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    Golden Age, April 25, 1934

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    Golden Age—1934

    Golden Age

    A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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    in this issue

    PERSECUTION IN GERMANY

    AN ACQUITTAL

    A WORLD-WIDE DEMAND

    FREE SPEECH A NECESSITY NOTES ON NEWS 'NOT THREAT, BUT WARNING’ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittiiiiiiiiiiuiiii every other WEDNESDAY five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25

    Vol. XV - No. 381 April 25, 1934

    .■cxg). । ....... .gyu..

    CONTENTS

    • • ' ■ 1 1 • .

    LABOR AND ECONOMICS

    Natural Disasters Not the Worst . 463

    Children on Relief

    Public Ownership

    What $1,800,000 Would Do . . 479

    SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

    Freedom of Utterance a Vital Necessity

    No Controversial Subjects? . . 468

    If You Mean It, Sign It . . . 468

    Teachers Unpaid and Underpaid . 468

    New York City’s Charity Bill . . 468

    Chicago Fair—Continued . . . 468

    Printing Bibles ....... 471

    FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

    Promotion Company

    Capitalism

    How to Drive a Car

    Gold and More Gold

    Over-Water Formation Flying . 473

    POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

    Fort Wayne Awfully Bad . . . 469

    When Children May Leave School 469

    Tammany’s Friends

    Why Private Companies Handle Air Mails

    Air Mail Graft

    AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

    Picking Strawberries in November 470

    Durov—Animal Trainer .... 471

    SCIENCE AND INVENTION

    Ultra-Violet Lamp Bulbs . . . 470

    HOME AND HEALTH

    Aluminum Safe?......470

    Danger in Electric Appliances . 470

    Made to Live Forever .... 470

    The Home of Tomorrow . . . 470

    Fruit Juices from Coal Mines . . 471

    RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

    Persecution in Germany . . . 451 Exceedingly Interesting .

    News Item.......463

    The Demand of Jehovah God . 464 ‘Not to Threaten, dut to Warn’ 474

    ••«><©•------- —■ ..............—' ----- ---

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    The Golden Age

    Volume XV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 25, 1934 Number 381

    Persecution in Germany

    MORE than thirty years ago the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, incorporated under the laws of the United States of America, established in Germany a branch office, and from that time until 1933 continuously taught the truth of the Bible without money and without price. Many thousands of German people came to a knowledge of the truth of God’s kingdom and rejoice in their privilege of worshiping and serving Jehovah God. Many of such persons had been Catholics, others Protestants, and still others outside of all church organizations. During all that time the progress of the Society’s work in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, which was carried on by many good men and women of Germany, was bitterly opposed by the clergy, both Catholics and Protestants. Time and again the clergy published all manner of falsehood against God’s people, Jehovah’s witnesses, but the political rulers gave no heed thereto.

    The revolution that brought into power the Hitler government also brought about a change. The clergy got the ear of the political powers and induced them to act against Jehovah’s witnesses, which are known throughout Germany as International Bible Students and the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. The Hitler government, on the theory that these Christian people, Jehovah’s witnesses, were a menace to the state and threatened the peace and safety of the state, acted upon the slanderous and libelous statements published by the clergy and prohibited Jehovah’s witnesses from carrying on their work. These faithful Christians were wrongfully charged with being in alliance with Jews, Marxists and anti-National Socialists. Without even a notice of such charges, and with no opportunity given Jehovah’s witnesses to make proof of the falsity thereof, and without any hearing of the facts whatsoever, the Hitler government did on the 4th day of April, 1933, issue an order prohibiting the operation of said Society or Jehovah’s witnesses and seized and confiscated property of the Society then at the value of two million five hundred thousand marks. Such action of seizure was in violation of the treaty between the United States and Germany and, the property so seized and confiscated being that of an American corporation, the American government intervened and on the 28th of April, 1933, such order of confiscation was rescinded and set aside and the property returned to the possession of its rightful owners.

    Again on the 24th of June, 1933, and without any notice whatsoever, and without a hearing of the facts, the German government seized said Society’s property above mentioned and again stopped its work in Germany. The United States government, under the terms of the aforesaid treaty, again intervened on behalf of the Society, and in October, 1933, the German government again released the property from such seizure, but still refused to permit the Society to use the same in carrying on its work. The German government by its officials announced that the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association could bring suit in the German courts for damages resulting by reason of such seizure and could find relief in that way. Demands were made to do this by filing suits in the courts, but when this attempt was made the German government flatly denied the right to maintain such suits. In the meantime German authorities had seized a great amount of other property throughout the various states of Germany and destroyed much of it, broke up the meetings, prohibited Jehovah’s witnesses from meeting together to study the Bible, confiscated their books, Bibles and other literature and threw many of them into prison and concentration camps.

    Repeated efforts have been made to have a hearing before the German authorities to the end that the facts might be presented, and that the proof might be brought forth to fully establish the fact that the Society is not in any wise connected with any political organization, but all such efforts have utterly failed. German officials have promised a hearing, but when an attempt has been made to reach them they have refused to see anyone representing the Society who attempted to place the facts before them.

    At a convention of seven thousand of Jehovah’s witnesses held in Berlin in June, 1933, a statement of the facts was issued in the form of a Resolution or Declaration, millions of which w’ere printed and copies delivered to German officials, and many others distributed throughout Germany. While our brethren were engaged in the distribution of this Declaration of facts many of them were arrested and thrown into prison and concentration camps. The German officials have shown that they do not want to know the real facts, but that they are moved by some sinister and powerful influence determined to do injury to Jehovah’s witnesses and to prevent the proclamation of the message of Jehovah’s kingdom.

    The action of the German government in seizing the Society’s property and in prohibiting its work of religious worship and service throughout Germany not only is in direct violation of the treaty between the United States and Germany, but is also a flagrant violation of the terms of the Constitution of Germany. Section 137 of that Constitution reads:

    1. There is no State church.

    2. The freedom of cohesion to religious societies is guaranteed. There are no limits to the cohesion of religious societies within the territories of the Reich. 3. Every religious society organizes and manages its own affairs independently, within the bounds of the law, which is valid for all. It bestows its offices without the cooperation of the state or of the civil community.

