JWs & Jews & Adolf Hitler - Forty Years of JW Yearbooks ======================================================= "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." The Watchtower Society, 1934 submission to Hitler Part I - The Declaration of Facts --------------------------------- Hitler had just come to power, and the Nazi part was flexing its muscles against all other groups. The Watchtower Society had made large investments in Germany, which were threatened by Nazi suspicions of them as communists. In an attempt to salvage the situation, and avoid the seizure of property, the President of the WTS made a trip to Germany, and arranged for a statement to be produced, adopted at a convention of German JWs in Berlin, and distributed to senior Nazis. Portions of this "Declaration of Facts" were reproduced in the JW English language YearBook of 1934, and are reproduced below. In reading them bear in mind the climate in which they were written, in which the Nazis were winning power by using the greivances of many Germans over war reparations, combined with nebulous claims about an international Zionist conspiracy, acting by means of England and the USA to attack Germany. The 1934 Yearbook of JWs beginning on page 130 said: "In June, the president of the Society visited Germany to take some action to get the Society's property restored to our possession and to carry on the work further. Knowing that the enemy has misrepresented the facts to the government, a Declaration of Facts was prepared, and on the 25th day of June, 1933, 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. That resolution is as follows, to wit: " " Declaration of Facts" ... page 134 ... "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.' 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." ... page 135 ... "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..." ... page 136 ... "To know Jehovah God and his gracious provision for humankind is of most vital importance to all persons, because God has declared in His Word that where there is no vision or understanding of his Word the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18) We have devoted our lives and our material substance to the work of enabling the people to gain a vision or understanding of God's Word, and therefore it is impossible for our literature and our work to be a menace to the peace and safety of the nation. 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." Part II - Another Revisionist History of the Nazi Era ----------------------------------------------------- In response to the above post re the attempt by JWs in Germany to curry favour with the Nazis and join in jew-bashing in a desperate attempt to hold onto their property, the following quotes are presented from the JW yearbook for 1974, which not surprisingly puts a revisionist spin on matters; however, what remains is still fascinating. The passage is reproduced, unaltered, in full, with comments:- "Brother Rutherford, who, together with Bro 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" ^^^^^^^^^ nice to see that priorities have never changed! "with Bro Balzereit to be presented to the convention delegates for adoption." Later on it's evident that Rutherford wrote the declaration and Balzereit translated (it's not the only time Rutherford made anti-semitic rants). Now let's see what the 1970s version of the document's contents is... "It was a protest against the meddling of the Hitler government into the preaching work we were doing." Sure didn't read like it; perhaps that's why the momentous Declaration of Facts itself is curiously not quoted in the yb74. "All high government officials, from the Reich's president on down, were to receive a copy of the declaration, if possible by registered mail." Must have been a cheery breakfast for Adolf & co to read that God's Only Channel was 'squarely behind' him and agreed him with him that 'it was the commercial jews' who had 'built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting the and oppressing the peoples of many nations.' "Several days before the convention started Rutherford returned to America." Rather than stay amongst the peace-loving Germans, brave Rutherford returns to face the 'oppressive Anglo-American empire'. "Many in attendance were disappointed in the 'declaration', since in many points it failed to be as strong as the brothers had hoped. Bro Muetze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Bro Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Bro Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society's publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies." One can only wonder at what the original English text of Rutherford was like before being 'weakened' and 'watered down' by Balzereit. Perhaps he had non-Aryan blood in his veins. "A large number of brothers refused to adopt it just for this reason. In fact, a former pilgrim brother by the name of Kipper refused to offer it for adoption and another brother substituted. It could not be rightfully said that the declaration was unanimously adopted, even though Bro Balzereit later notified Bro Rutherford that it had been." Just perhaps the real reason for the brethen's reluctance to be associated with this brown-nosing to the brown-shirts was revulsion at the anti-semitism and pandering to the fascists. "The conventioners returned home tired and many were disappointed. They took 2,100,000 copies of the 'declaration' home with them, however, and made fast work of distributing them and sending them to numerous persons in positions of responsibility. 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*." [Original Italics] I guess that calling for prayers for Allied victory in it's pages, and encouragement to buy War Bonds, doesn't count as 'war propaganda against Germany'. And my, has anyone ever milked so much out of a term in gaol as Rutherford and co; not only does it fulfil several dozen prophecies, but it's invaluable for ingratiating oneself with dictators. The section ends:- "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 distributed it" which should, more candidly, read: "Even despite our best efforts to curry favour with the Nazi party and its leaders, and our endorsement of their plans to fight the International Zionist Conspiracy, we were unable to stop them from their action. We were not helped in this by the pusilanimous display from many of our so-called brothers, who doubtless sympathising at heart with Jewry and the oppressive Anglo-American empire, refused to endorse even the weakened version of the document." This whole affair is strongly reminiscent of the way the old USSR exploited it's invasion and near-destruction by Hitler, and how -like the JW experience in concentration camps - this became part of the mythic structure of the nation, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was quietly forgotten. For like Rutherford, Stalin was a victim of the Nazis, not for the want of trying to appease them. It should also be noted that the action the Party took against the Society was part of a larger picture in which all independent societies were curtailed, including seemingly innocent vegetarian and scout groups, and even the ultra-right-wing Bruederbund student societies. Appropriately the next page of the 1974 yearbook has this topic: "FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD" "Christendom's clergy were not ashamed at openly showing their support of Hitler..." and another long, and hypocritical, tirade begins. You know the rest ... Internet References ------------------- Scanned facsimiles of the letter to Adolf Hitler (with English translation), and the Yearbook of 1934, may be found at:- http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~zerbst/jw/hitler/hitler.html http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~zerbst/jw/hitler/yb1934w.html