Jehovah’s Witnesses: The Forgotten Victims of Nazi Persecution

During the Nazi regime, many stories of suffering and resistance emerged from the darkness that enveloped Europe. Among the numerous persecuted groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses, a small religious group, stood out not only for their number but for the unyielding determination with which they faced the brutality of the Third Reich. Little has been said about them, but their story of resistance is one of the most impressive and tragic chapters of World War II.

By mid-1933, when the Nazi regime consolidated its power, the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses quickly intensified. They were a religious minority that rejected any form of alliance with the state, refusing to swear an oath to Hitler or participate in military activities. This stance, based on deep religious conviction, placed them in direct conflict with a regime that demanded absolute obedience.

Detlef Garbe, historian and director of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, highlighted in his studies that Jehovah’s Witnesses were among the first communities to be persecuted by the Nazi regime. “No other religious community resisted Nazism with comparable firmness,” he wrote. This resistance was not without cost: thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses were imprisoned, tortured, and, in many cases, executed.

A distinctive symbol of their persecution was the “purple triangle,” a small piece of fabric that Jehovah’s Witnesses were forced to wear in concentration camps. This mark was meant to identify and differentiate them from other prisoners, but also served as a sign of their rejection of the regime. To the Nazis, they were considered traitors and dissenters, unworthy of being part of the “Volksgemeinschaft,” the national community the regime sought to create.

The Unshakable Conviction

What motivated this small religious community to defy one of the most oppressive regimes in modern history? The answer lies in their faith and the conviction that they could not betray their religious principles. They believed they owed allegiance only to God, rejecting any authority that demanded otherwise. This included refusal to participate in any military activity or to swear loyalty to Hitler.

In accounts recorded by survivors, the steadfastness of Jehovah’s Witnesses in their faith is evident. One such account is from August Dickmann, a young prisoner in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, who illustrated this determination. In 1939, he was called up for military service. His refusal to accept the call was met with fury by the Nazis. In a testimony from his sister, it was recorded: “They called him a traitor and enemy of the state. But August, calm and resolute, simply replied: ‘My loyalty is to God. I cannot and will not betray my faith.’”

This stance had devastating consequences. On September 15, 1939, Dickmann was publicly executed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, in front of 8,500 prisoners, as a warning of what would happen to those who dared to challenge the Nazi regime. His death marked the first public execution of a conscientious objector in the Third Reich and served as a grim warning to other prisoners.

The Secret Resistance

Despite the persecution, Jehovah’s Witnesses did not remain silent. In December 1936, in a coordinated operation that surprised the Gestapo, around 3,500 Jehovah’s Witnesses distributed over 100,000 anti-Nazi leaflets throughout Germany. This was one of the largest clandestine resistance operations during the Nazi regime, organized by a group that was already significantly weakened by repression.

These leaflets, which denounced the regime’s abuses and called for peaceful resistance, showed that despite their pacifist position, Jehovah’s Witnesses would not hesitate to fight for their beliefs, even if it meant facing the full wrath of the Nazi state. As a result, repression increased drastically. The Gestapo intensified arrests and torture, seeking to completely eradicate the community.

Detlef Garbe described this phase as “a spiral of escalation,” where the Nazi regime, unable to break the faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses, sought in every way to destroy their cohesion. In their testimonies, many survivors recall the words of their fellow believers: “Our resistance is not political; it is spiritual. We are tested by God, and we cannot fail.”

The Tragedy

The persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses culminated in personal and collective tragedies. Many were sent to concentration camps, where they faced unimaginable torture. Women, men, and even young adolescents were forced to choose between renouncing their faith or facing death. Most chose martyrdom.

In one of the most emblematic cases, 367 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Buchenwald concentration camp were ordered to renounce their faith under the threat of immediate execution. Only two prisoners signed the renunciation, while the rest remained firm, knowing that such a decision would likely cost them their lives.

The stories of resistance and sacrifice of Jehovah’s Witnesses during the Nazi regime were largely ignored after the war ended. Only decades later did historians like Garbe begin to uncover and document these forgotten chapters of history. These narratives reveal the depth of suffering and resilience of those who chose faith over life, facing a regime that knew no bounds in its quest for conformity and obedience.