    4. Religious societies acquire legal competence, in accordance with the general regulations of civil law. 5. The religious societies remain corporations of public law, in as far as they have been such hitherto. Other religious societies have, on their petition, to be granted the same rights, if they give the guarantee of duration, by virtue of their Constitution and the number of their members. Should several such publicly legal religious societies join up and form a union, then also this union is a publicly legal corporation.

    6. The religious societies which are corporations of public law are entitled to levy taxes, on basis of the civil tax lists, in accordance with the legal regulations of the country.

    7. On the same level as the religious societies are put the religious associations which have their own “Weltanschauung” (religious opinion — world’s contemplation??)-

    This section of the Constitution has never been suspended, but at all times has been in full force and effect, and yet its terms have been repeatedly violated with reference to Jehovah’s witnesses. Many petitions of German citizens have been sent to the German officials calling attention to the violation of the Constitution in the action taken against the Bible Students or said Society, but these petitions have been ignored.

    In Saxony several men and women were arrested and prosecuted for the distribution of the Berlin Declaration above mentioned. They made defense in the courts. When their case came on to be heard on appeal in a superior court of Leipzig in Saxony that court acquitted the defendants and discharged them, and in the opinion filed the court, amongst other things, said: “If the Association is one in the sense of a religious society, then the prohibition would be an infringement of the Constitution.” A legal authority, to wit, Dictionary of Legal Science, by Dr. E. Bumke, president of the Supreme Court of the Reich, and Dr. Ebermeyer, attorney general of the Reich, among other things says this concerning religious societies: “As regards such religious societies, above all into consideration, the Methodists, the free community, the new apostolical, Bible Students, and others are included.” Upon the strength of the decision of the above court, and the opinion and authority above cited, again application was made to the State Court for the German Reich, the Supreme Court of the Reich, to have the grievances of the Bible Students, or Jehovah’s witnesses, heard, and this the courts have denied.

    Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany have made every possible effort to present their case before the German authorities, asking that all restrictions and hindrances be removed and that they be permitted without interference to go on with their worship of God and their service to Him according to His commandments, and which is guaranteed by the Constitution of Germany. All their efforts in this behalf have failed.

    The following letter was addressed to Mr.

    Hitler and was delivered to him by a special messenger, which speaks for itself:

    Sir:

    This letter is a kindly notice and warning of things that are of vital importance to your welfare. You will find it to your interest to read it carefully.

    In Germany for many years faithful and good men and women have been teaching the doctrines of God’s Word, which people jointly work under organizations bearing the name of Earnest Bible Students and the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, which names merely represent the Society or corporate organization for the carrying on of their work. These men and women are devoted to Jehovah God and serve Him as His witnesses, telling the people what is the truth of the Bible. They seek to do good unto all men and injury to none.

    In the early spring of 1933 your government without just cause or excuse forcibly compelled these earnest Christian people, who are Jehovah’s witnesses, to cease the worship of Jehovah God in the way which God has commanded them to worship; seized their Bibles, song books, Bible textbooks, and other Bible literature, and their furniture, drove them out of their places of worship, and forbade them to assemble together to study the Scriptures and to worship God, and to preach the truth to others.

    Your government also without just cause or excuse seized a great amount of books, Bibles, paintings, paper and other material, and destroyed the same by fire, which property belonged to the aforesaid Society. Many of these innocent and faithful witnesses of Jehovah God your officers have incarcerated in prison, and illtreated them. You being a very busy man, probably many of these things have not been brought to your attention; but that is not the fault of those who have been unjustly and cruelly treated.

    Enemies of Jehovah’s witnesses have maliciously misrepresented them and told vicious lies against them in order to induce your government to do injury to them. In order that the government might be informed as to the real facts more than seven thousand of Jehovah’s witnesses assembled in Berlin, Germany, on the 25th day of June, 1933, and there issued a Declaration setting forth the facts concerning their work in Germany, which declaration was furnished to all the high officials of your government, and millions of copies thereof were distributed amongst the people until such distribution was forcibly stopped by officers of your government. That Declaration, a copy of which is hereto attached, called upon your government to see to it that these faithful people, who are Jehovah’s witnesses, might “without hindrance obey Jehovah God’s commandments and worship Him as commanded, and tell the people of His kingdom for the blessing of all the families of the earth’’.

    That request has been ignored by your government, and you have refused to permit these witnesses of Jehovah to serve Him and worship Him as commanded by the Most High.

    These faithful followers of Christ Jesus and who are Jehovah’s witnesses have waited and suffered long, hoping that you would cause their unjust treatment to cease and permit them to go on with their worship and service of Jehovah God without interference. But yoif have failed to do so. During the past ten years the rulers and the people of Germany have received notice by the wide publication of literature that God’s kingdom is here and that His King, Christ Jesus, will establish a righteous government on earth for the blessing of the people. They have been warned that those who oppose God and His kingdom shall be destroyed by the Lord at Armageddon. Such notice and warning have been ignored by your government.

    Permit me to remind you that Jehovah God sent His servant Moses to Egypt to give notice and warning to Pharaoh that he must let God’s chosen people go and worship Him in the manner that He had commanded. Such notice and warning Pharaoh not only ignored, but he defied Jehovah God, and the result was that Jehovah killed all the firstborn of Egypt and then destroyed the ruling power. (See Exodus 12: 29, 30; 14: 23-28.) The Scriptures plainly declare that what came upon Egypt will come in a far greater degree upon all the world, and particularly upon those who oppose Jehovah God and His kingdom. You may successfully resist any and all men, but you cannot successfully resist Jehovah God.

