Authority and history1930s1950s1990sEvidence collection
Autorität und Geschichte · Belegsammlung
Germany, 1933
Jehovas Zeugen gehörten zu den Gruppen, die im Nationalsozialismus verfolgt wurden, und damit beginnt diese Seite. Anschließend stellt sie ein Dokument vom Juni 1933 vor, das die Organisation in ihrem eigenen Jahrbuch vollständig abgedruckt hat, und zitiert es ohne Kommentar.
Zuletzt geprüft am 20. September 2026
Was diese Seite ist und was sie nicht ist. Die Verfolgung steht hier an erster Stelle, weil sie die größere Tatsache ist und weil sie nicht bestritten wird. Die Erklärung der Tatsachen ist ein einzelnes Dokument aus den ersten Wochen des Verbots, und diese Seite zitiert sie Satz für Satz aus dem Abdruck der Organisation selbst, ohne sie zu beschreiben. Die eigene Erläuterung der Organisation steht neben jedem Zitat.
Zwei Grenzen sollten von Anfang an sichtbar sein. Für diese Seite war keine wissenschaftliche oder institutionelle Einschätzung dieses Dokuments zu erhalten — die beiden akademischen Studien zum Thema waren uns nicht zugänglich, und die befragten Holocaust-Museen behandeln es nicht. Und das deutschsprachige Flugblatt, das in Deutschland tatsächlich verbreitet wurde, konnte nicht aufgefunden werden; der hier wiedergegebene Text ist der englische, den die Organisation gedruckt hat.
Was Jehovas Zeugen in Deutschland widerfuhr
Dies ist der größere Teil des Themas, und niemand bestreitet ihn.
Das United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hält fest, dass von den 25.000 bis 30.000 Deutschen, die 1933 Zeugen Jehovas waren, etwa 20.000 während der NS-Zeit aktiv blieben, dass etwa die Hälfte von ihnen irgendwann verurteilt wurde, dass mindestens 3.000 in Konzentrationslager eingewiesen wurden, dass schätzungsweise 1.000 deutsche Zeugen Jehovas in Lagern und Gefängnissen starben oder ermordet wurden, zusammen mit 400 Zeugen aus anderen Ländern, und dass mindestens 273 von Militärgerichten wegen der Verweigerung des Militärdienstes zum Tode verurteilt und hingerichtet wurden. Das Angebot „Experiencing History“ des Museums nennt unter Berufung auf Detlef Garbe rund 10.000 Inhaftierte, rund 1.200 Tote und etwa 250 Hingerichtete. Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2026Source: Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, 2026Source: Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Die eigene Chronologie der Organisation von 1993 verzeichnet 6.262 Verhaftungen, 2.074 Einweisungen in Konzentrationslager und insgesamt 14.332 Jahre Haft und nennt keine Zahl für die Todesfälle. Im Wachtturm von 1955 hieß es: „Some two thousand witnesses lost their lives“.
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Of the 25,000 to 30,000 Germans who in 1933 were Jehovah's Witnesses, an estimated 20,000 remained active through the Nazi period. . . . At least 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps . . . An estimated 1,000 German Jehovah's Witnesses died or were murdered in concentration camps and prisons during the Nazi era, as did 400 Witnesses from other countries”
The museum’s summary article, published over the museum’s own name. It also states that by 1939 “6,000 Witnesses (including some from Austria and Czechoslovakia) were detained in prisons or camps”; that “Jehovah’s Witnesses were marked by purple triangular patches” in the camps; and, in a sentence printed with a grammatical slip, that “In addition, at least 273 Jehovah’s Witnesses were sentenced to death by military courts for refusing military service were executed.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Holocaust Encyclopedia, Nazi Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, again for an independent audit, and a third time for a second adversarial audit on the same day; the sentences quoted here were taken from the raw text, not from a summary. The page carries no publication or revision date, so the date recorded is the date it was read. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences: one saying that the remainder fled Germany, renounced their faith or confined their worship to the family, and one giving the proportion of those remaining active who were convicted and sentenced. The second stands for the parenthesis listing the nationalities of the camp prisoners and for the paragraph break that follows it. The quotation stops at “from other countries”, where the museum’s sentence continues “, including about 90 Austrians and 120 Dutch persons.”
Notes.The article makes no mention of the June 1933 Berlin convention or of the Declaration of Facts.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-persecution
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“At first, the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany hoped to convince the Nazi regime that they were a politically neutral Christian group, and they urged their followers to obey the new laws.”
The sentence carries a footnote reading: “To learn more about early efforts of the Jehovah's Witnesses to accommodate the new Nazi regime, see Detlef Garbe, Between Resistance & Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, translated by Dagmar G. Grimm (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2008), 87-91.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, including the footnotes, and again for an independent audit. The footnote quoted in the context note is the note attached to the sentence quoted here.
Notes.A footnote on the same page states: “More than 25,000 Witnesses lived in Germany when the Nazis rose to power, and roughly 10,000 were imprisoned during the years of Nazi rule. About 2,000 German Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps, and scholars estimate that roughly 1,200 died under Nazi rule. Around 250 Jehovah’s Witnesses were executed, mostly for refusing military service”, citing Garbe p. 484. The body of the page states that “in June 1933, the Nazi regime banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from meeting, preaching, or distributing their publications.”
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-experiencing-history
1993 · p.720 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“1933 Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Germany. During the intense persecution down to the end of World War II, 6,262 are arrested, and their combined time of imprisonment totals 14,332 years; 2,074 are sent to concentration camps, where their confinement totals 8,332 years”
The 1933 entry in the chronology that closes the organisation's 1993 history. The chronology runs from p. 718 to p. 723.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Noteworthy Events in the Modern-day History of Jehovah's Witnesses
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the entry falls between the pageNum markers for pp. 720 and 721.
Notes.The entry gives no figure for deaths.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-jv-chronology
Die Zeugen Jehovas in Deutschland weigerten sich, den Hitlergruß zu leisten, nationalsozialistischen Organisationen beizutreten, an den Wahlen und Volksabstimmungen des Regimes teilzunehmen, das Hakenkreuz zu zeigen und, nachdem 1935 die Wehrpflicht wieder eingeführt worden war, Militärdienst zu leisten. Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2026Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2026
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Of the 25,000 to 30,000 Germans who in 1933 were Jehovah's Witnesses, an estimated 20,000 remained active through the Nazi period. . . . At least 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps . . . An estimated 1,000 German Jehovah's Witnesses died or were murdered in concentration camps and prisons during the Nazi era, as did 400 Witnesses from other countries”
The museum’s summary article, published over the museum’s own name. It also states that by 1939 “6,000 Witnesses (including some from Austria and Czechoslovakia) were detained in prisons or camps”; that “Jehovah’s Witnesses were marked by purple triangular patches” in the camps; and, in a sentence printed with a grammatical slip, that “In addition, at least 273 Jehovah’s Witnesses were sentenced to death by military courts for refusing military service were executed.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Holocaust Encyclopedia, Nazi Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, again for an independent audit, and a third time for a second adversarial audit on the same day; the sentences quoted here were taken from the raw text, not from a summary. The page carries no publication or revision date, so the date recorded is the date it was read. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences: one saying that the remainder fled Germany, renounced their faith or confined their worship to the family, and one giving the proportion of those remaining active who were convicted and sentenced. The second stands for the parenthesis listing the nationalities of the camp prisoners and for the paragraph break that follows it. The quotation stops at “from other countries”, where the museum’s sentence continues “, including about 90 Austrians and 120 Dutch persons.”
Notes.The article makes no mention of the June 1933 Berlin convention or of the Declaration of Facts.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-persecution
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Initially, leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses sought to find a way to work with the Nazi government. In October 1934, the leadership sent a letter to the Reich government, explaining the Witnesses' core beliefs and their commitment to political neutrality.”
The museum’s companion article on the movement’s history in Germany, published over the museum’s own name. It records that “Soon after Hitler became chancellor, Bavarian authorities issued a ban on the International Bible Students’ Society” and that “Twice during 1933, police occupied Witness offices to confiscate religious literature.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Holocaust Encyclopedia, Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany: From the 1890s to the 1930s
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page's HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026. The letter the passage names is of October 1934, not the June 1933 Declaration.
Notes.The article does not mention the June 1933 Declaration.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-1890s-1930s
In den Konzentrationslagern wurden Jehovas Zeugen durch einen lila dreieckigen Stoffwinkel gekennzeichnet. Das United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hält fest, dass “some Witnesses were tortured in attempts to make them sign declarations renouncing their faith, but few capitulated to this pressure”. Source: Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2026Source: Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, 2026
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Of the 25,000 to 30,000 Germans who in 1933 were Jehovah's Witnesses, an estimated 20,000 remained active through the Nazi period. . . . At least 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps . . . An estimated 1,000 German Jehovah's Witnesses died or were murdered in concentration camps and prisons during the Nazi era, as did 400 Witnesses from other countries”
The museum’s summary article, published over the museum’s own name. It also states that by 1939 “6,000 Witnesses (including some from Austria and Czechoslovakia) were detained in prisons or camps”; that “Jehovah’s Witnesses were marked by purple triangular patches” in the camps; and, in a sentence printed with a grammatical slip, that “In addition, at least 273 Jehovah’s Witnesses were sentenced to death by military courts for refusing military service were executed.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Holocaust Encyclopedia, Nazi Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, again for an independent audit, and a third time for a second adversarial audit on the same day; the sentences quoted here were taken from the raw text, not from a summary. The page carries no publication or revision date, so the date recorded is the date it was read. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences: one saying that the remainder fled Germany, renounced their faith or confined their worship to the family, and one giving the proportion of those remaining active who were convicted and sentenced. The second stands for the parenthesis listing the nationalities of the camp prisoners and for the paragraph break that follows it. The quotation stops at “from other countries”, where the museum’s sentence continues “, including about 90 Austrians and 120 Dutch persons.”
