{"id":10612,"date":"2022-08-17T14:03:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T14:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alst.org\/chronology\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:12:33","slug":"chronology","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/chronology\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronology"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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1914 -1918<\/div><\/div>

During the First World War in the German Empire, the growing number of Bible Students who only did medical service or increasingly refused to do military service altogether led to surveillance by state authorities, bans on their writings and meetings by military authorities, trials and prison sentences. At least 41 Bible Students are convicted by courts martial for religiously motivated conscientious objection and military disobedience.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1914 -1918<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1918<\/div><\/div>

Just under 4,000 believers in the German Reich profess to be Bible Students.<\/p>

Before the First World War, the Bible Student movement, founded in the United States in the second half of the 19th century and active in Germany since the late 19th century, attracted little official attention. Its organ, \"Der Wachtturm,\" had been published in German since 1897, and the German office of its \"Watchtower Society,\" founded in the United States in 1881 as a missionary and Bible society, was located in Elberfeld and later in Barmen.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1918<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1919<\/div><\/div>

After the end of the war, the number of professing Bible Students in the Weimar Republic rises to over 5,500. The Weimar Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1921<\/div><\/div>

The \"Apologetische Centrale\" is founded by the \"Centralausschu\u00df f\u00fcr die Innere Mission\" of the German Protestant Church in Berlin to monitor other religious movements. It represents the conservative-nationalist line of the church leadership and acts against religious pluralism (John Conway). The Bible Students are attacked as a \"sect\" by the Apologetic Center.<\/p>

In the following years, Catholic as well as v\u00f6lkisch, radical nationalist and National Socialist circles (e.g., \"Der St\u00fcrmer\", December 1924) also repeatedly attack the Bible Students as \"Jewish-Bolshevik\", among other things. The International Bible Students become the object of hatred of anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic forces. <\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1923<\/div><\/div>

The Bible Students' German office is relocated to Magdeburg in the Prussian province of Saxony, a \"Bible House\" with its own printing works is set up, and missionary publications are printed and distributed, some of them in their millions.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1923<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1926\/27<\/div><\/div>

The German branch of the \"International Bible Students Association\" (IBV) has over 22,000 members and is registered as an association.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1926\/27<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 30, 1930<\/div><\/div>

The Prussian Minister of the Interior issues a circular stating that the Prussian police should not take action against the Bible Students and their missionary activities, as they are a lawful, purely religious association and trials have always ended in acquittals.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 30, 1930<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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July 26, 1931<\/div><\/div>

The International Bible Students give themselves the name \"Jehovah's Witnesses.\" In Germany they continue to be known for many years as (Earnest) Bible Students. <\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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July 26, 1931<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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November 18, 1931<\/div><\/div>

Order by the Munich Police Headquarters to confiscate and seize all printed material of the Bible Students Association in Bavaria, which is welcomed by church authorities. The Catholic-conservative Minister of the Interior is supported in this measure by the NSDAP, which otherwise stands in opposition to the Bavarian state government. Following a lawsuit by Bible Students, the Bavarian Supreme Court declares the injunction to be legal.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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November 18, 1931<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1932<\/div><\/div>

Reich Chancellor Heinrich Br\u00fcning rejects proposals by members of the Reichstag faction of his Center Party to take tougher action against \"anti-church\" efforts.<\/p>

The Bible Students win lawsuits against confiscations of their writings in other German states, including before the Baden Administrative Court on June 15.<\/p>

By the end of the Republic, there are several thousand lawsuits concerning the religious freedom of the biblical scholars. In a large number of cases (mostly involving public mission acitivities and the dissemination of writings), German courts rule in favor of the Bible Students' religious freedom. <\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1932<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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January 30, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of the German Reich.<\/p>

At this time, the community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany numbers about 25,000 professing members of the faith; an environment of another 10,000 believers can be assumed.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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January 30, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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February 28, 1933<\/div><\/div>

