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Jehovah's Witnesses History - Holocaust - Netherlands
 
Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted in all of German Europe, as well as the Netherlands, then Holland. Despite the fact that there were only 500 Witnesses at the start of WWII, and about 450 Witnesses were arrested, many taken to concentration camps, and 120 Jehovah's Witnesses died as a result, the numbers of Jehovah's Witnesses grew from 500 in 1940, to over 2,000 by the end of the war. The Jehovah's Witnesses in Netherlands exhibited courage, ingenuity and determination, in using their wits to avoid arrest, some successfully evading the SS for years, while engaging in underground activity related to the preaching work of Jehovah's Witnesses. This gives a breif glimpse into the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands.
 

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has the world’s largest collection of artifacts and films documenting the history of the Holocaust. It opened to the public in 1993, and since that time it has hosted over 12 million visitors who have been educated on this serious topic here in Washington D.C. 

 

The displays, films, and other documentation give true testimony to the experience of the inhumanity of man, as well as recounting stories of integrity and self-sacrifice of Jews and many others who suffered in the camps and others.

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses were among those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and their SS, not because of their ethnic background, but because of their religious principles, and what they practiced..

A special program some time ago concerning Jehovah’s Witnesses and their story  was held, demonstrating the resistance of this group to the Third Reich and how they “placed their faith in God above the demands of the Nazi state. They considered the leadership cult of Hitler as a secular form of worship,” as related by Dr. Lawrence Baron, a professor of modern German and Jewish history at San Diego State University. Having taken a stand to refuse to Heil Hitler and obeying the Biblical  command to refrain from killing others and to love their neighbor as themselves, they found themselves at odds with the thinking that prevailed in Germany during that time period.

Because of this, they refused military service, and this resulted in severe  persecution. In the Netherlands, some 450 Jehovah’s Witnesses  had been arrested and 120 died because of hardships experienced in concentration camps. There are 170 video interviews and 200 documented life stories of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Holland  at the Holocaust Museum. 

When some Witnesses signed the declaration  out of confusion or a desire to “fool” the Nazis and get back to their ministry, the Dutch branch office, in June of 1942 encouraged the Witnesses to treat those who had signed the declaration with mercy, realizing that it was difficult to know how to handle these matters.

 

Despite the persecution, the Witnesses in Holland continued to preach, and grew from approximately 500 in 1940 to 2,000  when the Nazis ended their occupation in 1945

 

The courage and faithfulness of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Netherlands has given a wonderful witness  of loyalty and integrity down until this day.

     
     Harlem, Netherlands.                                                          Photo: Herrick
 
     Despite persecution, Jehovah's Witnesses increased from 500 in 1940 to over 2,000
     at the end of World War II.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                            Page created December 31, 2009