Notes.The article makes no mention of the June 1933 Berlin convention or of the Declaration of Facts.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-persecution
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“At first, the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany hoped to convince the Nazi regime that they were a politically neutral Christian group, and they urged their followers to obey the new laws.”
The sentence carries a footnote reading: “To learn more about early efforts of the Jehovah's Witnesses to accommodate the new Nazi regime, see Detlef Garbe, Between Resistance & Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, translated by Dagmar G. Grimm (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2008), 87-91.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, including the footnotes, and again for an independent audit. The footnote quoted in the context note is the note attached to the sentence quoted here.
Notes.A footnote on the same page states: “More than 25,000 Witnesses lived in Germany when the Nazis rose to power, and roughly 10,000 were imprisoned during the years of Nazi rule. About 2,000 German Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps, and scholars estimate that roughly 1,200 died under Nazi rule. Around 250 Jehovah’s Witnesses were executed, mostly for refusing military service”, citing Garbe p. 484. The body of the page states that “in June 1933, the Nazi regime banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from meeting, preaching, or distributing their publications.”
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-experiencing-history
Die Literatur der Gesellschaft in Magdeburg wurde 1933 vernichtet. Ihr eigenes Jahrbuch 1974 hält fest, dass am 21., 23. und 24. August Bücher, Bibeln und Bilder mit einem Gewicht von 65.189 Kilogramm aus der Fabrik geholt, auf fünfundzwanzig Lastwagen geladen und am Rand der Stadt öffentlich verbrannt wurden. Unabhängig davon telegrafierte der Außenminister der Vereinigten Staaten am 7. September 1933 an das Konsulat in Berlin, die Gesellschaft habe gemeldet, „a portion of the Society's property including books is being burned today by soldiers or police acting as custodians of the Society's factory“, und bat das Konsulat um Unterstützung. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974Source: Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, 7. September 1933
1974 · p.111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Even though the declaration had been weakened and many of the brothers could not wholeheartedly agree to its adoption, yet the government was enraged and started a wave of persecution against those who had distributed it.”
The following paragraphs record that on 28 June 1933 thirty SA men occupied the Magdeburg premises and hoisted the swastika over the building (pp. 111-112), and that on 21, 23 and 24 August 1933 books, Bibles and pictures weighing 65,189 kilograms were taken from the factory, loaded into twenty-five trucks and publicly burned at the edge of Magdeburg (p. 112).
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed. The sentence quoted stands on p. 111, between the pageNum markers for pp. 111 and 112; the events described in the context note follow on pp. 111-112.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-aftermath
7. September 1933 · p.412 · Cordell Hull · United States Department of State
“Representative of the Watch Tower Bible Tract Society informs Department that an order has been issued by the German authorities requiring the vacating of the Home at Magdeburg owned by the Society and now occupied by Harbeck, an American citizen and the Society’s resident manager, and that a portion of the Society’s property including books is being burned today by soldiers or police acting as custodians of the Society’s factory. You are requested to lend appropriate assistance and report by cable.”
A telegram from the Secretary of State in Washington to the American Consul General in Berlin, passing on what the Society had reported to the Department. It is the Department repeating the Society’s account, not an observation by any American official. Two days later a further instruction to the Ambassador (document 290 in the same volume) states that “the Department is also informed that recently the German authorities burned some of the Society’s publications”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Berlin (Messersmith)
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the United States Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full. The telegram falls between the printed page breaks for pp. 412 and 413 of the volume.
Notes.The burning this telegram reports was reported to Washington on 7 September 1933. The organisation’s own 1974 Year Book dates the large burning of literature at Magdeburg to 21, 23 and 24 August 1933. Whether the two accounts describe the same destruction is not established by either document.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-burning-telegram
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Die Organisation datiert das Verbot auf denselben Tag und sagt, dass “a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention”, dass die Kongressorganisatoren und die Polizei erst einige Tage später davon erfuhren und dass diejenigen, die teilnahmen, “courageously put their liberty at risk”.
12. Juli 1933 · p.408 · George S. Messersmith · United States Department of State
“The work of the Society has been at an utter standstill in all the states of Germany except Prussia; but on June 24 a decree was issued by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior and signed by Dr. Grauert, the Under Secretary of State in that Ministry. . . . In the decree of June 24 forbidding the activities of the Society throughout Germany, it was also provided that the property be confiscated.”
A despatch from the American Consul General in Berlin reporting on the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. It records that Rutherford had been in Europe for a number of months, came to Germany “a number of weeks ago” and had a long interview at the Consulate General with Consul Geist, and that it was pointed out to him that the Consulate General “would be unable to make any representations to the German Government regarding the ban that had been put upon their activities and that it could use its good offices only to protect the physical property of the organization excluding pamphlets, booklets and brochures which the police had condemned as being anti-revolutionary and communistic in tendency”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Consul General at Berlin (Messersmith) to the Acting Secretary of State, No. 1428
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the United States Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full. Both sentences quoted stand on p. 408 of the printed edition, whose page breaks are marked in the text; the despatch as a whole runs pp. 407-410. The ellipsis stands for three sentences about the copy of the decree enclosed with the despatch, about the legal complexities it raised, and about the powers conferred by the Reich President’s decree of 28 February 1933.
Notes.This confirms from a contemporaneous, non-Witness record that the Prussian ban was decreed on 24 June 1933, the day before the Berlin convention.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-messersmith-1428
4. Dezember 1933 · p.414 · William E. Dodd · United States Department of State
“I have the honor to enclose copies and translation of a note verbale dated November 13, from the Foreign Office, and of its enclosure, the decree of June 24 issued by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior suppressing the activities of the Society in Prussia and confiscating its property.”
The opening sentence of the American Embassy’s despatch forwarding the German Foreign Office’s formal answer. The despatch records that Mr Harbeck, the Society’s superintendent for Central Europe, had stated on 1 December that the Magdeburg property had been restored “but that all religious activities are forbidden”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Acting Secretary of State, No. 309
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the United States Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full. The sentence quoted stands on p. 414; the despatch runs pp. 414-416. It is issued over the Ambassador’s name but is signed at its foot “For the Ambassador: J. C. White”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-dodd-decree
8. Juli 1998 · p.14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the “Declaration” was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case.”
Part of a section answering specific criticisms. The article also states that photographs of the convention “clearly show that they displayed no swastikas in the hall” while conceding that “it is possible, however, that there were flags on the building’s exterior”; that the convention began not with the national anthem but with “Zion’s Glorious Hope”, whose Haydn melody the German government adopted for the national anthem in 1922; and that “a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention”. The article does not say that the ban of 24 June was a Prussian decree; that comes from the United States diplomatic record.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted stands on p. 14, the page taken from the pageNum markers. The article runs pp. 10-14, and the organisation’s own index cites this section of it as pp. 12-14.
Notes.The article gives the number of copies distributed as 2.1 million, agreeing with the 1974 Year Book and differing from the 2,500,000 printed in the 1934 Year Book.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-rebuttals
1934 · p.131 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“This company of German people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens representing many others from every part of Germany, all of whom are earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land, being now duly assembled at Berlin this 25th day of June, A D. 1933, do joyfully declare our complete devotion to Jehovah, the Almighty God, and to his kingdom under Christ Jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race.”
The opening words of the resolution, printed under the centred heading “Declaration of Facts”. The narrative immediately above it states that the president of the Society visited Germany in June 1933 to try to recover the Society's seized property, that “a Declaration of Facts was prepared”, and that on 25 June 1933 more than 7,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses assembled at Berlin and adopted it.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 131 (leaf 127) of the 1934 Year Book scan on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 131”, and confirmed word for word. The printed date is set as “A D. 1933”, without a point after the A, and is given here as printed. Printed pages were fixed from the running head of each page image, not from the item’s page-number file alone; the Declaration occupies pp. 131-143, ending on p. 131 of leaf 127 and closing on p. 143 of leaf 139.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.The heading “Declaration of Facts” is set as a centred subheading; the resolution runs to about 4,000 words and carries the further subheadings “Jews” (p. 132), “Our Literature” (p. 135), “League of Nations” (p. 138) and “Great Truths” (p. 140), each confirmed on the page image.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-declaration-opening
1934 · pp.131, 144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“more than 7,000 of Jehovah's witnesses assembled at Berlin and unanimously adopted the resolution, millions of which were printed and distributed throughout Germany”
The Society's own account of the convention. Thirteen pages later, after the text of the Declaration, the same report states that “Many of the brethren throughout Germany have been arrested and thrown into concentration camps, and they have been in great difficulties”, and that the Magdeburg property was returned in October 1933 while the ban on the Society's activities remained.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Both passages read on the page images on 19 September 2026: p. 131 (leaf 127, running head “Year Book 131”) and p. 144 (leaf 140, running head “144 Year Book”), and confirmed word for word. On p. 144 no point is printed after “difficulties”.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-unanimous-and-camps
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
The 1974 Year Book’s account of the Berlin convention, in the history of the work in Germany that fills that volume, printed under the heading “BERLIN CONVENTION ON JUNE 25, 1933”. The same passage says the congregations were invited “on very short notice”, that 7,000 brothers attended, and that Rutherford returned to America several days before the convention opened.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page text, and re-opened and re-checked word for word for a second audit on the same day. Pages taken from the pageNum markers in the document: the passage begins on p. 110, and the break to p. 111 falls inside the phrase “All high government officials”, p. 111 beginning at “officials, from the Reich’s president on down”. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences, about the copies to be sent to government officials and about Rutherford’s return to America several days before the convention; the second stands for one sentence recording that a former pilgrim brother named Kipper refused to offer the resolution for adoption and that another brother substituted. In the original the sentence “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason.” opens a new paragraph.