    Pharaoh said to Moses: “Who is the Lord [Jehovah], that I should obey his voice?’’ (Exodus 5:2) Later he learned to his sorrow who Jehovah is. Jehovah’s witnesses have done everything within their power to show your government that they only want to freely worship Jehovah God and serve Him as He has commanded them, but their efforts have been ignored and their maltreatment continues by your officials. Once more in their behalf, as the president of the Society or organization under which they work, and in the name of Jehovah God and His anointed King, Christ Jesus, I demand that you give order to all officials and servants of your government that Jehovah’s witnesses [who are of the Earnest Bible Students and the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society] in Germany be permitted to peaceably assemble and without hindrance worship God and obey His commandments by teaching to the people the Bible truths concerning God’s kingdom under Christ, for which kingdom all Christians have long hoped and prayed.

    If by the 24th day of March, 1934, there is no response to this earnest demand and nothing done by your government to grant the relief of the aforesaid Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany, then God’s people in other countries will begin the publication throughout the nations of the earth of the facts concerning Germany’s wrongful treatment of Christian people there; and having delivered the testimony, we will submit our case and leave it to Jehovah God by and through Christ Jesus to administer the punishment of the guilty ones in His own good way. Permit me to remind you that Jehovah warns that no one shall oppress His anointed. (Psalm 105:15) Christ Jesus is now on His throne, and the battle of the great day of God Almighty is just ahead, and it will be the greatest tribulation ever known, and there is just one way of escape: “Be wise now, therefore, 0 ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. ’ ’—Psalm 2:10-12.

    Respectfully submitted.

    Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, By

    San Diego, California, February 9, 1934.

    To

    Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Brown House, Munich, Germany.

    Like Pharaoh of old, the official power of the German government has repeatedly said that everyone has the right to worship God as he wishes and yet in the face of its own laws and declarations continues to refuse Jehovah’s witnesses the right to worship Jehovah God and carry on their work. These officials furthermore defame the name of Jehovah and persecute those who attempt to serve Him. In harmony with the terms of the foregoing letter addressed to Mr. Hitler, a mass assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Los Angeles, California, on the 25th day of March, 1934, unanimously adopted the Protest following:

    PROTEST

    For many years Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany, unitedly working under the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, have engaged in bearing testimony to the name and kingdom of Jehovah God. During the past year the German government without cause or excuse has wrongfully seized, confiscated and destroyed the Bibles, song books, furniture and other property of these faithful Christians, prohibited them to meet together and worship God according to His commandments, and has cruelly persecuted and imprisoned many of them, and, like Pharaoh of old, that government has wickedly opposed Jehovah and defamed His name.

    Therefore, We their brethren as followers of Christ Jesus do earnestly and vigorously protest against such unwarranted treatment of Christians by the German ruling power, and we call upon all true Christians and fair-minded people throughout the earth to join in this vigorous protest and demand that Jehovah’s witnesses, without let or hindrance on the part of the German government or others, shall be permitted to go on in their worship and service of Jehovah God in the manner which He has commanded, and we register our protest by declaring against Satan and all such oppression and by taking our stand on the side of Jehovah and His kingdom and His people.

    This Protest and accompanying speech was broadcast by a nation-wide network of radio stations, and the information is that many thousands of the unseen audience likewise arose and affirmatively voted for the adoption of such Protest. This publication is made for the purpose of informing the order-loving people of the earth of the unrighteous action of the German government against honest and faithful and true Christians, in order that the German officials who have thus wrongfully acted upon the advice of the clergy may never be heard to say that they -were ignorant of the fact that they were persecuting faithful and true followers of Christ Jesus. The following has been prepared by one of Jehovah’s witnesses who is in possession of many of the facts, letters and communications from those throughout Germany who have been wrongfully persecuted, thrown into concentration camps, and imprisoned, and which facts speak for themselves, to wit:

    JEHOVAH GOD REPROACHED

    Official leaders of the present government in Germany have slandered the name of Jehovah God, not only by their words, but also by their deeds in destroying great quantities of Bibles and Bible textbooks and by persecuting, by imprisoning and by mistreating Christians on account of their faith and their serving God in the way He has commanded them to do, namely, by proclaiming the good tidings of the establishment of Christ’s kingdom for the blessing of all nations.

    Satan, acting through the clergy, is responsible for these persecutions and for hindering the work of God’s anointed in Germany, and he has blinded the political element and has caused the German authorities to believe the false and slanderous charges which have been raised against Jehovah’s witnesses by the godless and faithless clergy class in Germany.

    The publication of the following facts does not constitute a Jewish or Marxistic or antiNational Socialist propaganda, but it is a true record which is now published because God’s enemies and the enemies of the truth, after having been warned repeatedly, have made it necessary. This is in defense of our brethren in Christ who are suffering innocently. For a whole year we have waited and have suffered the unjustified and cruel measures of the German government; we have waited (in vain) for a release because the treaty between America and Germany guaranteed that our activity could be carried on without hindrance, and because, according to many public utterances of the present leaders in Germany, who claim to be sent of God, liberty of faith and conscience was supposed to be safeguarded in the Third Reich. For example: Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler, in April, 1933, said: “Nationally and racially thinking men have the holy obligation to take care that everyone in his own religion should not only speak outwardly of God’s will, but he should really fulfil God’s will and see to it that God’s work is not dishonored. Whoever destroys God’s work is therefore fighting against God’s will and the creation of the Lord.” Thus he and his officials are judged by his own words. He also said that if a man knows a thing, sees a danger and a possibility of help, “then it is his damned duty and obligation, not to work quietly, but to stand publicly against the evil and for its remedy; and if he does not do it, then he is a coward and a weakling.” Reichsminister Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s right-hand man, said, in October, 1933: “Confession and faith, or no confession, is every man’s own and private affair, which he must account for to his own conscience. Coercion of conscience must not be exercised.” Reichskanzler Hitler also said in his book Mein Kampf: “Man’s relation to his God is holy and must be respected,” and that political power and religious matters must be kept separate.

