications, the Society has a history of publishing very different material in their German magazines than those published in Britain or North America.
A poster earlier had made the comment that we have a USA based view here. That is simply because the material that exposes the history of the German Watchtower to the North American audience is only recently accessible. I have discovered many interesting things from visiting German websites.