Notes.The sentence about Balzereit having “watered down” the Society’s language stands on p. 111, immediately after the accusation that he weakened the Declaration. Earlier, on p. 109, the same account records that when officials objected to the cover illustration of the Crisis booklet Balzereit, “who had repeatedly shown his willingness to compromise, gave immediate instructions to remove the colored covers from the booklets”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-convention
8. Juli 1998 · pp.13-14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Having mentioned money, the “Declaration” went on to denounce unfair practices of big business. It said: “It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations.” This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.”
The organisation’s published answer to criticism of the Declaration, signed “BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY”. The article says that Rutherford, “together with the Germany branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, decided to mount a campaign to inform Chancellor Hitler, government officials, and the public that Jehovah’s Witnesses posed no threat to the German people and the State”, and that allegations that the Witnesses tried to curry favour with the regime or endorsed its racial ideology “are absolutely false”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted begins on p. 13 and finishes on p. 14, the pages taken from the pageNum markers. The article itself runs pp. 10-14.
Notes.The article carries a footnote saying that space does not allow full documentation but that “a list of complete references is available upon request from the publishers”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-nazi-peril
Die Publikationen der Gesellschaft selbst schreiben die Erklärung ihrem Präsidenten J. F. Rutherford zu. Der Bericht des Leiters des österreichischen Zweigbüros im Jahrbuch 1934 nennt sie „the Declaration which Brother Rutherford wrote while in Europe“, und der Bericht des Leiters des schweizerischen Zweigbüros im selben Band spricht von „Declarations, which Brother Rutherford wrote while here in Europe“. Das Jahrbuch 1974 sagt, Rutherford „had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit“, dem Leiter des deutschen Zweigbüros, und dass er mehrere Tage vor Beginn des Kongresses nach Amerika zurückkehrte. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998
1934 · p.102 · Watch Tower branch manager in Austria · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“A Resolution was passed concerning the Declaration which Brother Rutherford wrote while in Europe, and this is now being distributed to counteract the influence of the enemy.”
Not the Year Book’s own editorial voice: the sentence stands inside a block of smaller type introduced on the same page by the words “The local manager’s report contains the following:”, in the Austria section of the 1933 branch reports. The Switzerland report at p. 183 of the same volume is likewise an extract from the local manager’s report and speaks of distributing 4,000 “Declarations, which Brother Rutherford wrote while here in Europe”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Austria
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 102 (leaf 98) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “102 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word; the name is printed “Rutherford”, and the “Butherford” of the optical character recognition is a misreading of the type. The Switzerland passage at p. 183 was read in the per-page optical character recognition only and its page image was not opened, so it is given in the context note rather than quoted here.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.These two branch-manager reports are the organisation’s own attribution of the Declaration’s authorship to J. F. Rutherford, the Society’s president. The two reports word it differently and neither is the Year Book speaking in its own voice.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-austria-authorship
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
The 1974 Year Book’s account of the Berlin convention, in the history of the work in Germany that fills that volume, printed under the heading “BERLIN CONVENTION ON JUNE 25, 1933”. The same passage says the congregations were invited “on very short notice”, that 7,000 brothers attended, and that Rutherford returned to America several days before the convention opened.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page text, and re-opened and re-checked word for word for a second audit on the same day. Pages taken from the pageNum markers in the document: the passage begins on p. 110, and the break to p. 111 falls inside the phrase “All high government officials”, p. 111 beginning at “officials, from the Reich’s president on down”. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences, about the copies to be sent to government officials and about Rutherford’s return to America several days before the convention; the second stands for one sentence recording that a former pilgrim brother named Kipper refused to offer the resolution for adoption and that another brother substituted. In the original the sentence “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason.” opens a new paragraph.
Notes.The sentence about Balzereit having “watered down” the Society’s language stands on p. 111, immediately after the accusation that he weakened the Declaration. Earlier, on p. 109, the same account records that when officials objected to the cover illustration of the Crisis booklet Balzereit, “who had repeatedly shown his willingness to compromise, gave immediate instructions to remove the colored covers from the booklets”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-convention
8. Juli 1998 · pp.13-14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Having mentioned money, the “Declaration” went on to denounce unfair practices of big business. It said: “It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations.” This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.”
The organisation’s published answer to criticism of the Declaration, signed “BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY”. The article says that Rutherford, “together with the Germany branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, decided to mount a campaign to inform Chancellor Hitler, government officials, and the public that Jehovah’s Witnesses posed no threat to the German people and the State”, and that allegations that the Witnesses tried to curry favour with the regime or endorsed its racial ideology “are absolutely false”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted begins on p. 13 and finishes on p. 14, the pages taken from the pageNum markers. The article itself runs pp. 10-14.
Notes.The article carries a footnote saying that space does not allow full documentation but that “a list of complete references is available upon request from the publishers”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-nazi-peril
1934 · p.143 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We therefore appeal to the high sense of justice of the government and nation and respectfully ask that the order of prohibition against our work and our literature be set aside, and that opportunity be given us to have a fair hearing before we are judged. . . . Resolved, That copies of this Declaration be respectfully delivered to the high officials of the government and that the same be given wide publication to the people, that the name of Jehovah may be further known.”
The closing request and resolving clause of the Declaration, the last page of the resolution. The text omitted at the ellipsis asks the government to appoint “a committee of impartial men to hold conference with a committee of our organization” and to examine the Society’s literature, and adds a paragraph beginning “The peoples of Germany are a God-fearing people” and ending “but as for us, we will serve Jehovah forever.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 143 (leaf 139) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 143”, and confirmed word for word. “Resolved” is printed in small capitals. The ellipsis stands for the remainder of the appeal and for the paragraph that follows it, summarised in the context note.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-appeal-and-resolved
1934 · p.131 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“This company of German people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens representing many others from every part of Germany, all of whom are earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land, being now duly assembled at Berlin this 25th day of June, A D. 1933, do joyfully declare our complete devotion to Jehovah, the Almighty God, and to his kingdom under Christ Jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race.”
The opening words of the resolution, printed under the centred heading “Declaration of Facts”. The narrative immediately above it states that the president of the Society visited Germany in June 1933 to try to recover the Society's seized property, that “a Declaration of Facts was prepared”, and that on 25 June 1933 more than 7,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses assembled at Berlin and adopted it.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 131 (leaf 127) of the 1934 Year Book scan on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 131”, and confirmed word for word. The printed date is set as “A D. 1933”, without a point after the A, and is given here as printed. Printed pages were fixed from the running head of each page image, not from the item’s page-number file alone; the Declaration occupies pp. 131-143, ending on p. 131 of leaf 127 and closing on p. 143 of leaf 139.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.The heading “Declaration of Facts” is set as a centred subheading; the resolution runs to about 4,000 words and carries the further subheadings “Jews” (p. 132), “Our Literature” (p. 135), “League of Nations” (p. 138) and “Great Truths” (p. 140), each confirmed on the page image.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-declaration-opening
Dem an Hitler gesandten Exemplar der Erklärung lag ein Brief bei. Das Jahrbuch 1974 der Organisation zitiert einen Teil davon: „The Brooklyn presidency of the Watch Tower Society is and always has been exceedingly friendly to Germany. In 1918 the president of the Society and seven members of the Board of Directors in America were sentenced to 80 years' imprisonment for the reason that the president refused to let two magazines in America, which he edited, be used in war propaganda against Germany.“ Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974
1974 · p.111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The copy sent to Hitler was accompanied by a letter that, in part, read: “The Brooklyn presidency of the Watch Tower Society is and always has been exceedingly friendly to Germany. In 1918 the president of the Society and seven members of the Board of Directors in America were sentenced to 80 years' imprisonment for the reason that the president refused to let two magazines in America, which he edited, be used in war propaganda against Germany.””
Immediately after recording that the delegates took 2,100,000 copies of the Declaration home with them for distribution. The 1974 Year Book quotes only this part of the letter and does not say who wrote or signed it.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed; the page was taken from the pageNum marker preceding the passage.
Notes.This is the organisation's own confirmation that a letter accompanied the copy of the Declaration sent to Hitler. No full text of that letter was located in any source that could be opened for this research.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-hitler-letter
Der hier verwendete englische Text der Erklärung ist derjenige, den die Organisation selbst vollständig in ihrem englischen Jahrbuch von 1934 (Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses) auf den Seiten 131 bis 143 abgedruckt hat. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
1934 · p.131 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“This company of German people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens representing many others from every part of Germany, all of whom are earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land, being now duly assembled at Berlin this 25th day of June, A D. 1933, do joyfully declare our complete devotion to Jehovah, the Almighty God, and to his kingdom under Christ Jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race.”
The opening words of the resolution, printed under the centred heading “Declaration of Facts”. The narrative immediately above it states that the president of the Society visited Germany in June 1933 to try to recover the Society's seized property, that “a Declaration of Facts was prepared”, and that on 25 June 1933 more than 7,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses assembled at Berlin and adopted it.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 131 (leaf 127) of the 1934 Year Book scan on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 131”, and confirmed word for word. The printed date is set as “A D. 1933”, without a point after the A, and is given here as printed. Printed pages were fixed from the running head of each page image, not from the item’s page-number file alone; the Declaration occupies pp. 131-143, ending on p. 131 of leaf 127 and closing on p. 143 of leaf 139.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.The heading “Declaration of Facts” is set as a centred subheading; the resolution runs to about 4,000 words and carries the further subheadings “Jews” (p. 132), “Our Literature” (p. 135), “League of Nations” (p. 138) and “Great Truths” (p. 140), each confirmed on the page image.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-declaration-opening
Jede der folgenden Passagen ist vollständig aus dem Jahrbuch von 1934 zitiert, mit der gedruckten Seitenzahl, in der Reihenfolge, in der die Themen im Dokument vorkommen. Diese Website fügt ihnen keine Beschreibung hinzu.