The \"Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and the State\" (\"Reichstag Fire Decree\") is issued. On this basis, which largely suspends the Weimar Constitution, the bans on the religious community and its institutions take place in the German states in the coming months. (Religion is a cultural matter and thus a matter for the states).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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February 28, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 5, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to vote in Reichstag elections and are attacked, harassed and mistreated. The mistreatment and arrests increase during the course of the year. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse the \"Hitler salute\" and membership in Nazi organizations such as the \"Hitler Youth.\"<\/p>

First Jehovah's Witnesses are deported to early concentration camps and mistreated.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 5, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 7, 1933<\/div><\/div>

\"Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service,\" which leads to the loss of jobs and economic existence of Jehovah's Witnesses who are in government service. The economic existence of other Jehovah's Witnesses is destroyed in the following years due to their refusal to give the \"Hitler salute\" and their non-participation in Nazi marches and refusal to join Nazi organizations.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 7, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 1933<\/div><\/div>

Several states issue bans on the International Bible Students Association based on the \"Reichstag Fire Decree\" (Mecklenburg April 10, Bavaria April 13, Saxony April 18, Hesse April 19, Lippe and Thuringia April 26).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 24, 1933<\/div><\/div>

First occupation and search of the Bible House (German office of Jehovah's Witnesses) in Magdeburg.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 24, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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May 5, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich thanks the new government for its action against \"freethinkers\" and \"Bible Students\". Similar statements are received from the Protestant churches.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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May and June 1933<\/div><\/div>

Further bans of the Bible Students Association (Baden May 15, Oldenburg May 17, Braunschweig May 19, L\u00fcbeck June 6, Bremen and Hamburg June 28).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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May and June 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 9, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Representatives of ministries, the Gestapo and the Catholic and Protestant churches meet in Berlin to discuss a ban on the Bible Students in Prussia. \"Strict state measures\" are called for. \"Strict state measures\" are called for. By the mid-1930s, there is \"a regular interplay between the two large churches and the state in acting against individual small religious communities\" (Detlef Garbe).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 9, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 24, 1933<\/div><\/div>

The Bible Students Association is banned in Prussia, by far the largest state, which is also home to the Germany-wide headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses. This ban effectively means a Reich-wide ban (subsequently issued through administrative measures on April 1, 1935) and leads to the end of all official activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist Germany.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 25, 1933<\/div><\/div>

About 7,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, not yet aware of the ban, gather in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, where a \"declaration\" is addressed to the German government. In it, the leadership of the religious community emphasizes its peacefulness, non-political stance and freedom of belief; some formulations, some of which sound anti-Jewish even in contrast to the community\u2019s own convictions, are criticized by believers present as an attempt to conform to the regime. Research has meanwhile been able to clear up many myths surrounding the \"Declaration\" and the event. The National Socialist government perceives the \"Declaration\" as a hostile act and intensifies persecution.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 28, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Final occupation of the Bible House and the Watchtower printing plant in Magdeburg by the SA.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 28, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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July 1, 1933<\/div><\/div>

Hamburg introduces a morning flag roll call at schools; other states also make commemorative ceremonies, marches, flag salutes, singing of the national anthem and the Horst Wessel song, among other things, compulsory at schools. Thus, school attendance becomes a daily torment and distress of conscience for children and young people from the ranks of Jehovah's Witnesses. Especially from 1936 onward, numerous custody revocations took place, and children were taken away from their parents, who were considered \"enemies of the state\u201d.<\/p>

Until 1945, the National Socialist tyranny snatches a total of about 600 children of Jehovah's Witnesses from their parents and assigns them to foster families or deports them to correctional institutions.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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July 1, 1933<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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February 1, 1934<\/div><\/div>

W\u00fcrttemberg is the last state to ban Bible Students. Their mission had been banned there since June 14, 1933; religious meetings remained permitted.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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February 1, 1934<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 7-9, 1934<\/div><\/div>

