So far as the district under his control was concerned, he forbade once and for all any such weak-kneed attitude.
He only had use for men who were unconditionally tough, and who also understood the meaning of the death’s head, which they wore as a special badge of honor.
The Reichsführer SS did not punish the men concerned directly. But he personally warned and lectured them. They were, however, given no further promotion and roamed around for the rest of the war as Ober- or Hauptsturmführer.[35]
They also remained subordinated to the Inspector of Concentration Camps until the end of the war. Theirs was a heavy fate to bear, but they had learned at least to hold their tongues and to do their duty regardless.
At the beginning of the war those prisoners in the concentration camps who were considered worthy to bear arms were examined by recruiting officers from the various sub-districts. The names of those passed as fit for service were submitted to the Gestapo or to the Criminal Police, and those offices decided whether the men should be set free for military service, or should be further detained.
There were many Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sachsenhausen. A great number of them refused to undertake military service and because of this the Reichsführer SS condemned them to death. They were shot in the presence of all the inmates of the camp duly assembled. The other Jehovah’s Witnesses were placed in the front rank so that they must watch the proceedings.
I have met many religious fanatics in my time; on pilgrimages, in monasteries, in Palestine, on the Hejaz road in Iraq, and in Armenia. They were Catholics, both Roman and Orthodox, Moslems, Shiites, and Semites. But the Witnesses in Sachsenhausen, and particularly two of them, surpassed anything that I had previously seen. These two especially fanatical Witnesses refused to do any work that had any connection whatever with military matters. They would not stand at attention, or drill in time with the rest, or lay their hands along the seam of their trousers, or remove their caps. They said that such marks of respect were due only to Jehovah and not to man. They recognized only one lord and master, Jehovah. Both of them had to be taken from the block set aside for Jehovah’s Witnesses and put in the cells, since they constantly urged on the other Witnesses to behave in a similar manner.
Eicke had frequently sentenced them to be flogged because of their antidisciplinarian behavior. They underwent this punishment with a joyous fervor that amounted almost to a perversion. They begged the commandant to increase their punishment, so that they might the better be able to testify to Jehovah. After they had been ordered to report for military service, which, needless to say, they flatly refused, indeed they refused even to put their signature to a military document, they too were condemned to death by the Reichsführer SS. When told of this in their cells, they went almost mad for joy and ecstasy, and could hardly wait for the day of execution. They wrung their hands, gazed enraptured up at the sky, and constantly cried: “Soon we shall be with Jehovah! How happy we are to have been chosen!” A few days earlier they had witnessed the execution of some of their fellow believers and they could hardly be kept under control, so great was their desire to be shot with them. Their frenzy was painful to watch. They had to be taken back to their cells by force. When their time came, they almost ran to the place of execution. They wished on no account to be bound, for they desired to be able to raise their hands to Jehovah. Transformed by ecstasy, they stood in front of the wooden wall of the rifle range, seemingly no longer of this world. Thus do I imagine that the first Christian martyrs must have appeared as they waited in the circus for the wild beasts to tear them in pieces. Their faces completely transformed, their eyes raised to heaven, and their hands clasped and lifted in prayer, they went to their death.[36]
All who saw them die were deeply moved, and even the execution squad itself was affected.
These Jehovah’s Witnesses became even more fanatical in their faith as a result of the martyrdom of their comrades. Several of them who had already signed a declaration that they would cease to proselytize, a declaration which helped them to obtain their freedom, now withdrew it, since they were anxious to suffer even more for Jehovah.
As people, Jehovah’s Witnesses were quiet, industrious, and sociable men and women, who were always ready to help their fellow creatures. Most of them were craftsmen, though many were peasants from East Prussia. In peacetime, so long as they confined their activities to prayer and the service of God and their fraternal gatherings, they were of no danger to the state and indeed quite harmless generally. From 1937 onward, however, the increased proselytizing by the sect attracted the attention of the authorities, and investigations were made. These investigations showed that our enemies were zealously fostering the propagation of the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to undermine by religious means the military morale of our people. So proselytizing by Jehovah’s Witnesses was forbidden. It became only too evident, at the outbreak of the war, what a danger would have arisen if the more energetic and fanatical of the Witnesses had not been taken into custody during the previous couple of years, and a stop put to their active proselytizing. In the camp the Witnesses were industrious and reliable workers, who could well have been sent out to work without guards. It was indeed their wish to suffer imprisonment for Jehovah’s sake. They stubbornly refused to do work that had any connection whatever with the war. The women Witnesses in Ravensbrück, for example, refused to roll bandages for military field dressings. Some of these fanatical women refused to line up for roll call and would only parade as a disorderly crowd.
The Witnesses under arrest were members of the International Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but they knew virtually nothing about its organization. They only knew the officials who distributed the literature and who organized the meetings and the Bible studies. They were completely ignorant of the political use which was being made of their fanatical beliefs. If this was pointed out to them they laughed and could not understand. Their duty was simply to follow the call of Jehovah and be true to him. Jehovah spoke to them through inspiration, through visions, through the Bible when properly read, through the preachers and the writings of their sect. That was the plain truth, and it allowed of no argument. To suffer and even to die for Jehovah was their coveted aim. They believed that in this way they would be among the first to ascend and to join Jehovah’s elect. It was in this light that they regarded their imprisonment and detention in the concentration camp. They willingly submitted to all hardships. It was touching to observe the brotherly care they bestowed on each other, giving help and comfort whenever this was in any way possible.
There were, however, many cases of Witnesses voluntarily “abjuring,” as they called it. This meant signing a declaration in which they dissociated themselves from the International Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses, undertook to recognize and obey all the laws and regulations of the state, and promised not to enroll any new Witnesses for Jehovah. On this basis of swearing to break their allegiance to the International Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they were eventually— later in the war, immediately—set free. In the early days, however, when their release did not at once follow upon their signature of the document of abjuration, they often wondered whether in fact the Reichsführer SS was to be trusted, and whether they would really be released. The abjurers were berated by their brother and sister Witnesses for their disloyalty to Jehovah. Many of the abjurers, especially among the women, later felt remorse and repudiated their signatures. The constant moral pressure was too great. It was quite impossible to shake their faith, and even those who had abjured still wished to remain completely loyal to their beliefs, even though they had broken away from their spiritual community. If their attention was drawn to contradictions in their doctrine or in the Bible, they would simply declare that this might appear so to human eyes, but with Jehovah there were no contradictions, that He and His doctrine were infallible.
36
For further information about Jehovah’s Witnesses in the concentration camps, see Eugen Kogan,