1934 · p.132 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“By the term 'clergy', as used in our literature, reference is made to that class of professed religious teachers, priests and Jesuits who employ improper political means to accomplish their ends and join forces even with those who deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first paragraph printed beneath the centred subheading “Jews”. The quotation stops at the end of the definition; the paragraph then continues “That is the same class to whom Jesus referred as his persecutors.” and ends “We have no criticism of any honest religious teacher.” The section beneath the subheading runs from p. 132 to the foot of p. 134 and deals in turn with the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus, with the charge that the Society was funded by Jews, and with the Anglo-American empire.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 132 (leaf 128) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “132 Year Book”; the subheading “Jews” is printed type on the page, not an artefact of the optical character recognition. Re-read for an independent audit on the same page image.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-jews-subheading
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good.”
The Declaration is answering a charge, common in German propaganda of the period, that the Bible Students were financed by Jews. The paragraph ends by saying that the charges “are maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 134 (leaf 130) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “134 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word, including the spacing of “man’s good”.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: 'The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.'”
The paragraph immediately follows the denial that the Society received money from Jews. It closes: “We have no fight with any of these persons mentioned, but, as the witnesses for Jehovah and in obedience to his commandment set forth in the Scriptures, we are compelled to call attention to the truth concerning the same in order that the people may be enlightened concerning God and his purpose.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 134 (leaf 130) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “134 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word, including the punctuation of the quoted proverb.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Ein Satz der Erklärung lautet: “Although the Pharisees and priests then claimed to represent Jehovah God Jesus told them that they were in fact the representatives of Satan the Devil.” Auf der Seite sind damit die Pharisäer und Priester gemeint, die sich Jesus widersetzten, in einem Abschnitt, der Johannes 8:43-45 zitiert; der folgende Absatz beginnt mit “We have no fight with any persons or religious teachers”. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
1934 · p.133 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Although the Pharisees and priests then claimed to represent Jehovah God Jesus told them that they were in fact the representatives of Satan the Devil.”
The sentence closes the Declaration’s quotation of John 8:43-45. Its subject is “the Pharisees and priests” who opposed Jesus, whom the preceding paragraph calls “the Jewish clergy”; the next paragraph begins “We have no fight with any persons or religious teachers”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 133 (leaf 129) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 133”, and confirmed word for word. The printed text carries no comma after “Jehovah God”; the sentence is given here exactly as printed.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.On the page the subject of the sentence is the first-century religious leadership described in the preceding paragraph — “the Jewish clergy, that is to say, the Pharisees and priests” who opposed Jesus — and not the Jews as a people.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-satan-representatives
1934 · p.132 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“By the term 'clergy', as used in our literature, reference is made to that class of professed religious teachers, priests and Jesuits who employ improper political means to accomplish their ends and join forces even with those who deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first paragraph printed beneath the centred subheading “Jews”. The quotation stops at the end of the definition; the paragraph then continues “That is the same class to whom Jesus referred as his persecutors.” and ends “We have no criticism of any honest religious teacher.” The section beneath the subheading runs from p. 132 to the foot of p. 134 and deals in turn with the Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus, with the charge that the Society was funded by Jews, and with the Anglo-American empire.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 132 (leaf 128) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “132 Year Book”; the subheading “Jews” is printed type on the page, not an artefact of the optical character recognition. Re-read for an independent audit on the same page image.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-jews-subheading
Die Erklärung bestritt, dass die Gesellschaft jemals Geld von Juden erhalten habe, und fügte hinzu, „the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good“, sowie dass die Vorwürfe gegen die Gesellschaft „could proceed only from Satan“. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: 1998 erklärte die Organisation, die Erklärung habe „accusations of financial involvement or political ties with Jews“ zurückgewiesen — einen Vorwurf, der damals gegen sie erhoben wurde.
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good.”
The Declaration is answering a charge, common in German propaganda of the period, that the Bible Students were financed by Jews. The paragraph ends by saying that the charges “are maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 134 (leaf 130) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “134 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word, including the spacing of “man’s good”.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
In der Erklärung hieß es, „the greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire“ und „it has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations“; zitiert wurde außerdem ein Spruch über New York: „The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills“. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Die Organisation zitierte den Satz über die „commercial Jews“ 1998 selbst und sagte, er „clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense“; 1999 fügte sie hinzu, „nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today“.
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: 'The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.'”
The paragraph immediately follows the denial that the Society received money from Jews. It closes: “We have no fight with any of these persons mentioned, but, as the witnesses for Jehovah and in obedience to his commandment set forth in the Scriptures, we are compelled to call attention to the truth concerning the same in order that the people may be enlightened concerning God and his purpose.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 134 (leaf 130) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “134 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word, including the punctuation of the quoted proverb.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Die Erklärung sagte, dass “the present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position; and we further state in our literature the reason for the existence of oppressive Big Business and the wrongful political religious influence, because the Holy Scriptures plainly declare that these oppressive instruments proceed from the Devil, and that the complete relief therefrom is God’s kingdom under Christ”; dass “Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart”; und dass “the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications, and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness and who obey the Most High”. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: 1998 sagte die Organisation, die Erklärung “also reminded the government of its own promises”, die betreffenden Ideale seien Familienwerte und Religionsfreiheit gewesen, und “the Witnesses never expressed support for the Nazi Party”.
1934 · p.135 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position; and we further state in our literature the reason for the existence of oppressive Big Business and the wrongful political religious influence”
The third paragraph printed under the subheading “Our Literature”, in a passage answering the charge that the Society’s books were a danger to the state. The first paragraph of the same section concedes that “the same truths might be stated in a less blunt and more pleasing phrase”. The quotation stops at “influence”, where the print has a comma; the sentence continues at the foot of p. 135 and finishes at the head of p. 136: “… because the Holy Scriptures plainly declare that these oppressive instruments proceed from the Devil, and that the complete relief therefrom is God’s kingdom under Christ.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 135 (leaf 131) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 135”, and confirmed word for word; re-read on the page image for a second audit. The words “Such is exactly our position” are followed in print by a semicolon, not a full stop, and the sentence runs on past the end of the quotation to the head of p. 136; the words that follow are given in the context note.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-same-position
1934 · p.136 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart.”
The closing sentence of a paragraph on p. 136. Two paragraphs earlier, on the same page, the Declaration states that “Our organization is not political in any sense” and asks “the freedom to believe and teach what we conceive the Bible to teach”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 136 (leaf 132) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “136 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-stand-squarely
1934 · pp.137-138 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications, and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness and who obey the Most High.”
The sentence begins at the foot of p. 137 and finishes at the head of p. 138, where the Declaration adds: “Instead, therefore, of our literature and our work's being a menace to the principles of the present government we are the strongest supporters of such high ideals.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page images of p. 137 (leaf 133) and p. 138 (leaf 134) on 19 September 2026, whose own running heads read “Year Book 137” and “138 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word. The sentence breaks across the two pages at “in due time will be at-” / “tained”.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.The phrase “the present national government” is the Declaration's own; the resolution nowhere names the National Socialist party or Adolf Hitler.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-high-ideals
In der Erklärung hieß es: „The Nationalists have declared themselves against all such unrighteousness and announced that ‚Our relationship to God is high and holy'“, und weiter: „Since our organization fully endorses these righteous principles and is engaged solely in carrying forth the work of enlightening the people concerning the Word of Jehovah God, Satan by subtilty endeavors to set the government against our work and destroy it“. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
1934 · p.141 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The people of Germany have suffered great misery since 1914 and have been the victims of much injustice practiced upon them by others. The Nationalists have declared themselves against all such unrighteousness and announced that ‘Our relationship to God is high and holy’. Since our organization fully endorses these righteous principles and is engaged solely in carrying forth the work of enlightening the people concerning the Word of Jehovah God, Satan by subtilty endeavors to set the government against our work and destroy it”
The second paragraph printed under the subheading “Great Truths”, after a passage on 1914 and the casting out of Satan. Later in the same section, on p. 142, the Declaration says that “The present government having declared adherence to the aforementioned high ideals, we are persuaded that the rulers do not desire to knowingly resist” the witness work.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 141 (leaf 137) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “Year Book 141”, and confirmed word for word. The final sentence runs on to p. 142 and is quoted here as far as the foot of p. 141.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-nationalists
Die Erklärung erinnerte die deutsche Regierung und das deutsche Volk daran, dass „it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens“ und dass dieser Pakt „was not brought forth by the friends of Germany“. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934
1934 · p.138 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Let us remind the government and the people of Germany that it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens. That League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of Germany.”
The second and third sentences of the first paragraph printed under the subheading “League of Nations”. The passage goes on to say that “It was the Federation of Churches in America that issued a manifesto” calling the League “the political expression of God’s kingdom on earth” (pp. 138-139).