About 1,000 German Jehovah's Witnesses succeed in attending an international meeting of the denomination in Basel, where an underground strategy for believers in Nazi Germany is discussed with American leadership.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 7-9, 1934<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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October 7, 1934<\/div><\/div>

Across Germany and around the world, congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses send an estimated 20,000 protest telegrams and letters to the Reich government. These read in part \"There is a direct contradiction between your law and God's law. We follow the advice of the faithful apostles and must obey God more than men, and we will.\" The telegram contains the message in several languages, \"Your bad treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses outrages all good people and dishonors God's name. Stop continuing to persecute Jehovah's Witnesses or God will destroy you and your national party.\" According to later statements, Hitler took notice of these letters of protest and threatened the Bible scholars with \"extermination.\"<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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October 7, 1934<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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January 9, 1935<\/div><\/div>

After quite a few male Jehovah's Witnesses had already been or are in concentration camps, a female Witness of Jehovah was imprisoned in a concentration camp for the first time.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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January 9, 1935<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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August\/September 1936<\/div><\/div>

On August 22, the Gestapo succeeds in smashing the resistance center at the Berlin Goldfish Pond. This was followed by a nationwide wave of arrests that affected almost the entire leadership of the German Jehovah's Witnesses. Many were interrogated under torture, tried in mass trials and most were sent to prison and concentration camps. However, the Jehovah's Witnesses subsequently succeed in reorganizing the underground work. <\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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August\/September 1936<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 4-7, 1936<\/div><\/div>

A congress of Jehovah's Witnesses in Lucerne, supervised by Gestapo agents, denounces the persecution of the brothers and sisters in the faith under National Socialist rule and passes a \"Resolution\" on the subject.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 4-7, 1936<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 12, 1936<\/div><\/div>

The Lucerne \"Resolution\" with its condemnation of Nazi persecution is distributed as a leaflet throughout the Reich in a clandestinely organized campaign. Historians estimate that about 100,000 leaflets are distributed, making this action one of the largest acts of public protest during the Nazi dictatorship. The Gestapo's \"counterattack\" results in thousands of arrests. Increasingly, female Jehovah's Witnesses take charge of underground activities. In some places, the \"Resolution\" is distributed once more at a later point of time in 1937.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 12, 1936<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 1936<\/div><\/div>

Female Jehovah's Witnesses in the Moringen concentration camp refuse to carry out work for the Winter Relief Fund and are punished for months with a letter ban and isolation.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 1936<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 22, 1937<\/div><\/div>

Decree of the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa), according to which \"all supporters of the IBV who are released from prisons after the end of their penal detention [...] are to be taken into protective custody without delay\". The \"transfer to a concentration camp\" becomes the rule. In many concentration camps, Jehovah's Witnesses make up 10 percent of the prisoners during this period, and in the women's concentration camp Moringen in December, they even make up over 80 percent. With the expansion of the concentration camps and the huge increase in prisoner numbers during World War II, the percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses drops.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 22, 1937<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 20, 1937<\/div><\/div>

A second protest leaflet, the \"Open Letter\" compiled at the Bible House of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bern on the basis of persecution reports smuggled into Switzerland from Germany, is distributed in tens of thousands of copies. An even larger campaign is not possible because leaflets no longer can cross the German border. The \"Open Letter\" condemns the \"barbarism in a country of 'Christendom'\" and names Nazi crimes and perpetrators.<\/p>

A second large wave of arrests following this action in the fall means that Jehovah's Witnesses can no longer establish a nationwide underground organization in the German Reich. But connections between many local networks of the community continue to exist.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 20, 1937<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1938<\/div><\/div>

