Jehovah's Witnesses and the "Third Reich" - NO Collaboration with Hitler or Nazis
Comments on the "Declaration of Facts" and the Berlin-Wilmersdorf assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses on June 25, 1933 -
German version
 

"The frequently repeated accusation of ‘having curried favor with’ the Nazi regime in connection with the Jehovah’s Witnesses Convention in Berlin on June 25, 1933, also cannot be upheld... ," quoted from:
Besier, Gerhard / Besier, Renate-Maria: Jehovah’s Witnesses/Wachtturm-Gesellschaft: A "Pre-Modern" Religious Association in a "Modern" Society? Expert Opinion, in: The New Inquisitors, by Gerhard Besier / Erwin K. Scheuch (editors), Editions La Colombe Christoph Lenhartz, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, 2003, pages 278-9.
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http://www.jwhistory.net/english/besier-besier2003.htm [read > German quotes]

"The Witnesses repudiated the charges that they were supported by Jews or Bolsheviks--accusations of "Satan's tool" were whispered into the Reichskanzler's ears by the "official" churches. And certainly, the established churches had long been pushing for an official ban on this "sectarian" but above all zealous Christian denomination. Under the Weimar Republic such attempts had dissipated. Because Jehovah's Witnesses advocate only one government, that of God's Kingdom, some have viewed them as subversive. But nothing could be further from the truth [...] Never have they advocated rebellion against any human government! There is, however, a line that cannot be crossed under any circumstances. It is the line between the duty of Jehovah's Witnesses to man and their duty to God. They seek to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but to God what belongs to God (Matthew 22:21). The passages from the Declaration which the churches today single out for quotation cannot rightfully be termed antisemitic or anti-Jewish; rather, they are anti-American or perhaps even anti-world," quoted from:
The Declaration of 25 June 1933: A Textual Analysis, in:
Gabriele Yonan: Spiritual Resistance of Christian Conviction in Nazi Germany: The Case of the Jehovah's Witnesses, in: Journal of Church & State, Spring 1999, pages 318 ff.
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http://www.jwhistory.net/english/yonan-journal1999.htm

"Later analysis of the text has led some to criticize the Witnesses for unequivocally distancing themselves from the Jews as a move of political expediency. Clearly, the resolution aimed at stemming the tide of persecution against the Witnesses, not the Jews. Moreover, the resolution did not clearly denounce as contrived the notion of ‘the Jewish conspiracy,’ but merely stated that the Witnesses received no financial backing from Jews.[69] Nevertheless it is clear from the context of the declaration that references to the Jews in the resolution had to do with religious disagreements and were aimed at clarifying the Witnesses’ position of neutrality, and it thus fell far afield from the main issue of the Jewish Question," quoted from:
"God's things and Caesar's: Jehovah's Witnesses and political neutrality," by Jolene Chu, Journal of Genocide Research (2004), 6 (3), September, pp. 319-42.
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http://www.jwhistory.net/english/chu2004.htm#berlin1933

"During their special Berlin-Wilmersdorf convention on 25 June 1933 the German Witnesses issued a ‘Declaration of Facts’ explaining their non-political stand and their determination to obey God’s Word alone. The ‘Golden Age’ magazine of the Witnesses reported that ‘While … [they] were engaged in the distribution of this Declaration … [throughout Germany] many of them were arrested and thrown into prison and concentration camps.’"[7]
Note 7 reads:  "It is not true that this mass meeting in Berlin ‘began with the singing of the German national anthem and [that] the hall was decorated with swastika flags’ (Carsten, 1995, p. 115). Detlef Garbe (1999, p. 553) corrected this erroneous interpretation of certain sources, provided by former Jehovah’s Witnesses, in the third edition of his book. Also, the ‘frequently repeated accusation of ‘‘having curried favor with’’ the Nazi regime in connection with the Jehovah’s Witness Convention in Berlin on June 25, 1933, … cannot be upheld’’ (Besier and Besier, 2003, p. 279). This accusation, a notion which was originally promoted during the Cold War era by the antagonistic and anti-American East German State Security against Jehovah’s Witnesses banned in the GDR (1950 - 89) with their headquarters in the United States, has been refuted by other writers as well: see Yonan, 1999, pp. 318 – 21; Wrobel, 2001b, pp. 310 – 19; > 2003a, pp. 120 – 25 [ > pp. 157 - 59]; > 2003b, pp. 401 – 10; Chu, 2004, p. 332; http://info.lilawinkel.de." Quoted from:
Johannes Wrobel: "Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist Concentration Camps, 1933-45", in: Religion, State & Society, The Keston Journal (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group) vol. 34, no. 2 (June 2006), pp. 89-125.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09637490600624691

"No Compromise With Hitler" / "What Happened When Hitler Came to Power?" / "Convention of Courage or Compromise?" (Berlin convention, Wilmersdorfer "Tennishallen" [sports hall], June 25, 1933) / with two contemporary photos of the convention attended by Jehovah's Witnesses in 1933 at the "Tennishallen" / "A Statements of Intent" (1933 "Declaration of Facts" [German "Erklärung" / "Erklaerung"], subheading in:
Awake! magazine article (Watchtower Society of Jehovah's Witnesses), "Jehovah's Witnesses -- Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril," July 8, 1998.
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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101998492

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