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 138 (leaf 134) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “138 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-league-of-nations
Der amerikanische Generalkonsul in Berlin berichtete am 12. Juli 1933 nach Washington, er habe einige der Broschüren der Gesellschaft gelesen und “can see that objection could reasonably be raised to them by the German Government”, und fügte hinzu: “acting as a religious society, the pamphlets contain comment of not a purely religious character”. Er hatte Rutherford mitgeteilt, das Generalkonsulat könne seine guten Dienste “only to protect the physical property of the organization excluding pamphlets, booklets and brochures which the police had condemned as being anti-revolutionary and communistic in tendency” einsetzen. Am 9. September 1933 wies der Außenminister den Botschafter an, beim deutschen Auswärtigen Amt dagegen zu protestieren, dass das Eigentum der Gesellschaft beschlagnahmt und ihre Tätigkeit unterbunden worden war, und zwar “by administrative action without judicial process”, und die Rückgabe des Eigentums zu verlangen; zugleich ermächtigte er ihn, die Frage der Wiederaufnahme der Tätigkeit der Gesellschaft aus Zweckmäßigkeitsgründen zurückzustellen. Source: Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, 12. Juli 1933Source: Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, 12. Juli 1933Source: Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, 9. September 1933
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Die eigenen Darstellungen der Organisation halten fest, dass das amerikanische Außenministerium sich für sie einsetzte und dass das Eigentum in Magdeburg im Oktober 1933 zurückgegeben wurde, während das Verbot ihrer Tätigkeit bestehen blieb.
12. Juli 1933 · pp.409-410 · George S. Messersmith · United States Department of State
“I have gone into the activities of the Society and of its agents, and have read some of the pamphlets which have been distributed by the Society widely in Germany, and I can see that objection could reasonably be raised to them by the German Government. Although acting as a religious society, the pamphlets contain comment of not a purely religious character.”
Messersmith's own assessment, sent to Washington three weeks after the Berlin convention. A separate telegram of the same month states that the Embassy and Consulate General “have considered it impossible to object to ban on activities”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Consul General at Berlin (Messersmith) to the Acting Secretary of State, No. 1428
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the US Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the companion telegram is document 287 in the same volume.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-consulate-view
12. Juli 1933 · p.408 · George S. Messersmith · United States Department of State
“The work of the Society has been at an utter standstill in all the states of Germany except Prussia; but on June 24 a decree was issued by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior and signed by Dr. Grauert, the Under Secretary of State in that Ministry. . . . In the decree of June 24 forbidding the activities of the Society throughout Germany, it was also provided that the property be confiscated.”
A despatch from the American Consul General in Berlin reporting on the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. It records that Rutherford had been in Europe for a number of months, came to Germany “a number of weeks ago” and had a long interview at the Consulate General with Consul Geist, and that it was pointed out to him that the Consulate General “would be unable to make any representations to the German Government regarding the ban that had been put upon their activities and that it could use its good offices only to protect the physical property of the organization excluding pamphlets, booklets and brochures which the police had condemned as being anti-revolutionary and communistic in tendency”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Consul General at Berlin (Messersmith) to the Acting Secretary of State, No. 1428
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the United States Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full. Both sentences quoted stand on p. 408 of the printed edition, whose page breaks are marked in the text; the despatch as a whole runs pp. 407-410. The ellipsis stands for three sentences about the copy of the decree enclosed with the despatch, about the legal complexities it raised, and about the powers conferred by the Reich President’s decree of 28 February 1933.
Notes.This confirms from a contemporaneous, non-Witness record that the Prussian ban was decreed on 24 June 1933, the day before the Berlin convention.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-messersmith-1428
9. September 1933 · pp.412-413 · Cordell Hull · United States Department of State
“It is unfortunate that purely administrative action entailing such drastic consequences without other than ex parte proceedings should be taken and maintained in Germany, and that apparently the obligation to administer justice by orderly processes of law has been disregarded. . . . You should request that prompt steps be taken to restore the property to the possession and control of the Society. You are authorized in your discretion to subordinate as a matter of expediency the question of the resumption of the Society’s activities, keeping in mind, however, that the principle upon which a complaint rests regarding this ban on the activities is the same as in the case of the confiscation or destruction of property, namely, the absence of a proper judicial hearing as provided for under Article 12 of the Treaty of 1923.”
A telegraphed instruction from the Secretary of State to the American Ambassador in Berlin, sent two days after the telegram about the burning of the Society’s books. It sets out that the Society was organised under the laws of Pennsylvania, that its property at Magdeburg was taken and its activities suppressed on or about 24 April 1933 “without explanation”, and that “the German authorities have not instituted proceedings in which they are required to specify and prove charges and in which representatives of the Society would be given opportunity to answer and defend”. The material omitted at the ellipsis is the sentence citing Article 12 of the Treaty of 1923 and the sentence instructing the Ambassador to communicate with the German Foreign Office.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1933, Volume II, The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Germany (Dodd), No. 111
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the United States Department of State Office of the Historian site on 19 September 2026 and read in full. The telegram begins on p. 412 and the passages quoted stand on p. 413, the page break marked in the text falling inside the words “on or about April 24, 1933”.
Notes.This is the United States protesting the absence of any judicial process, not endorsing the Society’s case on the merits: the same volume carries the Consul General’s opinion that objection to the pamphlets “could reasonably be raised” by the German government.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-frus-hull-instruction
Die Organisation hat zwei Zahlen zu den Exemplaren der Erklärung veröffentlicht, und sie sind nicht auf derselben Grundlage angegeben. Das Jahrbuch 1934 sagt, die Erklärung “was printed and mailed to every high officer of the government from the president down to the members of the council”, und dass “2,500,000 copies were freely distributed”. Das Jahrbuch 1974 sagt, die Delegierten hätten vom Kongress “took 2,100,000 copies of the ‘declaration’ home with them”, und Erwachet! von 1998 sagt, dass “following the convention, the Witnesses distributed 2.1 million copies”. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998
1934 · p.146 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The Declaration adopted at that convention was printed and mailed to every high officer of the government from the president down to the members of the council. 2,500,000 copies were freely distributed.”
Printed under the subheading “Conventions” in the Germany report. The same page adds that “The Declaration itself has been a tremendous witness to the people of Germany”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Read on the page image of p. 146 (leaf 142) on 19 September 2026, whose own running head reads “146 Year Book”, and confirmed word for word.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Notes.The 1974 Year Book and the 8 July 1998 Awake! both give the figure as 2,100,000.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-copies-distributed
1974 · p.111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The copy sent to Hitler was accompanied by a letter that, in part, read: “The Brooklyn presidency of the Watch Tower Society is and always has been exceedingly friendly to Germany. In 1918 the president of the Society and seven members of the Board of Directors in America were sentenced to 80 years' imprisonment for the reason that the president refused to let two magazines in America, which he edited, be used in war propaganda against Germany.””
Immediately after recording that the delegates took 2,100,000 copies of the Declaration home with them for distribution. The 1974 Year Book quotes only this part of the letter and does not say who wrote or signed it.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed; the page was taken from the pageNum marker preceding the passage.
Notes.This is the organisation's own confirmation that a letter accompanied the copy of the Declaration sent to Hitler. No full text of that letter was located in any source that could be opened for this research.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-hitler-letter
8. Juli 1998 · p.14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the “Declaration” was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case.”
Part of a section answering specific criticisms. The article also states that photographs of the convention “clearly show that they displayed no swastikas in the hall” while conceding that “it is possible, however, that there were flags on the building’s exterior”; that the convention began not with the national anthem but with “Zion’s Glorious Hope”, whose Haydn melody the German government adopted for the national anthem in 1922; and that “a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention”. The article does not say that the ban of 24 June was a Prussian decree; that comes from the United States diplomatic record.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted stands on p. 14, the page taken from the pageNum markers. The article runs pp. 10-14, and the organisation’s own index cites this section of it as pp. 12-14.
Notes.The article gives the number of copies distributed as 2.1 million, agreeing with the 1974 Year Book and differing from the 2,500,000 printed in the 1934 Year Book.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-rebuttals
Die Darstellungen der Organisation dazu, ob die Erklärung einstimmig angenommen wurde, widersprechen einander. Das Jahrbuch 1934 sagt, die Delegierten hätten “unanimously adopted the resolution”, und Der Wachtturm von 1955 wiederholt das; das Jahrbuch 1974 sagt, “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it”, und “it could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been”. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1934Source: The Watchtower, 1. August 1955Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974
1934 · pp.131, 144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“more than 7,000 of Jehovah's witnesses assembled at Berlin and unanimously adopted the resolution, millions of which were printed and distributed throughout Germany”
The Society's own account of the convention. Thirteen pages later, after the text of the Declaration, the same report states that “Many of the brethren throughout Germany have been arrested and thrown into concentration camps, and they have been in great difficulties”, and that the Magdeburg property was returned in October 1933 while the ban on the Society's activities remained.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Both passages read on the page images on 19 September 2026: p. 131 (leaf 127, running head “Year Book 131”) and p. 144 (leaf 140, running head “144 Year Book”), and confirmed word for word. On p. 144 no point is printed after “difficulties”.
Herkunft des Scans.Scan of the 1934 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses held by the Internet Archive as item “1934-JwYearbook”. The item was uploaded to the Internet Archive in January 2012 by a private account; its “creator” field reads “watchtower”, but the upload is not by the publisher and the Internet Archive is not the publisher. The scanned title page names the corporate publishers as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, Peoples Pulpit Association and International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, New York, and carries the notice “Copyright 1933”. The volume is the Year Book for 1934: it carries the branch reports for the 1933 service year, and it is dated here by its edition year, the form in which the organisation’s own publications cite it (“1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146”, The Watchtower, 1 August 1955, footnote h).