Emil Oprecht's Europa-Verlag, which publishes mainly German exile literature, publishes in Zurich the book \"Crusade against Christianity: Modern Persecution of Christians. A Collection of Documents,\" compiled by German-American Martin Christian Harbeck, head of the Central European Office of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bern, from reports smuggled out of Germany by persecuted Witnesses. Harbeck\u2019s Swiss deputy, Franz Z\u00fcrcher, serves as nominal editor.<\/p>

The book receives great attention in the press and is supported by Thomas Mann, who writes to Harbeck: \"I have read your book, so gruesomely documented, with the greatest emotion, and I cannot describe the mixture of contempt and disgust that filled me as I leafed through these documents of human baseness and wretched cruelty. [...] in any case, you have done your duty by coming before the public with this book, and it seems to me that there cannot be a stronger appeal to the world's conscience<\/em>.\"<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1938<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1938<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned in concentration camps uniformly receive a \"purple triangle\" as a prisoner's badge, after different badges had been used for stigmatization since 1936.<\/p>

In Nazi-ruled areas of Europe during World War II, Jehovah's Witnesses are occasionally given other markings, such as the \"red triangle\" of political prisoners, if their group affiliation is incorrectly recorded.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1938<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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October 6, 1938<\/div><\/div>

Female Jehovah's Witnesses in the Lichtenburg concentration camp are cruelly punished for refusing to listen to a radio address by Hitler.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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October 6, 1938<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 21, 1938<\/div><\/div>

The \"declarations of commitment\" in use among Jehovah's Witnesses since 1935 and also among female Witnesses since late 1937 are standardized by order of Heinrich Himmler. Since 1937, the imposition of concentration camp imprisonment after serving a regular prison sentence was made dependent on the signing (or not) of such a \"declaration.\"<\/p>

Whereas the earlier, differently worded declarations, which often involved only an admission of guilt, were signed by about 10 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses in the concentration camps and up to 50 percent in the prisons, mostly without effect on their renewed underground activity as Jehovah's Witnesses after release, the unified \"declaration\" is no longer signed by most Jehovah's Witnesses.<\/p>

In it, the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses is described as \"false doctrine,\" and the Bible Students Association is accused of pursuing \"anti-state goals\" under the \"guise of religious activity.\" The signatory declares: \"I have therefore turned away completely from this organization and have also inwardly freed myself from the teachings of this sect.\" The \"Declaration\" obliges them to denounce other Bible Students and to integrate into the \"national community\".<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 21, 1938<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1939<\/div><\/div>

The SS's targeted terror against Jehovah's Witnesses in the concentration camps intensifies in 1939\/40, with death rates rising sharply.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1939<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 15, 1939<\/div><\/div>

August Dickmann is the first execution of a Jehovah's Witness to be reported in the press. Dickmann refused to do military service in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and was shot there in front of the assembled prisoners. The New York Times reported on September 17. .<\/p>

Since the beginning of the war, conscientious objection is punished by death. By 1945, 282 Jehovah's Witnesses are executed for conscientious objection. Numerous conscientious objectors die in prison or in punitive units.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 15, 1939<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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November 25, 1939<\/div><\/div>

The \"Verordnung zur Erg\u00e4nzung der Strafvorschriften zum Schutz der Wehrkraft des deutschen Volkes\" (Decree Supplementing the Criminal Regulations for the Protection of the Military Strength of the German People) is issued and replaces the \"Reichstag Fire Decree\" of February 28, 1933, in legal action against Jehovah's Witnesses. This also makes the attitude punishable, not only the activity, combined with an increase in punishment.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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November 25, 1939<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 19, 1939<\/div><\/div>

About 400 female Jehovah's Witnesses participate in a protest action in the Ravensbr\u00fcck concentration camp by refusing to sew bags intended for the Wehrmacht. Days and sometimes weeks of cruel punishment fail to break the women's resistance.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 19, 1939<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1942<\/div><\/div>

For some female Jehovah's Witnesses, who are used as helpers in SS households, the situation in the concentration camps improves. Many of them have been imprisoned for years.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1942<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 6, 1944<\/div><\/div>