    In view of these utterances, which we accepted as truthful statements, many letters and requests were submitted to the German authorities regarding the unlawful and oppressive measures against our Society and against our brethren in Germany, but these requests were neither heeded nor answered.

    The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society being an American corporation according to the law, and duly registered under German law, the American government finally intervened on behalf of the Society, by reason of the treaty between the two nations, whereupon the confiscated property of the Society in Magdeburg was released and given back to the rightful owners.

    In the answer of the German government to the American government it was stated that the Society could take recourse to the German courts, but this had been asked for and refused even before the Foreign Office in Berlin answered the American note.

    No German lawyer is willing and able to defend our rights in the German courts under the present conditions. At present the work of the Society in Germany is still forbidden by a measure of the Prussian Minister of the Interior and by other local authorities who, according to the German laws, had no right to issue such decrees against the Society, which was legally admitted in Germany by the Reichsrat, the highest Federal authority. A recent verdict of the Supreme Court at Leipzig proved again that the measure forbidding the Society in Germany upon a special decree of the Reichsprasident, could not legally apply to our Society, which, according to the German law, is a “Religionsgesell-schaft”. (See Manual of Legal Knowledge by Prof. Stier-Somlo, Dr. Bumke, president of the Supreme Court, and Attorney Dr. Ebermeyer. This manual classifies the Bible Students, i.e., our Society, as a religious body or organization which cannot be dissolved or forbidden by the Prussian minister, but that our case should be properly handled by the Supreme Court at Leipzig and by the Reichsrat of the Federal government.)

    The Society has sustained a great material loss, its name has been injured and besmirched by the action of the German authorities, thousands of books belonging to the Society, valued at about $750,000, were burnt and destroyed without justification and without warning. Hundreds of our brethren in Germany were imprisoned, mistreated and persecuted because of their faithfulness to Jehovah God and to Jesus Christ, their King and Lord. In spite of this great injustice which was done to our Society in Germany, and in spite of the illegal exercise of the police power against our brethren in the faith, we are certain the officials are blinded by Satan. We bear a great responsibility towards the Creator, and we must therefore make known the following facts for the vindication of Jehovah’s name and His people.

    Contrary to the consular treaty with America, contrary to German laws, and, above all, contrary to God’s laws as expressed in the Bible, the property of the Society at Magdeburg was confiscated and seized by the police at Magdeburg on April 4, 1933. Later, on April 28, the occupation was withdrawn and the ban upon the activity of the Society was removed because no evidence of the alleged subversive and communistic activity of the Society was found. The removal of the ban was announced by the government officials over the radio and was published in the daily newspapers of Madgeburg by order of the Regierungspriisident Dr. Nikolai of the city of Magdeburg.

    On June 24,1933, a new decree was issued by the Prussian Minister of the Interior forbidding the Society and its work, and again causing the property of the Society to be confiscated and appropriated by the State. In October, 1933, through the intervention of the American government, the property, bank accounts, etc., were released and the rightful ownership of the Society was restored. This release was signed on October 7, 1933. The document states that the property of the Society is fully released and restored to the full control of the Society, but the ban upon the activity, printing of literature and holding of meetings still remains in force. The Hakenkreuz flag which had been raised upon the Society’s buildings in Magdeburg by the military officials was then taken down and 30 men in uniform who had occupied the buildings and who had searched in vain for arms and ammunition and communistic literature were sent home again; and some of the men were ashamed of what they were told to do by their superiors.

    On the 21st, 23rd and 24th of August, 1933, 65,169 kilos of books, unfinished production and color prints were taken on large trucks and were burned just outside the city of Magdeburg. These books represent the value of M. 92,719.50. Moreover, literature, Bibles, song books and furniture, as used by the local groups of Jehovah’s witnesses, were confiscated and destroyed throughout Germany, and the loss of this property is estimated at nearly 2,000,000 marks.

    Persecutions

    Many of our brethren have borne the persetion patiently without complaining and without wishing their names to be mentioned. They leave it to the Lord to punish their enemies. In Saxony alone more than 500 brethren were in concentration camps. The following cases will suffice to confirm the statement that Christians were and are being persecuted unlawfully in the Third Reich, and that in violation of the principles announced by officers of the German government.

    A. Sch. in C., November 14, 1933:

    On the 11th of November the firm . . . engaged my services as a weaver. When leaving I said, “Auf Wiedersehen ’ ’; whereupon the foreman replied, ‘ ‘ Here there is no salute but ‘Heil Hitler’.” I quoted Acts 4:12, and then he said: “It is no use for you to start at all.” My services had already been engaged and I was to start on the 13th of November. The chief of the Workers Council to whom I also explained my viewpoint said: “People who do not use the Hitler salute, we cannot use. They can but disturb the harmony among the workers.” Then I received the papers back. The employer who had accepted my services greeted with “Guten Tag”. Another employer greeted in the same way. This would show that in this firm only the laborers are forced to cry “Heil Hitler”.

    H. St. in St., November 25, 1933:

    Since 1927 I have been a State forest worker. On the 13th of November, 1933, I was discharged by the forest official. The reason was that I did not fulfil my duties towards the country because I did not participate in the election of the Reichstag and the plebiscite on the 12th of November. On account of my faith and my knowledge of the Bible (I am a Bible Student) I have not participated in any political election for the last ten years. I am of the opinion that our Constitution guarantees the liberty of faith and that it does not force anyone to participate in a political election. My work in the forest I have always done conscientiously, and I would ask you to inquire about this at the forester’s office. Apart from this I participated in the war, where I was injured, and I have the Iron Cross II.

    In a letter which the above-mentioned witness of Jehovah wrote to the officials who had dismissed him from his work we read the following:

    I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the chancellor of the Reich, and other ministers of the government, many times stated that the election was voluntary and that the representative of the “Fuhrer”, Herr Hess, desired that there should be no discrimination whatsoever towards those who had other opinions. It is therefore presumptuous to consider every man who is not of your opinion a criminal, as you have done in my case only because I speak the Word of God and want to remain faithful to Him. (Matthew 25:40, 45) This attitude is not in harmony with the purposes and declarations of the “Fuhrer”.