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb34-unanimous-and-camps
1. August 1955 · p.462 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“On June 25 in Berlin 7,000 witnesses attended a specially called assembly, unanimously passing a resolution entitled “Declaration of Facts.” It was a strong protest to Hitler and his government against their highhanded interferences with the witness work of the Society.”
From the Society’s serialised modern history, in the magazine’s own editorial voice. The paragraph quoted carries no footnote of its own; the article’s footnote citing “1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146” (footnote h) is attached two paragraphs later, to the sentence recording that the United States Department of State registered its protest with the Hitler government.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for The Watchtower, Part 15—Foreign Activities Under Fascist-Nazi Persecution
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page taken from the pageNum marker preceding the passage. Re-opened for a second audit on the same day, when the positions of the footnote markers were checked in the document’s own markup: the paragraph quoted here carries no footnote marker.
Notes.The same article states that “Some two thousand witnesses lost their lives” and that “some 8,000 witnesses survived” the concentration camps. The organisation’s 1993 chronology gives 2,074 sent to concentration camps and no figure for deaths; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum gives an estimated 1,000 German and 400 non-German deaths, and at least 3,000 sent to camps.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-w55-strong-protest
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
The 1974 Year Book’s account of the Berlin convention, in the history of the work in Germany that fills that volume, printed under the heading “BERLIN CONVENTION ON JUNE 25, 1933”. The same passage says the congregations were invited “on very short notice”, that 7,000 brothers attended, and that Rutherford returned to America several days before the convention opened.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page text, and re-opened and re-checked word for word for a second audit on the same day. Pages taken from the pageNum markers in the document: the passage begins on p. 110, and the break to p. 111 falls inside the phrase “All high government officials”, p. 111 beginning at “officials, from the Reich’s president on down”. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences, about the copies to be sent to government officials and about Rutherford’s return to America several days before the convention; the second stands for one sentence recording that a former pilgrim brother named Kipper refused to offer the resolution for adoption and that another brother substituted. In the original the sentence “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason.” opens a new paragraph.
Notes.The sentence about Balzereit having “watered down” the Society’s language stands on p. 111, immediately after the accusation that he weakened the Declaration. Earlier, on p. 109, the same account records that when officials objected to the cover illustration of the Crisis booklet Balzereit, “who had repeatedly shown his willingness to compromise, gave immediate instructions to remove the colored covers from the booklets”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-convention
Ob Paul Balzereit, der Leiter des deutschen Zweigbüros, den Text der Erklärung abgeschwächt hat, ist innerhalb der Publikationen der Organisation selbst umstritten. Das Jahrbuch 1974 berichtet den Vorwurf und fügt hinzu, es sei nicht das erste Mal gewesen, dass er „had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society's publications“; Erwachet! von 1998 antwortet, ein Vergleich des deutschen und des englischen Textes zeige, dass er dies nicht getan habe, und dass der gegenteilige Eindruck auf den subjektiven Beobachtungen von Personen beruhte, die an der Abfassung des Dokuments nicht beteiligt waren. Source: Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1974Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
The 1974 Year Book’s account of the Berlin convention, in the history of the work in Germany that fills that volume, printed under the heading “BERLIN CONVENTION ON JUNE 25, 1933”. The same passage says the congregations were invited “on very short notice”, that 7,000 brothers attended, and that Rutherford returned to America several days before the convention opened.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page text, and re-opened and re-checked word for word for a second audit on the same day. Pages taken from the pageNum markers in the document: the passage begins on p. 110, and the break to p. 111 falls inside the phrase “All high government officials”, p. 111 beginning at “officials, from the Reich’s president on down”. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences, about the copies to be sent to government officials and about Rutherford’s return to America several days before the convention; the second stands for one sentence recording that a former pilgrim brother named Kipper refused to offer the resolution for adoption and that another brother substituted. In the original the sentence “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason.” opens a new paragraph.
Notes.The sentence about Balzereit having “watered down” the Society’s language stands on p. 111, immediately after the accusation that he weakened the Declaration. Earlier, on p. 109, the same account records that when officials objected to the cover illustration of the Crisis booklet Balzereit, “who had repeatedly shown his willingness to compromise, gave immediate instructions to remove the colored covers from the booklets”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-convention
8. Juli 1998 · p.14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the “Declaration” was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case.”
Part of a section answering specific criticisms. The article also states that photographs of the convention “clearly show that they displayed no swastikas in the hall” while conceding that “it is possible, however, that there were flags on the building’s exterior”; that the convention began not with the national anthem but with “Zion’s Glorious Hope”, whose Haydn melody the German government adopted for the national anthem in 1922; and that “a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention”. The article does not say that the ban of 24 June was a Prussian decree; that comes from the United States diplomatic record.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted stands on p. 14, the page taken from the pageNum markers. The article runs pp. 10-14, and the organisation’s own index cites this section of it as pp. 12-14.
Notes.The article gives the number of copies distributed as 2.1 million, agreeing with the 1974 Year Book and differing from the 2,500,000 printed in the 1934 Year Book.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-rebuttals
Die oben auf dieser Seite dargelegte Verfolgung folgte auf den Kongress und dauerte zwölf Jahre an. Was immer die Erklärung erbat, es wurde nicht gewährt.
Wie die Organisation es seither beschrieben hat
Die Beschreibung von 1955 und der oben zitierte Text sind beide die eigenen Worte der Organisation. Sie stehen hier nebeneinander, und keinem von beiden wird etwas hinzugefügt.
Erklärung der Organisation · 1. August 1955Geprüft
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: Das Jahrbuch 1974 beschreibt das Dokument ebenfalls als „a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing“, und zwar in derselben Passage, in der es festhält, dass viele Delegierte davon enttäuscht waren und dass eine große Zahl sich weigerte, sie anzunehmen.
1. August 1955 · p.462 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“On June 25 in Berlin 7,000 witnesses attended a specially called assembly, unanimously passing a resolution entitled “Declaration of Facts.” It was a strong protest to Hitler and his government against their highhanded interferences with the witness work of the Society.”
From the Society’s serialised modern history, in the magazine’s own editorial voice. The paragraph quoted carries no footnote of its own; the article’s footnote citing “1934 Yearbook, pp. 127-146” (footnote h) is attached two paragraphs later, to the sentence recording that the United States Department of State registered its protest with the Hitler government.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for The Watchtower, Part 15—Foreign Activities Under Fascist-Nazi Persecution
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page taken from the pageNum marker preceding the passage. Re-opened for a second audit on the same day, when the positions of the footnote markers were checked in the document’s own markup: the paragraph quoted here carries no footnote marker.
Notes.The same article states that “Some two thousand witnesses lost their lives” and that “some 8,000 witnesses survived” the concentration camps. The organisation’s 1993 chronology gives 2,074 sent to concentration camps and no figure for deaths; the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum gives an estimated 1,000 German and 400 non-German deaths, and at least 3,000 sent to camps.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-w55-strong-protest
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
The 1974 Year Book’s account of the Berlin convention, in the history of the work in Germany that fills that volume, printed under the heading “BERLIN CONVENTION ON JUNE 25, 1933”. The same passage says the congregations were invited “on very short notice”, that 7,000 brothers attended, and that Rutherford returned to America several days before the convention opened.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, Part 1—Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full document opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording confirmed against the page text, and re-opened and re-checked word for word for a second audit on the same day. Pages taken from the pageNum markers in the document: the passage begins on p. 110, and the break to p. 111 falls inside the phrase “All high government officials”, p. 111 beginning at “officials, from the Reich’s president on down”. The first ellipsis stands for two sentences, about the copies to be sent to government officials and about Rutherford’s return to America several days before the convention; the second stands for one sentence recording that a former pilgrim brother named Kipper refused to offer the resolution for adoption and that another brother substituted. In the original the sentence “A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason.” opens a new paragraph.
Notes.The sentence about Balzereit having “watered down” the Society’s language stands on p. 111, immediately after the accusation that he weakened the Declaration. Earlier, on p. 109, the same account records that when officials objected to the cover illustration of the Crisis booklet Balzereit, “who had repeatedly shown his willingness to compromise, gave immediate instructions to remove the colored covers from the booklets”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-yb74-convention
Erklärung der Organisation · 25. Juni 1933Umstritten
Erwachet! von 1998 hält fest, dass Kritiker sagen, beim Berliner Kongress seien Hakenkreuzfahnen gezeigt worden und der Kongress habe mit der deutschen Nationalhymne begonnen, und geht auf beides ein. Es heißt dort, Fotografien zeigten keine Hakenkreuze im Saal; Fahnen könnten gleichwohl an der Außenseite des Gebäudes angebracht gewesen sein, nachdem am 21. Juni eine nationalsozialistische Kampftruppe den Saal genutzt hatte und am 24. Juni in der Nähe eine Sonnenwendfeier stattgefunden hatte; und das Eröffnungslied sei “Zion’s Glorious Hope” gewesen, das auf eine Melodie Haydns gesungen wurde, die die deutsche Regierung 1922 für die Nationalhymne übernahm. Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998
8. Juli 1998 · p.14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the “Declaration” was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case.”
Part of a section answering specific criticisms. The article also states that photographs of the convention “clearly show that they displayed no swastikas in the hall” while conceding that “it is possible, however, that there were flags on the building’s exterior”; that the convention began not with the national anthem but with “Zion’s Glorious Hope”, whose Haydn melody the German government adopted for the national anthem in 1922; and that “a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany had been issued on Saturday, June 24, 1933, just the day before the Berlin convention”. The article does not say that the ban of 24 June was a Prussian decree; that comes from the United States diplomatic record.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted stands on p. 14, the page taken from the pageNum markers. The article runs pp. 10-14, and the organisation’s own index cites this section of it as pp. 12-14.