The head of the \"Racial-Hygienic and Population-Biological Research Center\" of the Reich Health Office, Robert Ritter, who had previously prepared the genocide of the Sinti and Roma with his expert opinions, announces investigations into the \"clan origins\" of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Ravensbr\u00fcck concentration camp. However, this biologization of the faith and resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses is not realized.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 6, 1944<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 9, 1944<\/div><\/div>

Outside the camps, even female Jehovah's Witnesses are repeatedly punished or executed in prison for \"subversion of military strength\" \u2013 as was the case on this day in Berlin-Pl\u00f6tzensee prison with Emmy Zehden, who had helped conscientious objectors.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 9, 1944<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1945<\/div><\/div>

Liberation from the concentration camps and end of Nazi tyranny.<\/p>

Throughout Europe, about 1,700 Jehovah's Witnesses fell victim to Nazi terror, 4,200 were imprisoned in concentration camps, and a total of about 14,000 were persecuted.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1945<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 9, 1945<\/div><\/div>

The \"International Bible Students Association\" is re-registered in Magdeburg and resumes its activities.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 9, 1945<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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July 24, 1947<\/div><\/div>

The Soviet Military Administration in Germany confirms the official registration of Jehovah's Witnesses. A short time later, Soviet authorities deny Jehovah's Witnesses the right to hold a congress in Leipzig (August 27-29).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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July 24, 1947<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 22, 1948<\/div><\/div>

The SED begins surveillance of Jehovah's Witnesses by the SED state executive committees and Erich Mielke, vice president of the German Administration of the Interior, in the territory of the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ).<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 22, 1948<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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May 23, 1949<\/div><\/div>

Promulgation of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. It guarantees freedom of faith and conscience and, in Article 4(3), the right to conscientious objection. As the minutes of the Parliamentary Council show, this right was expressly included in the Basic Law with reference to the Christian martyrs of faith from among Jehovah's Witnesses.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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May 23, 1949<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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September 13, 1949<\/div><\/div>

The Politburo of the SED decides to take action against Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups designated as \"sects.\"<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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September 13, 1949<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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October 7, 1949<\/div><\/div>

Foundation of the GDR.
Measures directed against Jehovah's Witnesses increase at all levels.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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October 7, 1949<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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August 30, 1950<\/div><\/div>

Raid on the Bible House in Magdeburg, confiscation of the religious community's property. Beginning of a wave of arrests that covers at least 300 Jehovah's Witnesses in the GDR. Some of them die in custody.<\/p>

Almost 700 victims of National Socialism are persecuted again in the SBZ and the GDR. A total of 65 Jehovah's Witnesses die as a result of GDR persecution.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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August 30, 1950<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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August 31, 1950<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses are banned by GDR Minister of the Interior Steinhoff.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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August 31, 1950<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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October 4 1950<\/div><\/div>

In the show trial before the Supreme Court of the GDR against nine leading Jehovah's Witnesses, sentences ranging from 8 to 15 years to life imprisonment are handed down.
Numerous other trials follow in the coming months.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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October 4 1950<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 1\/8, 1951<\/div><\/div>

In \"Operation North,\" some 9,800 Jehovah's Witnesses from Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic republics and Moldova are deported to Siberia by the USSR Ministry of State Security. These were a large portion of the Soviet Jehovah's Witnesses, who were living mainly in the western regions of the Soviet Union's territory, which had been expanded at the end of World War II. The cruel deportation of the Witnesses also resulted in their faith spreading to other parts of the Soviet Union through the Siberian camp system.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 1\/8, 1951<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 20\/21,1958<\/div><\/div>

Break-in commissioned by the Ministry of State Security of the GDR (MfS) into the office of Jehovah's Witnesses in West Berlin in order to obtain information about the believers in the GDR.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 20\/21,1958<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 6, 1963<\/div><\/div>