    Probably you know that I have consecrated my life to the almighty God as one of His witnesses and that I am determined to remain faithful to Him. This vow towards God requires from me obedience unto death, as stated by the law written in the Holy Scriptures. If an S. A. or an S. S. man takes his oath towards the Fuhrer and then breaks it, he is considered a scoundrel. How much more abominable am I, if I break the vow I have vowed towards God. In 2 Timothy 2: 3, 4, James 4:4, and in many other scriptures, the true Christian is forbidden to engage in politics, which means to have nothing to do with the administration of this present world. I have acted according to these requirements in that I have not participated in the elections either in the past or in the present. And now I would ask you to judge yourselves as to who is to be obeyed more, God or man? Please read Acts 5:29.

    I emphasize the fact that you, in that you have taken from me my work and daily bread because of my faith as a Christian, have, according to the Scriptures, identified yourselves with those who, since the days of Christ, have persecuted and maltreated all those who, like Christ, have shown their faithfulness to the almighty Jehovah God. You must not think that this is a punishment for me, but rather, according to the Bible, it is a great honor, because, as a witness of Jehovah, I have a small part in the persecutions for the sake of the Lord’s name.—Psalm 2; Matthew 24:9; John 16:1-4.

    Meeting held on November 13, 1933, in the dining room of the firm . . . :

    Mr. H. asked whether II. V. (Jehovah’s witness) had taken part in the election on the 12th of November. H. V. said, “No.” When asked for what reason he stayed away, H. V. replied: “Ten years ago I consecrated my life to Christ Jesus and Jehovah, according to the instructions given in the Holy Scriptures. These state plainly that all the followers of Jesus must confess Him in truth and must not have anything to do with the affairs of this world. For this reason I have not taken part in any election since then, and I shall continue to do so. If I have not voted, this is not out of malice or in order to injure anyone, nor to diminish the honor of the nation, but only because I have promised to be faithful to Jehovah and because I must remain faithful to Him. Disloyalty would result in eternal death, because then there would be no hope of resurrection for me.” One of the officials asks whether H. V. knows that the Bible says that there is no authority but of God. H. V. knows that. If that is so, says the official, the attitude of H. V. is to be considered as malicious. H. V. tries to disprove this conclusion by quoting various scriptures. To the question whether H. V. had asked his friends to stay away from the election, H. V. replied, “No.” The official asked H. V. further whether he knew that this Association was forbidden. H. V. replied in the affirmative. The official explained that the position taken by H. V. could very well be considered as being anti-government, and said that H. V. would have to suffer the consequences. H. V. was further asked by the official whether he was for or against the government of Hitler. His reply was, “Neither for nor against.” The official asks H. V. whether he had said that the government of Hitler was not called of God, to which H. V. replied that he had not made such a statement.

    (Newspaper clipping)

    Lichtenstein-Callnberg.—At the close of the Reichstags election and the plebiscite S.A. men led seven non-voters (Bible Students) through the streets of the city; each one had to carry a torch. They had put a notice around their neck to mark their treason. On the market place the people took a hostile attitude towards them after they had been forced to call out aloud and plainly their names. The police ordered all seven to be arrested, as there was danger of the crowd’s manifesting their excitement by committing acts of violence against them.

    Another newspaper wrote:

    Conscientious Objections of the Bible Students

    An interesting incident was reported from the Saxon village Niederschlema-Zwickau. In this place all those entitled to vote did so with the exception of a few people seriously ill—and of six Bible Students. The latter explained that they stayed away from the election because they had conscientious objections. In Lichtenstein-Callnberg, in the same district, there were also several Bible Students who did not vote. S. A. men led them with torches in their hands through the town and they carried notices which duly advertised their course of action.

    Miss F. D. in G.:

    On the 14th of November, 1933, I was called to the town hall to be questioned for not participating in the election. The mayor asked me why I had not come to vote. My answer was that it was my duty not to do so, that this was forbidden by the Scriptures, and that I have to obey God more than man. Then he said that this had nothing at all to do with the election, but that by my course of action I had excluded myself as a citizen of the state and that they were going to deprive me of the unemployment money. This they have now done. I said to the mayor before leaving that he would have to account for his action towards God, and that I did not eare if I should starve to death, because with what I get now I already have to go hungry half the time, and that the time has come where God will recompense all Christians according to their conduct.

    H. M. in G. :

    I did not vote on the 12th of November. On the 14th I was asked to come to the town council to account for my attitude. I was asked why I had not done my duty. I said that I had not voted for years, and that I trusted in God and put everything into His hands. He said that this had nothing to do with the election, that by not voting I had shown that I did not take an interest in the German people and in their welfare, and that for this reason the German people on their part had no more interest in me, either. I replied that it is God’s will that all men should be helped; whereupon he said that I could get my relief money from those quarters, but that I could not get any more from him.

    0. F. in S.:

    Last Sunday the local leader of the National-Socialist party, Mr. V. P., committed acts of violence against E. M. and threatened him terribly. He took him by his coat and wanted to throw him into a mash-ing-vat holding 1500 liters. E. M. did not defend himself. The Nazi man eventually let him go after further threatening him and using obscene language. His conduct was the same towards Mrs. E. V.

    Although the Ministry of the Interior had published an order according to which there should be no coercive measures taken towards non-voters, such incidents happened. The representative of the chancellor of the Reich, Rudolf Hess, among other things had published the following: “There must be no coercion of conscience in matters of faith. Faith is a most personal matter for which one is responsible but to one’s own conscience. ’ ’ The authorities here want to forbid me to receive any visitors at home, and if any come I have the greatest difficulties.