Notes.The article gives the number of copies distributed as 2.1 million, agreeing with the 1974 Year Book and differing from the 2,500,000 printed in the 1934 Year Book.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-rebuttals
Die 1993 erschienene Selbstdarstellung der Organisation, Jehovas Zeugen – Verkündiger des Königreiches Gottes, widmet der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung ein Kapitel und dem Verbot von 1933 einen Eintrag in der Zeittafel; weder das Kapitel noch die Zeittafel erwähnt jedoch den Berliner Kongress vom 25. Juni 1933 oder die Erklärung (Declaration of Facts), und der Ausdruck “Declaration of Facts” kommt bei einer Volltextsuche in der Online-Bibliothek der Organisation an keiner Stelle des Buches vor. Source: Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993Source: Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993
1993 · p.659 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“During 1933, the very year that a concordat between the Vatican and Nazi Germany was signed, Hitler launched a campaign to annihilate Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. By 1935 they were proscribed in the entire nation. But who instigated this?”
From chapter 29 of the 1993 official history, which runs pp. 642-677 and deals with persecution, including the Nazi era. The chapter goes on to attribute the ban largely to the German Catholic episcopate and to Protestant church leaders.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, “Objects of Hatred by All the Nations”
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The whole chapter was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and searched; the sentences quoted stand on p. 659, taken from the pageNum markers. Neither this chapter, nor the book’s chronology, mentions the Berlin convention of 25 June 1933 or the “Declaration of Facts”; the word “Berlin” occurs twice in the chapter, once of orders sent to a camp and once of the Berlin-Plötzensee detention centre. A full-text search of the Watchtower Online Library for the phrase “Declaration of Facts” returns seven results: the 1955 Watchtower, the 1998 and 1999 Awake! items, and four entries in the organisation’s own indexes for 1930-1985 and 1986-2026. This book is not among them.
Notes.The chapter and the book’s chronology were both read in full; neither names the Berlin convention of 25 June 1933 or the Declaration of Facts, and the phrase does not occur anywhere in this book in a full-text search of the publisher’s own library.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-jv-chapter29
1993 · p.720 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“1933 Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Germany. During the intense persecution down to the end of World War II, 6,262 are arrested, and their combined time of imprisonment totals 14,332 years; 2,074 are sent to concentration camps, where their confinement totals 8,332 years”
The 1933 entry in the chronology that closes the organisation's 1993 history. The chronology runs from p. 718 to p. 723.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Noteworthy Events in the Modern-day History of Jehovah's Witnesses
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the entry falls between the pageNum markers for pp. 720 and 721.
Notes.The entry gives no figure for deaths.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-jv-chronology
Erklärung der Organisation · 8. September 1999Geprüft
Die jüngste veröffentlichte Stellungnahme der Organisation zur Erklärung ist eine Anmerkung der Redaktion in Erwachet! vom 8. September 1999: „nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today“. Source: Awake!, 8. September 1999Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998
Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: In dem Artikel von 1998, auf den sich die Anmerkung stützt, heißt es, der Vorwurf, Zeugen Jehovas hätten sich beim Hitler-Regime einschmeicheln wollen oder dessen Rassenideologie gebilligt, sei „absolutely false“, im Kongresssaal seien keine Hakenkreuze gezeigt worden, und der Kongress habe mit dem Lied „Zion's Glorious Hope“ und nicht mit der Nationalhymne begonnen.
8. September 1999 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The reader refers to statements in the “Declaration of Facts,” a resolution adopted in 1933 at a convention in Berlin, Germany. (See “Jehovah’s Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril,” in the July 8, 1998, issue of “Awake!”) As the article noted, nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today. If anyone back in the 1930’s interpreted the “Declaration of Facts” to mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses were anti-Semitic, this misimpression could easily have been corrected by observing the courageous and compassionate acts of individual Witnesses in behalf of Jews. Moreover, Watch Tower Society publications were among the first to expose and express outrage at the treatment of Jews in Europe.”
The whole of the editorial reply, signed “—ED.”, printed under the standing heading “From Our Readers” and the sub-heading “Not Anti-Semitic”, answering a reader who had written: “Thank you for not hiding things that you regret having said. Although I would like to have read an apology for this statement, your this-was-the-context explanation was adequate.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, From Our Readers
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full page opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the reply read and quoted in full; page taken from the pageNum marker. The reply is the magazine’s editorial answer, signed “—ED.”, and is given here complete so that nothing in it is left out.
Notes.A full-text search of the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 found no later publication that revisits the Declaration, so this 1999 note is the organisation's most recent published statement on it.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g99-from-our-readers
8. Juli 1998 · pp.13-14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Having mentioned money, the “Declaration” went on to denounce unfair practices of big business. It said: “It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations.” This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.”
The organisation’s published answer to criticism of the Declaration, signed “BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY”. The article says that Rutherford, “together with the Germany branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, decided to mount a campaign to inform Chancellor Hitler, government officials, and the public that Jehovah’s Witnesses posed no threat to the German people and the State”, and that allegations that the Witnesses tried to curry favour with the regime or endorsed its racial ideology “are absolutely false”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted begins on p. 13 and finishes on p. 14, the pages taken from the pageNum markers. The article itself runs pp. 10-14.
Notes.The article carries a footnote saying that space does not allow full documentation but that “a list of complete references is available upon request from the publishers”.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-g98-nazi-peril
Zwei wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen über Jehovas Zeugen im Nationalsozialismus — Detlef Garbes Between Resistance and Martyrdom (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008; deutsches Original 1994) und M. James Pentons Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Third Reich (University of Toronto Press, 2004) — konnten für diese Seite nicht eingesehen werden, und es wird hier keine Schlussfolgerung eines der beiden Autoren wiedergegeben. Das United States Holocaust Memorial Museum schreibt, dass “at first, the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany hoped to convince the Nazi regime that they were a politically neutral Christian group, and they urged their followers to obey the new laws”, und verweist dabei auf Garbe, S. 87-91; dieser Satz betrifft jedoch die Haltung der Leitung im Allgemeinen, und weder diese Seite noch die übrigen Artikel des Museums erwähnen den Berliner Kongress oder die Erklärung. Diese Seite enthält daher überhaupt keine institutionelle oder wissenschaftliche Bewertung dieses Dokuments. Source: Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, 2008 (unverified)Source: Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics Under Persecution, 2004 (unverified)Source: Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, 2026Source: H-German (H-Net Reviews), November 1995
Belege anzeigen (4 Quellen)
Von Fachleuten begutachtet / wissenschaftlichUngeprüft
2008 · pp.87-91, 484 · Detlef Garbe (translated by Dagmar G. Grimm) · University of Wisconsin Press
The standard scholarly study, published in German as Zwischen Widerstand und Martyrium (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1994; later editions 1997 and 1999) and in English translation by Dagmar G. Grimm (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008). It is listed here because the institutional accounts quoted on this page cite it.
Link nicht automatisch prüfbarNo online copy located.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.This book was not opened for this research and nothing is quoted from it here. The Internet Archive copy is lending-restricted; Google Books returned a verification challenge to every request; and the De Gruyter Brill platform, which carries the German edition as DOI 10.1524/9783486594430.87, answers every request with an HTTP 202 JavaScript challenge rather than the text. No publisher page for the English edition is recorded here because none was reached. The pages listed are those the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum cites: 87-91 for the leadership’s early attempts to accommodate the Nazi regime, and 484 for the casualty figures.
Notes.Listed so that readers can see which work underlies the institutional accounts cited here, and so that the limits of this page’s own reading are plain. Nothing is attributed to Garbe on this page.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-garbe-book
Von Fachleuten begutachtet / wissenschaftlichUngeprüft
2004 · M. James Penton · University of Toronto Press
A scholarly study of the subject, listed here from its publisher’s table of contents only. That table of contents gives chapter 1 as “The Watch Tower Society’s Attempted Compromise with Hitler” (pp. 6-28), chapter 3 as “Evaluating the Arguments and the Evidence” (pp. 63-99), appendix C as “Documents Relating to the Watch Tower Society’s Attempt to Compromise with Nazism” (pp. 256-296) and appendix D as “U.S. State Department Documents Relating to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany in 1933” (pp. 297-311).
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics Under Persecution
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.This book was not opened for this research and nothing is quoted from it here. The publisher’s platform, Project MUSE, shows the full table of contents but the chapters are closed; Google Books returned a verification challenge; the Internet Archive copy is lending-restricted. The table of contents was read there on 19 September 2026 and again for an independent audit.
Notes.Listed so that readers can see what the critical scholarly literature on this episode consists of, and so that the limits of this page’s own reading are plain. No argument of Penton’s is reproduced here.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-penton-book
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“At first, the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany hoped to convince the Nazi regime that they were a politically neutral Christian group, and they urged their followers to obey the new laws.”
The sentence carries a footnote reading: “To learn more about early efforts of the Jehovah's Witnesses to accommodate the new Nazi regime, see Detlef Garbe, Between Resistance & Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, translated by Dagmar G. Grimm (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2008), 87-91.”
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Experiencing History: Holocaust Sources in Context, Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.The page’s HTML was downloaded and read directly on 19 September 2026, including the footnotes, and again for an independent audit. The footnote quoted in the context note is the note attached to the sentence quoted here.
Notes.A footnote on the same page states: “More than 25,000 Witnesses lived in Germany when the Nazis rose to power, and roughly 10,000 were imprisoned during the years of Nazi rule. About 2,000 German Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps, and scholars estimate that roughly 1,200 died under Nazi rule. Around 250 Jehovah’s Witnesses were executed, mostly for refusing military service”, citing Garbe p. 484. The body of the page states that “in June 1933, the Nazi regime banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from meeting, preaching, or distributing their publications.”