The MfS launches Operation \"Swamp\" to eliminate and arrest the entire underground leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses in the GDR.<\/p>

Even before that, in addition to open repression, numerous MfS operations are launched that are aimed at infiltrating Jehovah's Witness groups. At the same time, the MfS feeds West German media with disinformation about Jehovah's Witnesses, often including fake news about their Nazi persecution, which is to be downplayed or denied by GDR authorities.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 6, 1963<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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November 15, 1964<\/div><\/div>

Arrest of 142 Jehovah's Witnesses in the GDR for refusing the newly introduced military service.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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November 15, 1964<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 7, 1968<\/div><\/div>

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court declares inadmissible the \"double punishment\" of Jehovah's Witnesses who are recognized conscientious objectors and refuse civilian alternative service on grounds of conscience.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 7, 1968<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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1985<\/div><\/div>

Conscientious objectors are no longer called up in the GDR.<\/p>

Numerous disadvantages, such as non-admission to university or vocational training, remain.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1985<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 14, 1990<\/div><\/div>

Recognition of the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses in the GDR.
More than 5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned in the GDR.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 14, 1990<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 27, 1991<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses are legally recognized in the Soviet Union.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 27, 1991<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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December 11, 1992<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses are legally recognized in the Russian Federation.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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December 11, 1992<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 6, 1994<\/div><\/div>

The Genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda begins. During about 100 days, the genocide takes up to one million lives. Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses refuse any involvement in the genocide. Among the murdered are about 400 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses \u2013 Tutsi killed for ethnic reasons, and Hutu killed in their attempts to aid and hide Tutsi, or for their refusal to share in the killing.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 6, 1994<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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March 1996<\/div><\/div>

Jehovah's Witnesses are fully rehabilitated as victims of political repression in the Russian Federation.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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March 1996<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 10, 2010<\/div><\/div>

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rules that the dissolution of congregations of Jehovah's Witness in Russia is a violation of human rights.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 10, 2010<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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April 20, 2017<\/div><\/div>

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation criminalizes the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia under a new law against \u201cextremism\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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April 20, 2017<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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May 25, 2017<\/div><\/div>

Danish citizen Dennis Christensen becomes the first of many Jehovah's Witnesses to be imprisoned for a long time in the Russian Federation. He passes through several prisons and penal colonies.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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May 25, 2017<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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July 17, 2017<\/div><\/div>

The Appellate Senate of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upholds April 20 decision. Jehovah's Witnesses are thus practically banned in Russia.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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July 17, 2017<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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May 24, 2022<\/div><\/div>

Dennis Christensen is released from prison and expelled to Denmark.<\/p>

At this time, another 91 Jehovah's Witnesses, both men and women, are imprisoned in Russian prisons for reasons of faith.<\/p>

Numerous acts of torture and ill-treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses in prisons and by Russian authorities since 2018 are documented and criticized by human rights organizations and the international community.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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May 24, 2022<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 7, 2022<\/div><\/div>

The ECHR rules against the Russian Federation and in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses in 20 cases involving over 1,400 complainants. According to the ruling, the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia in 2017 was unlawful. Russia is ordered to halt all pending criminal proceedings against Jehovah's Witnesses, release all imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses, and provide compensation. In its reasoning, the ECHR also refutes in detail Russia's claim that Jehovah's Witnesses' activities, beliefs and publications are \u201cextremist\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 7, 2022<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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June 11, 2022<\/div><\/div>

President Vladimir Putin signs two bills withdrawing Russia from the jurisdiction of the ECHR on March 15, 2022.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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June 11, 2022<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah’s Witnesses 1914 -1918 During the First World War in the German Empire, the growing number of Bible Students who only did medical service or increasingly refused to do military service altogether led to surveillance by state authorities, bans on their writings and meetings by military authorities, trials and prison sentences. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11029,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10612","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10612"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16077,"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10612\/revisions\/16077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}