    A. Sch. in C.:

    Please note that the chief of the Workers Council of the firm . . . has written to the Labor Office in M. regarding the Hitler salute. As a result the office in M. has advised me that I shall not get any unemployment money for six weeks.

    F. F. in V.:

    As a witness of Jehovah I have never made'use of my right to vote, and so I have stayed away also from the election on the 12th of November. This was sufficient excuse for others’ sticking on my two shopwindows two big posters which read as follows: “I am a traitor to the Fatherland! — I abandoned my country in a decisive hour! — I, traitor to the people, have attacked you from behind!”

    H. D. in R.:

    The brethren from G. R. send greetings and rejoice in present truth when the things we have all expected are fulfilled before our eyes. Some of the brethren have great difficulties because of not participating in the election. Do the city authorities have the right to exclude non-voters from doing work for the city ? With some brethren they wrote on the walls of the houses and on the sidewalk in big letters: “Traitors to the country, traitors to the people,” and other malicious things. As they did with the Communists, so they forced the brethren to wash off the election placards and the notices on the sidewalks in public. We are convinced that soon the Lord will vindicate His word and name on earth.

    W. V. in B.:

    Since the 22d instant I am here in the police prison. On the evening of the 22d, four friends with their wives were having tea with me and we were freely discussing the Holy Scriptures. Suddenly police entered the room and took us all to the police office. The four wives were allowed to go home, but their husbands were kept there. Now I have learned that my friends have also been released. Please do what you can that I may get free, too, for I have done nothing wrong. I am an employee with the magistrate in B. and I must fear to lose my position. You know, my dear brethren, that I consider it a privilege to suffer reproach for the sake of our great God; for our dear Lord and the apostles did the same. Nevertheless, we want to do everything we can to clear up misunderstandings and errors, for no just man can find any pleasure in letting other men, and Christian men at that, suffer innocently.

    K. B. in M., November 22, 1933:

    Last Sunday, November 12, two to three witnesses happened to meet together, when the police suddenly entered the room. They had probably been sent by the clergyman of the place. When the policemen entered there were also friends from the neighborhood with us and we were, all together, ten adult persons. One man had come to teach my child to play the guitar. The others were talking, singing and trying to dance. I read in the books and in the Bible. One of the officials searched each one’s pockets and recorded everything. One of those present had a Vindication III in his pocket; another one had a notebook containing quotations from the Bible and from our books and which referred particularly to kings, rulers and clergymen, and also to the people in general. The policemen carried away from one the notebook, from the other Vindication III, and from myself all the books, with my Bible Concordance; however, I could keep my Bible. The policemen then asked everyone whether we had had a religious service and whether we were reading from the books. All replied in the negative. On the 21st of November I went to Seh. to see the police at headquarters. I inquired about my books, and was told that they were awaiting instructions from K. before they could do anything further in the matter. They said that if we had committed a punishable offense we would be sent to the Heuberg (concentration camp) for three months; if not, that our books would be returned.

    Mrs. G. L. in N., on November 14, received the following notice from the police headquarters:

    Recently you have ordered from abroad the forbidden writings of the International Bible Students. This is a continuation of the activity of the forbidden Bible Students Association. The police authorities are therefore under obligation to imprison you for a time.

    F. H. M. in F., on the 17th of November, addressed the following letter to the president of the Reich, von Hindenburg:

    In my registered letter of the 1st instant I tried to show you that, contrary to the theologians who engage in politics, a true Christian must follow God’s commandment which says that he must not meddle in the political affairs of this world and that he must stay away from the elections. I have also drawn your attention to the fact that the threats expressed by the political leaders will lead to other persecutions of Christians in Germany.

    I have now already a great number of records according to which Christians, who for years, obeying God’s commandment, have not voted, are now being terribly persecuted. Because these incidents throw a bad light upon the honor of the German nation, and because they make void the decrees of the Minister of the Interior of the Reich regarding the liberty to participate or not in the election and regarding the election-secret, I would like to give you below a few cases of persecutions of Chistians which have occurred in the southwestern corner of Germany.

    Because he did not vote, Mr. K. in A. was carried to a concentration camp; K. K. in Sp. was arrested; Mr. and Mrs. L. in K. and Mr. Sch. in D. were dismissed from their jobs immediately; in Sp. the homos of Christians who in obedience to God’s commandments had not voted were searched and Christian writings and books were confiscated. In J. crowds were gathered in front of the houses of such Christians, and these uttered nasty insults and threats towards them. In D., just as in the dark Middle Ages, Miss F. was carried by force into a saloon, was put on the stage, and then they pronounced a mock death sentence. Strong in the Lord, she defended herself courageously, and was then allowed to go home. According to reports received, it is not in Russia, but in Frankfort on the Main, that people are dismissed officially from their jobs on the ground that they are Bible Students and believe in God.

    Telegram to Reichsprasident von Hindenburg:

    In Boehum there are since Monday, 13th of November, terrible persecutions of Christians. Witnesses of Jehovah from 35 to 60 years of age who, on account of their religious conviction, did not vote, have been terribly maltreated by S. A. men. Numerous husbands have fled because they did not want to be exposed to these brutalities. Many families are broken in heart and mind. I ask for your help.

    W. in D., November 28, 1933:

    Last Wednesday, the 22d instant, about 9: 30 p.m. three policemen entered our apartment and claimed that there was a meeting. My daughter and I were visiting somebody else in town. My husband sat in the kitchen and read in the Bible and in the books Vindication. The officials confiscated these books, which were our own. On Thursday afternoon, towards 3: 00 p.m., my husband was carried to the police office, where he was questioned for four hours. Two witnesses were there who claimed that they had seen two other witnesses of Jehovah enter our apartment. This is all wrong, as the two brethren in question were able to establish a perfect alibi. Then, on Friday morning, a policeman came and asked my husband to go to the court in D. for a trial. He is still there, and until now we have not been allowed to see him. In the meantime the police have questioned all the brethren and interested people and confiscated the books. The reason for this action is probably none other than that we have been faithful to the Lord and have not engaged in anything else.