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-ushmm-experiencing-history
Von Fachleuten begutachtet / wissenschaftlichGeprüft
November 1995 · David J. Diephouse · H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
“In early 1933 rhetorical hostility turned to active repression, and this persisted in various forms for the duration of the Third Reich. Initial measures targeted the IBV as an organization.”
A scholarly review of the standard academic study of Jehovah’s Witnesses under National Socialism, reviewing the German first edition (Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1994). The reviewer writes that the book “offers by far the most comprehensive account to date” and is “a monument of assiduous research”, and that Garbe “elects to describe it as a species of Resistenz”.
Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for H-German (H-Net Reviews), Review of Detlef Garbe, Zwischen Widerstand und Martyrium: Die Zeugen Jehovas im “Dritten Reich”
Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe.Opened and read in full on 19 September 2026, and re-read for an independent audit the same day at the H-Net Commons address recorded above, where the review is headed “Reviewed by David J. Diephouse (Calvin College), Published on H-German (November, 1995)”. The sentences quoted here and the phrases in the context note were confirmed word for word. On the day of the audit the older www.h-net.org address did not answer. The review discusses the ban and the movement’s conduct generally; the words “Berlin” and “Declaration” do not appear in it. On a second adversarial audit on 19 September 2026 the review could not be re-opened at all: both www.h-net.org and networks.h-net.org refused the connection. The record is kept because it was opened and read on the access date, but nothing on this page now rests on it beyond the quotation and the reviewer’s phrases recorded here.
Notes.The review is the source here for the standing of Garbe’s book among historians and for the reviewer’s own summary of the 1933 repression. It says nothing about the Declaration of Facts.
Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung.src-de33-hnet-diephouse-garbe
12. Juli 1933 · p.408 · George S. Messersmith · United States Department of State
“The work of the Society has been at an utter standstill in all the states of Germany except Prussia; but on June 24 a decree was issued by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior and signed by Dr. Grauert, the Under Secretary of State in that Ministry. . . . In the decree of June 24 forbidding the activities of the Society throughout Germany, it was also provided that the property be confiscated.”
12. Juli 1933 · pp.409-410 · George S. Messersmith · United States Department of State
“I have gone into the activities of the Society and of its agents, and have read some of the pamphlets which have been distributed by the Society widely in Germany, and I can see that objection could reasonably be raised to them by the German Government. Although acting as a religious society, the pamphlets contain comment of not a purely religious character.”
7. September 1933 · p.412 · Cordell Hull · United States Department of State
“Representative of the Watch Tower Bible Tract Society informs Department that an order has been issued by the German authorities requiring the vacating of the Home at Magdeburg owned by the Society and now occupied by Harbeck, an American citizen and the Society’s resident manager, and that a portion of the Society’s property including books is being burned today by soldiers or police acting as custodians of the Society’s factory. You are requested to lend appropriate assistance and report by cable.”
9. September 1933 · pp.412-413 · Cordell Hull · United States Department of State
“It is unfortunate that purely administrative action entailing such drastic consequences without other than ex parte proceedings should be taken and maintained in Germany, and that apparently the obligation to administer justice by orderly processes of law has been disregarded. . . . You should request that prompt steps be taken to restore the property to the possession and control of the Society. You are authorized in your discretion to subordinate as a matter of expediency the question of the resumption of the Society’s activities, keeping in mind, however, that the principle upon which a complaint rests regarding this ban on the activities is the same as in the case of the confiscation or destruction of property, namely, the absence of a proper judicial hearing as provided for under Article 12 of the Treaty of 1923.”
4. Dezember 1933 · p.414 · William E. Dodd · United States Department of State
“I have the honor to enclose copies and translation of a note verbale dated November 13, from the Foreign Office, and of its enclosure, the decree of June 24 issued by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior suppressing the activities of the Society in Prussia and confiscating its property.”
1934 · p.131 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“This company of German people, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens representing many others from every part of Germany, all of whom are earnestly laboring for the highest welfare of the people of this land, being now duly assembled at Berlin this 25th day of June, A D. 1933, do joyfully declare our complete devotion to Jehovah, the Almighty God, and to his kingdom under Christ Jesus, whose shed blood bought the human race.”
1934 · p.132 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“By the term 'clergy', as used in our literature, reference is made to that class of professed religious teachers, priests and Jesuits who employ improper political means to accomplish their ends and join forces even with those who deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
1934 · p.133 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Although the Pharisees and priests then claimed to represent Jehovah God Jesus told them that they were in fact the representatives of Satan the Devil.”
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good.”
1934 · p.134 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: 'The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.'”
1934 · p.135 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position; and we further state in our literature the reason for the existence of oppressive Big Business and the wrongful political religious influence”
1934 · p.136 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart.”
1934 · pp.137-138 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications, and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness and who obey the Most High.”
1934 · p.138 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Let us remind the government and the people of Germany that it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens. That League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of Germany.”
1934 · p.141 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The people of Germany have suffered great misery since 1914 and have been the victims of much injustice practiced upon them by others. The Nationalists have declared themselves against all such unrighteousness and announced that ‘Our relationship to God is high and holy’. Since our organization fully endorses these righteous principles and is engaged solely in carrying forth the work of enlightening the people concerning the Word of Jehovah God, Satan by subtilty endeavors to set the government against our work and destroy it”
1934 · p.143 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“We therefore appeal to the high sense of justice of the government and nation and respectfully ask that the order of prohibition against our work and our literature be set aside, and that opportunity be given us to have a fair hearing before we are judged. . . . Resolved, That copies of this Declaration be respectfully delivered to the high officials of the government and that the same be given wide publication to the people, that the name of Jehovah may be further known.”
1934 · pp.131, 144 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“more than 7,000 of Jehovah's witnesses assembled at Berlin and unanimously adopted the resolution, millions of which were printed and distributed throughout Germany”
1934 · p.146 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The Declaration adopted at that convention was printed and mailed to every high officer of the government from the president down to the members of the council. 2,500,000 copies were freely distributed.”
1934 · p.102 · Watch Tower branch manager in Austria · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“A Resolution was passed concerning the Declaration which Brother Rutherford wrote while in Europe, and this is now being distributed to counteract the influence of the enemy.”
1. August 1955 · p.462 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“On June 25 in Berlin 7,000 witnesses attended a specially called assembly, unanimously passing a resolution entitled “Declaration of Facts.” It was a strong protest to Hitler and his government against their highhanded interferences with the witness work of the Society.”
1974 · pp.110-111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Brother Rutherford, who, together with Brother Knorr, had come to Germany just a few days before in order to see what could be done to ensure the safety of the Society’s property, had prepared a declaration with Brother Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption. It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing. . . . Many in attendance were disappointed in the “declaration,” since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society’s publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies. A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. . . . It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Brother Balzereit later notified Brother Rutherford that it had been.”
1974 · p.111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The copy sent to Hitler was accompanied by a letter that, in part, read: “The Brooklyn presidency of the Watch Tower Society is and always has been exceedingly friendly to Germany. In 1918 the president of the Society and seven members of the Board of Directors in America were sentenced to 80 years' imprisonment for the reason that the president refused to let two magazines in America, which he edited, be used in war propaganda against Germany.””
1974 · p.111 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Even though the declaration had been weakened and many of the brothers could not wholeheartedly agree to its adoption, yet the government was enraged and started a wave of persecution against those who had distributed it.”
1993 · p.720 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“1933 Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Germany. During the intense persecution down to the end of World War II, 6,262 are arrested, and their combined time of imprisonment totals 14,332 years; 2,074 are sent to concentration camps, where their confinement totals 8,332 years”
1993 · p.659 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“During 1933, the very year that a concordat between the Vatican and Nazi Germany was signed, Hitler launched a campaign to annihilate Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. By 1935 they were proscribed in the entire nation. But who instigated this?”
November 1995 · David J. Diephouse · H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
“In early 1933 rhetorical hostility turned to active repression, and this persisted in various forms for the duration of the Third Reich. Initial measures targeted the IBV as an organization.”
8. Juli 1998 · pp.13-14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“Having mentioned money, the “Declaration” went on to denounce unfair practices of big business. It said: “It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations.” This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.”
8. Juli 1998 · p.14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“According to the account in the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, some German Witnesses were disappointed that the language of the “Declaration” was not more explicit in tone. Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case.”
8. September 1999 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
“The reader refers to statements in the “Declaration of Facts,” a resolution adopted in 1933 at a convention in Berlin, Germany. (See “Jehovah’s Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril,” in the July 8, 1998, issue of “Awake!”) As the article noted, nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today. If anyone back in the 1930’s interpreted the “Declaration of Facts” to mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses were anti-Semitic, this misimpression could easily have been corrected by observing the courageous and compassionate acts of individual Witnesses in behalf of Jews. Moreover, Watch Tower Society publications were among the first to expose and express outrage at the treatment of Jews in Europe.”
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Of the 25,000 to 30,000 Germans who in 1933 were Jehovah's Witnesses, an estimated 20,000 remained active through the Nazi period. . . . At least 3,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps . . . An estimated 1,000 German Jehovah's Witnesses died or were murdered in concentration camps and prisons during the Nazi era, as did 400 Witnesses from other countries”
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“Initially, leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses sought to find a way to work with the Nazi government. In October 1934, the leadership sent a letter to the Reich government, explaining the Witnesses' core beliefs and their commitment to political neutrality.”
2026 · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
“At first, the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany hoped to convince the Nazi regime that they were a politically neutral Christian group, and they urged their followers to obey the new laws.”