Jehovah's Witnesses and Nazi Germany

I heard an interesting story today from a co-worker who used to work w/ a Jehovah’s Witness. He says that the woman took great pride in telling him how, during WWII, Witnesses were highly sought after as valets and personal servants by the Nazis (thus enabling the Witnesses to survive the war’s atrocities). The reason: Jehovah’s Witnesses are strictly forbidden from telling lies, and when a Nazi officer was about to be shaved by his valet, he would ask of the JW, “Do you intend to slit my throat with that razor?” and when the JW assured him that he/she was not going to, the officer believed him/her and confidently allowed himself to be groomed.

Anyone else hear of this? Any truth? Can any Jehovah’s Witnesses swear to the veracity of this?–then I’ll believe it.

It’s possible a few individual Jehovah’s Witnesses survived the war this way, but I rather doubt it. The sect was outlawed shortly after Hitler came to power and many were sent to concentration camps. See http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/enemy.htm

I know they were highly sought after to be persecuted and sent to concentration camps. Jehovah’s Witnesses were one of the first groups targeted by the Nazi’s. The were easy to pick on, many other christian groups saw the JW’s as being heretical. Not many were their to support them.

See this link for a concise history http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/people/JWTIMELN.HTM

I would think that, were it true, that the Witnesses would not discuss it, as it sounds quite a bit like collaboration.

Although I do like the thought of a Witness knocking on Goering’s door and asking him if he thought peace in our time is possible.

Um ok, here’s a funny question… You mean to tell me that it is a sin to lie, but murder is ok? :confused:

-Dani

Tristan said:

But…um…If the JW’s are forbidden from lying….someone should just ask the church’s leaders in a registered letter or something. You’d figure if it WAS their steadfast truthfulness that saved their collective bacon, they’d be reluctant to betray it now by lying about the incident, itself.

And yes, Dave Barry, Jehovah’s Collective Bacon would be a good name for a band.

Thank you, and Goodnight.

Many Nazi officers/officials were given concentration camp inmates to use as domestic servants. And, yes, the strict moral code that Jehovah’s Witnesses followed led to them being preferred by far to Jews, Roma, prostitutes, political prisoners, ect., especially for child care. Witnesses had a reputation of being honest- they would not say, steal food from their bosses to distribute back at the camp. Roma, criminals*, ect. did not inspire the same level of trust.
Now, the scenario given in the OP is incorrect and would not have happened- Witnesses were also sworn to a strict policy of pacifism, which is what attracted the wrath of the Nazis in the first place- Witnesses would not serve in the military or do any work percieved as being directly supportive for the military. They certainly would not kill.
Remember, no other group as a whole was targeted for death in the same manner as were the Jews. While the chances of a Witness concentration camp inmate being killed by malnutrition, disease, or a sadistic guard were plenty high, he/she did not have to worry about being sent to the chamber.

  • I am certainly not equating Roma with criminals here, just pointing out the way that the average Nazi party member would have perceived them.

There are plenty of resources about the treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses during the Holocaust on the net, but I am in too bad a mood today to start looking over any of them (I find the Holocaust depressing). Try the Holocaust Museum.

Collaboration? Maybe, but I think that the Witnesses (much as I avoid them when they knock on my door) behaved heroically. All the individual Witness had to do to get off the hook was pledge allegience to Hitler, maybe work in a munitions factory. By and large, they elected to be persecuted rather then to compromise their beliefs. Now, when you and I are in a concentration camp, and we are given the choice:

a) go pick up after a couple of spoiled Nazi brats, get fed 2, even 3 times a day.

or

b) Die in a horrible, painful, and humiliating way

and we choose b, we will have the right to deem them “collaborators”.

Gypsys (Roma) were systematically killed by the Nazis, even though the number of Gypsies killed was not as large as the number of Jews killed. See http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/prisoner.htm

An estimated half million Gypsies were murdered by the Nazis.

I might point out that, when the Allies liberated the SS camps, the Witnesses had been selected by the captured SS officers to carry booty the Nazis had stolen from other prisoners. This is because the Witnesses were the only ones even the Nazis trusted.
It was also noted by psychologist Bruno Bettelheim that the Witnesses bore up under Nazi persecution better than any of the others, the Jews and “Roma” (Gypsies? I am one eighth-Gypsy myself!) not excluded.
Side comment: One American official dealing with relations between Americans and Communist regimes said that, while the Reds easily brainwashed persons the official and his peers had determined were well-integrated psychologically, the few Witnesses who wound up as POWs withstood to a man the efforts to convert them to Communism.
–Acts 5:38, 39. :slight_smile:

Originally posted by bibliophage

They sure were, but not quite in the same manner as the Jews were. Although their traditional way of life was contrary to Nazi ideology, Roma/Gypsies (for dougie;)) were not considered a ‘threat’ in the way that Jews were, and, like the Witnesses were not specifically targeted for mass extinction.

If anyone is interested in discussing it, I’ll be able to get to my books, refresh my memory, and drop a cite or two by Monday. I’ll defend my point, however I am not particuraly interested myself in discussing it, because the ideology of murder doesn’t matter. A victim is a victim; murder is murder. I just brought it up because a previous post seemed to imply that a trip to the camps was a trip to the ovens, and that is untrue. Camp inmates sometimes worked in factories and in private homes. Let us not even go into the forced prostitution.

I’ll be back next week. Happy Thanksgiving.