    F. A. in C.:

    On the 18th of November II. R. in W. was arrested by the police and was brought before the police president in R. He was accused of what is called “cruelty propaganda” because after the 12th of November, which was the election day, he cited to others Isaiah 41:24 as referring to the election. R. did not vote, because of his faith. The Workers Council has informed his wife that her husband has been dismissed because he did not go to the polls.

    E. H. in B.:

    The following are the names of those who have been arrested: (follow seven names). Some of these were carried away from their work. Some were arrested when listening to the radio, and one of them was fetched straight out of bed. We, the brethren in B., inform you in all honesty that our brethren have done nothing wrong against the present government or its institutions and we confidently hope that Jehovah will release them. Further we would inform you of the following: On Friday two sisters from B. went to see the chief of police in St., inquiring as to why their husbands had been arrested. We thought it was because they did not vote, but this is not the case. The chief of police said, in substance:

    I have ordered your husbands to be arrested because the people in D. were very much excited against them and I was afraid that your husbands would be beaten. I wanted to avoid this. Your husbands have put themselves out of the now existing commonwealth of the nation. He said that he had seen the government about it, but that for the moment he could not do anything further. He further said that other brethren might probably be arrested also, if they did not join the community of the people. He objected to our brethren not participating in the “Winter Relief Movement’’. However, we have not accepted any help from this organization, either, although some of the brethren are unemployed. We, as well as those who are in prison, feel innocent. Jehovah God knows what we wanted to do, and with His help we want to endure until the victorious end. Jehovah is our help, our protection and our strong refuge.

    K. S. T. in B., November 20, 1933:

    As you know, the chancellor of the Reich, on the 10th instant, between 1 and 2 p.m., spoke to the German workers. In our factory, where I worked since the 28th of December, 1925, until the 10th instant, the workers were all assembled in one hall. Each one had to attend. My chair had been put in the center of all the workers, so that they could observe me. After the chancellor had finished his speech, the Horst Wcssellied was sung, when they all lifted up their hands. I did not do so, because I cannot do so as a witness of Jehovah. While I sat on my chair I was pushed from behind and somebody said, “Get up!” I got up, but did not raise my hand. Then an S. A. man came and wanted to hit me in the face; but it just happened to slightly touch my nose, because I made a backward movement. They pulled up my hand, but I let it drop again. Then the S. A. man said: “You seem to be crazy. You deserve a good thrashing.” When the song was over the foreman yelled at me: “You are a common scoundrel ripe for S. (concentration camp) ” Then I gave him a brief testimony, to which he could not say anything. Then I was called out and was immediately dismissed from my job.

    S. in 0., December 3, 1933:

    The Devil starts the open fight. He shows his true face in all its hideousness. I am in danger of being brought into an insane asylum. Tomorrow, Monday, the 4th instant, I shall have to be examined by the district doctor on the order of the authorities. There is already a rumor that I shall have to go to an insane asylum. On the 12th of November we did not vote, and because of this we had to go to the “Braune Haus” on the 13th. The same evening S. was carried through the town in order to be exposed to the public. I was to have my turn the following evening. The 12th and 13th of November were days of powerful witness for the name of Jehovah.

    In S. a number of Bible Students did not participate in the political election which took place on the 12th of November, 1933. The next evening, towards eleven o’clock, several families were suddenly ordered out of bed. On that same day Mr. H. and his wife had buried their father. Because of this they were naturally exhausted. About eleven o’clock there appeared from six to ten people and called him to come down. He was quite unsuspicious, and thought that it might be some important matter. Immediately he was asked why he had not voted. He gave the Biblical testimony that a Christian must not engage in politics, that he did his best, however, to support the good measures of the government in the economic domain, but that he could not agree to military rearmament. This could lead to more bloodshed, and he could not take any responsibility for it. He tried to give further explanations, but he was suddenly attacked by several people, who beat him with a rubber club. Because of this noise in front of the house his wife had got up, too, and wanted to see what had happened to her husband. She ran into the kitchen, having nothing on but her nightgown, and when she put on the light a man stood there and hit her several times with a rubber club. She said nothing else to the man but that God was a just Judge, and a few similar remarks. The people tried also to get into the house of the neighbor, but Mr. H. did not open, in spite of all the noise and ringing of the doorbell. With F. S. they did the same, fetched him out of his house and maltreated him with the rubber club, so that for some time afterwards he had swollen feet and was ill. When the population, alarmed by the noise and tumult, had appeared on the scene and disapproved of this action, the Nazi men then limited their action to dirtying the garden hedge of another house. On several houses they painted such words as these: “Here lives a traitor to the nation.” The same things happened in other places also.

    In H. a brother was arrested the day before the election, and on the election day some more were imprisoned. One of them got five days in prison because he did not join in singing the “Horst Wessellied”. W. K. had a window-cleaning business. He was fetched from his house, carried into some office, and from there, after a short hearing, into another house, where he was terribly mistreated. The authorities informed the business people by circular letter that they were not allowed to give any more work to this man. His business having thereby been ruined, he tried to sell it to one of the workmen. When this became known, he and the purchaser had to go to some office, where the selling agreement was torn as being only “fictitious”. K. was then taken again into some other house and again horribly maltreated by two men. They hit him so hard that they knocked some of his teeth out and weeks thereafter he was not able to lift his left arm. He does not know as yet whether he will regain his full strength and health. He lost his livelihood for the sake of his faith.

    Several papers wrote that the Bible Students had lost all rights to live in Germany, that their “Demon Jehovah ’ ’ would yet be thankful if the German people would send this Jewish-American sect where it belonged, namely, to the desert; that nobody was allowed to give them a job, and if once their stomachs were empty they would learn what it means to be a member of the German nation. Sueh insults were numerous. Others were threatened with the loss of their position, with the boycott of their business, with the loss of the unemployment money, with arrest and concentration camp. Yet there is no evidence whatsoever that Bible Students have expressed themselves as being against the government. On the contrary, it is true that, as the authorities, employers, etc., generally know, Bible Students are quiet and reliable citizens who try to live strictly according to the Bible and to do good to their fellow men. The arrested and mistreated witnesses of Jehovah have but expressed their faith in the Bible, i.e., that the deliverance of mankind will be accomplished by and through the establishment of the kingdom of God, and in no other way.

