Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses, “Part 1—Germany”
“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.
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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.
Untermauert durch. src-de33-yb34-unanimous-and-camps, src-de33-g98-nazi-peril
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