Jehovah's Witnesses Prisoners

Founded in the United States in the late 19th century, the
Jehovah’s Witnesses movement spread worldwide. As a
proselytizing religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses actively work to
spread their message and educate new audiences
domestically and through international mission work.

Jehovah’s Witnesses became a Nazi target in April 1933,
becoming the first Christian group outlawed by the Nazis. The
Nazis kept a registry of some 20,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses
living in Germany. They believed the Witnesses were
undermining their policies because they refused to accept
the authority of the state over that of god and practiced a
policy of non-violence. Witnesses refused to salute Hitler, to
let their children join the Hitler-Youth, and to adorn their
homes with the national flag. Jehovah’s Witnesses were
expelled from schools and jobs, suffered beatings and had
their children removed from their care. Those who refused
military service and who continued to proselytize after being
warned to stop, faced the possibility of public execution
(somewhere around 250 Jehovah’s Witnesses were beheaded
for their refusal to adhere to Nazi laws).

By 1939 an estimated 6,000 had been incarcerated
and were sent to prisons or concentration camps,
where they were identified by a purple triangle and
kept separate from other prisoners in order to
prevent them from converting new followers to
their faith. They constituted a small group of
prisoners within the concentration camp system.

Jehovah’s Witnesses could have avoided
incarceration by renouncing their religious beliefs.
Instead most Witnesses rearmed their faith in the
face of persecution and were arrested for their
continued defiance. They continued to hold secret
religious meetings and proselytize in the camps.
Witnesses did not actively resist their guards in the
concentration camps nor did they try and escape
from their incarceration.

MEMOIR: HELENE GOTTHOLD

Helene Gotthold was a Jehovah Witness woman that
suffered persecution during the Nazi regime. Helene and her
husband were both active members and some of their
neighbors wanted nothing to do with them because they
were Witnesses. They were arrested in 1936 and 1937 by the
Getsapo after they searched her house. She was beaten
severely which caused her to lose her unborn baby and was
given an 18 – month sentence. The Gottholds were
re-arrested in 1944 and were imprisoned in Potsdam. In
August 1944, Helene along with other Witnesses were
sentenced to death for holding Bible meetings illegally and
for not following the nation’s regulations. She was executed
by guillotine on December 8th, 1944. The rest of her family
survived the persecution and continued their missionary
work in Germany.