Photo of Hermine Schmidt at a young age
Photo of Hermine Schmidt at a young age

Last German concentration camp survivor of the Nazi victims’ group Jehovah’s Witnesses dies

On March 31, 2024, concentration camp survivor Hermine Schmidt passed away at the age of 98. She was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1942 and was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943. In 1944, she was deported to the Stutthof concentration camp, where she had to witness indescribable atrocities.

Image of Anika Weiss, 10th Grade, Florida Virtual School
Image of Anika Weiss, 10th Grade, Florida Virtual School

Anika Weiss, Florida Virtual School

Powerpoint presentation of Anika Weiss on the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses during the Holocaust.

School Events 2022

Little London International Academy, Voluntari, Romania Video conference with 20 high school students and Simone Liebster.January 17 Aachen Comprehensive School, Germany Video conference with students and Simone Liebster.January 27 Hainesport Township School, Hainesport, New Jersey – USA Video conference with 22 students and teachers and Simone Liebster.February 11 Chicago, Illinois

Photo of the presentation of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by Consul General Thomas Pröpstl
Consul General Thomas Pröpstl presents Simone Arnold-Liebster with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany © Jolene Chu

Simone Arnold-Liebster awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

On December 15, 2023, Consul General Thomas Pröpstl presented the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to contemporary witness Simone Arnold-Liebster in Chambéry, near her home in Aix-les-Bains in the French Savoy. On August 17, 2023, the German ambassador to France, Stephan Steinlein, informed Simone Arnold-Liebster, who

Photo of Simone Arnold-Liebster during a Zoom conference
Photo of Simone Arnold-Liebster during a Zoom conference

Award of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Simone Arnold-Liebster

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has awarded Simone Arnold-Liebster the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as a token of gratitude for her commitment to preserving and passing on the memory of the tyranny of the National Socialists. The award rightly

Picture of Sarai Diaz and Ms Sarah Classon, Montessori at Roseborough, Mount Dora, Florida
Picture of Sarai Diaz and Ms Sarah Classon, Montessori at Roseborough, Mount Dora, Florida

Sarai Diaz, Montessori at Roseborough, Mount Dora, Florida

That Could Have Been Me by Sarai Diaz The Holocaust has always been a subject of interest to me. I knew that every person went through immense oppression in the Holocaust, but reading individual experiences from people really touched my heart and made the Holocaust so much more vivid, as

Photo of Deliana Rademakers. Copyright Jehovas Zeugen in Deutschland, K. d. ö. R.
Photo of Deliana Rademakers. Copyright Jehovas Zeugen in Deutschland, K. d. ö. R.

Memorial to persecuted and murdered Jehovah’s Witnesses receives unanimous vote

On June 22, 2023, the German Bundestag unanimously approved the erection of a memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism. The memorial is to be erected in Berlin’s Tiergarten, near the Goldfish Pond, by the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It will consist of

Liberation of imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses from Mauthausen concentration camp (Jehovah's Witnesses archive)
Liberation of imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses from Mauthausen concentration camp (Jehovah's Witnesses archive)

Hearing on planned memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses murdered under National Socialism

On Monday, May 22, 2023, at 11 a.m., the Ausschuss für Kultur und Medien considered the application for a memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism. The session can be accessed in the Bundestag media center. More information: https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2023/kw21-pa-kultur-mahnmal-949012 https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/geschichte-berlin-parlamentarier-wollen-mahnmal-fuer-zeugen-jehovas-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-230511-99-655570

Liberation of imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses from Mauthausen concentration camp (Jehovah's Witnesses archive)
Liberation of imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses from Mauthausen concentration camp (Jehovah's Witnesses archive)

Memorial for the Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism in Europe

On May 11, 2023, the Bundestag discussed in its first reading a monument for which the Arnold Liebster Foundation has been campaigning for many years: https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2023/kw19-de-mahnmal-zeugen-jehovas-945488 The debate can be accessed in the Bundestag media center. The verbatim transcript of the meeting can be found in the plenary minutes from