    In L., K., 0., M., H., B., T. 0. and G. some of Jehovah’s witnesses were tried and released, many books and writings were confiscated, and each one of them was forbidden to receive more than two visitors at a time. In 0. the brethren have to register twice daily at police headquarters, and they are not allowed to leave their houses after 7 p.m. Two of them, unemployed, were refused further unemployment dole.

    H. W. in 0. was dismissed from his position in the Chamber of Agriculture because he did not vote on the 12th of November. That is strange, is it not? when you remember that the chancellor of the Reich and his ministers so many times stated that the election was to be entirely free.

    F. M., director of the city band in S., was dismissed from this position because he did not vote. The leader of the National-Socialist party ordered him to be dismissed, but allowed him to stay on as a plain musician so as not to become a public charge. M. R. in K., war cripple, member of the “War Victims Relief Organization”, was expelled from the association because he did not vote.

    In A. there were about 100 people who did not vote. They then fetched one of Jehovah’s witnesses, two friends of the truth, and a 60-year-old man who had no connection with us and who had been fighting during the war in the German colonies against Germany’s enemies, all together four people, who were forced to go through the town carrying a notice reading: “We are traitors to the country.” The three did it to the honor of God. One of the two friends returned in 1921 from captivity in Siberia, and has now lost his job.

    In E. twelve witnesses of Jehovah were ordered (1) not to leave their houses between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.; (2) not to receive visitors. This “in order to maintain public order and safety according to § 1 of the decree of the Reichsprasi-dent for the protection of the people and the State, dated February 28, 1933”. These witnesses were accused of having had an exchange of ideas and having received forbidden literature from abroad. One wonders why the German rulers deem it advisable to take such measures against absolutely harmless people who have never committed any violence.

    The above are but a few out of many cases which have come to our knowledge. We know, however, that nearly a thousand of our brethren were imprisoned one time or another and that particularly in Saxony our brethren were beaten and illtreated in the concentration camps, and this only because of their faithfulness to God and to Christ. Our brethren have been more courageous than either the communists or the socialists and they have given a good account of their faith before the cruel representatives of Satan the Devil, who was a “murderer from the beginning”.

    The secrecy of the mails does not exist in Germany. Many of our letters were opened, and most of our brethren in Germany are being closely watched. They dare not receive any visitors, their mail is opened, and in some cases our brethren are being told by the police what they may write and what they may not write. The police came to a mother who has a son in Switzerland. The police took all her books away from her and asked her to show the letters she had received from her son, and she was warned not to write anything pertaining to conditions in Germany, and she was told also to warn her son to write nothing except personal matters. There is no freedom of the press, nor religious liberty, and the common rights of the citizens are greatly limited.

    Negotiations

    The wrongful actions of the German authorities against the Lord’s work in Germany began a year ago, April 1933. It was very difficult to even approach some of the leading officials.

    During a conversation between Dr. Fischer of the German ministry and a representative each of the Society and of the American government, Dr. Fischer stated that the Bible is not reliable, that Jehovah is not acceptable, and that particularly the “Old Testament” should be discarded. He also stated that particularly the so-called “German Christians” are against Jehovah’s witnesses, and that the Germans who are of the Aryan stock do not need any redemption, because they have God in themselves and are destined to save the world. He further said that the redemption by the blood of Christ’s sacrifice is nonsense. He also objected to a certain portion of the text in our literature and did not even know that it was a citation from Isaiah’s prophecy. Later, at another conference, when through the intervention of the American government the Society’s property was released, Dr. Fischer insisted that all meetings of the Bible Students should be forbidden and that in the buildings of the Society at Magdeburg no one should be allowed to pray. Such strange and ridiculous demands caused some of the representatives of other governments to state that the Nazi leaders want to do away with God. A well-known high official of the American government said, referring to the Nazi leaders: “Whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.” The discussions further revealed that Dr. Schemm, an official of the German government in Bavaria, and Cardinal Faulhaber and other religious bigots had something to do with the action of the German authorities against the Lord’s work. Many officials in Germany, however, admitted that our Society and our brethren have done no wrong, and they have stated publicly that our Society is not a political organization, and that the Society has nothing to do with any political organization. Minister Rudolf Hess, the right-hand man of the Reichs-kanzler, stated regarding our affair that he could do nothing about it, because it is a religious question; and thus our case was referred from one to another. No one was willing to take the responsibility. Dr. Frick, the Minister of the Interior of the Reich, stated that he would not do anything against us, nor for us. He turned the matter over to Dr. Scholz, and Dr. Scholz turned the case over to Dr. Erbe. Some of the officials were rather arrogant. Recently Dr. Erbe stated to a representative of the Society in Berlin: “We know all we care to know about the Bible Students. It is no use to discuss the case with me. You would be wasting your time and mine. Our mind is made up, and I doubt whether the American government will continue to intervene on your behalf.” The Society’s representative replied: “If you refuse to hear us, the responsibility is now upon you. We have done all we could, and now you must not be surprised if we are forced to take other measures to defend ourselves.” Even foreigners and a number of Americans were forced to listen to the vainglorious boastings of German officials, and some Americans were beaten and illtreated because they refused to salute the flag or to reply “Heil Hitler”. German lawyers employed by the Society, and other German subjects, have freely stated that our case should be heard, and that much wrong has been done against the Society in Germany. But the court in question, the Ver-waltungs-Geriehtshof, to which the German government itself directed the Society in its official note to the American government, refused to accept our complaint. Here the copy of their refusal:

    …