The Jehovah's Witnesses During The Holocaust

The White Rose

Jehovah’s Witnesses The Nazi Holocaust was one of the most cruel and crooked events of the 1900’s. In the Holocaust many religions and cultures of people in Germany were persecuted such as the Jehovah’s Witness group. Jehovah’s Witnesses were herded by the thousands into ghettos, forced to renounce their religion, and suspected of having political ties to America by the Nazis throughout the Holocaust. Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted from the Nazis thinking they had ties with America and that they wanted to end Hitler’s plan to create the perfect Aryan race. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were given the option to accept a declaration to leave their religion and become christian and be freed from camps but devoting their

The Witnesses were loyal and were not worried by this and accepted death and punishment. Kusserow Collection “With God’s help, we Jehovah’s Witnesses stuck together”(Kusserow). In their religion the religion was the protection and God would save them from danger. When not accepted the Witnesses would be put into concentration camps to work and if they tried to escape they would be caught and taken to the middle of the camp and be killed by shot or beheading to set an example showing do not try to escape or they could be killed. They were not treated as poor as Jews or some of the other groups because Hitler still thought they were good people he wanted them to live but change

The 3 youngest sons were taken to live with new nazi families that would reteach them the christian religion and reshape them. Magdalena Kusserow was at the age of 6 when she was taken to a camp to do machinery work, at 7 she moved to the small town Bad Lippspringe. She was arrested in 1941 and held till she was 18. Her father was killed and in april of 1945 Magdalena and her mother were liberated from their work