WV Jehovah’s Witness victims remembered on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
CHARLESTON, WV (WVNS) — Saturday, January 27, 2024, marked the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Due to its importance, it has been recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day is significant because it honors those that have perished in the Holocaust; this being six million Jewish victims and the other millions of victims of Nazism, which included Jehovah’s Witnesses. This year’s theme for this day is “Fragility of Freedom,” which focuses on how freedoms and religious expression were restricted and not allowed during this time.
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Jehovah’s Witnesses were not a particularly well known group of victims during the Holocaust. In Germany, they were referred to as “Bibelforscher” or Bible Students. They were “the only group in the Third Reich to be persecuted on the basis of their religious beliefs alone,” according to Professor Robert Gerwarth.
“We acknowledge and appreciate that Nazi persecution is first associated with the systematic murder of some two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. The scale of horror is without equal. We also recognize that other groups, including Witnesses, suffered profoundly,” said Jason Hohl, National Spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
During this time, close to around 35,000 Witnesses in Nazi territories were persecuted and martyred. Approximately one-third or more were arrested for their faith and beliefs, one in eight Witnesses were sent to concentration camps, and close to 1,600 lost their lives, 548 of which were by being executed. Many children of Jehovah’s Witnesses were also taken from their homes to live with Nazis to become “Germanized,” or forced to reform to the Nazi beliefs.
It got to the point where Jehovah’s Witnesses were considered “enemies of the State,” because of “their very public refusal to accept even the smallest elements of [Nazism], which didn’t fit their faith and their beliefs,” according to Historian Christine King.
Some Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to conform to the Nazi culture and the German army. Witness literature was made public worldwide about the Nazi situation and the evils and horrors that were happening within it. Historian Christine King noted this on the website of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered the consequences from their rebellious actions. They were one of the first religious groups sent to concentration camps and were forced to wear a purple triangle; however, Witnesses had another unfortunate option to get out of that predicament. They would have to sign away their rights, by signing a document called a “Erklärung.” This was a pledge to renounce their faiths and beliefs, conform to Nazi norms, and tattle on other Witnesses who were still practicing. This decision was crucial, in which few Jehovah’s Witnesses unfortunately succumbed to.
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This year, we recognize in West Virginia the courage of this particular religious group, and that religion and faith should not be taken for granted and should be cherished for generations to come.
“This day is a grim reminder of the fragility of freedom. Even today, Jehovah’s Witnesses are being systematically attacked—imprisoned, beaten, and tortured—for peacefully practicing their faith in some countries, particularly Russia and other totalitarian states,” said Jason Hohl.
For more information about the history of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nazi-controlled lands and now currently in Russia, visit jw.org.
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