{"id":17707,"date":"2026-07-21T18:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alst.org\/uncategorized\/event-on-the-day-before-the-dedication-of-the-memorial-to-persecuted-jehovahs-witnesses-background-and-life-stories\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:56:38","slug":"event-on-the-day-before-the-dedication-of-the-memorial-to-persecuted-jehovahs-witnesses-background-and-life-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alst.org\/en\/news\/event-on-the-day-before-the-dedication-of-the-memorial-to-persecuted-jehovahs-witnesses-background-and-life-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Event on the Day Before the Dedication of the Memorial to Persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses\u2014Background and Life Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Matthias Leeck, Uwe Langhals and Uwe Klages (from left) in conversation with Mario Bergmann (right) about the creation of the memorial. Photo: Arnold-Liebster-Stiftung.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the day before the dedication to the public of the memorial to Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses persecuted and murdered under National Socialism, the Arnold-Liebster-Stiftung invited guests to an event at the Akademie der K\u00fcnste on Pariser Platz\u2014very close to the Brandenburg Gate and the Gro\u00dfer Tiergarten, where this same ceremony\u2014the dedication of the memorial\u2014took place the following day. Guests from Denmark, Canada, Greece, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain and the United States\u2014and many more who watched the event via livestream around the world\u2014experienced an afternoon of reflection, gratitude and responsibility, and focused on one question: Why did these people remain steadfast, and what does their legacy mean for us today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n NOTE:<\/strong> The main points made in the contributions at the event are summarized below in paraphrased form. The timestamps in the text (e.g. video from 00:19:16) link to the corresponding point in the video recording on YouTube<\/a>.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A welcome address that set the tone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The afternoon opened with the chamber orchestra Terra Nova, conducted by Jerome Weiss, performing Erich Frost\u2019s piece \u201cFest und entschlossen\u201d\u2014Frost was one of the Goldfischteich activists, survived Nazi persecution, and his song was later to play a special role in the design of the memorial. Video from 00:01:05<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moderator Uwe Klages, chair of the Arnold-Liebster-Stiftung, gave a special welcome to those among the guests who had campaigned for the memorial over the years\u2014including former Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth, Bundestag member Thomas Hacker, as well as Uwe Neum\u00e4rker, director of the Stiftung Denkmal f\u00fcr die ermordeten Juden Europas, and his team. Video from 00:07:44<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founder Simone Arnold-Liebster, now 96 years old, joined by video. Her welcome address placed conscience at the center: The victims had seen themselves \u201cnot as heroes,\u201d \u201cbut as weak and fallible people who wanted to listen to their conscience.\u201d Their memory carried an important message: \u201cHuman beings have the ability to listen to and follow their inner voice. The decision rests with each individual.\u201d Video from 00:16:07<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the \u201cforgotten victims\u201d to a culture of remembrance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Professor Detlef Garbe, a historian and former director of the KZ-Gedenkst\u00e4tte Neuengamme, traced how long the history of the persecution of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses went unexamined by scholars: Not a single historical study of the subject appeared during the first decades after the war. A broad field of research developed only from the 1990s onward. Today, almost 500 Stolpersteine and nearly 30 street names in Germany commemorate persecuted Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. The website biographien-verfolgter-zeugen-jehovas.de, created in conjunction with the memorial, already presents 568 biographies and documents 154 places of remembrance\u2014given more than 15,500 documented cases of persecution, this is a project that needs to be continued. Garbe called the Bundestag\u2019s cross-party, unanimous resolution for the memorial on June 22, 2023 a \u201ctruly remarkable event\u201d: With the dedication, at the latest, it would no longer be possible to speak of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses as being among the forgotten victims. Video from 00:19:16<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Pellechia from New York recalled an anniversary: Thirty years ago, on November 6, 1996, the documentary \u201cJehovah\u2019s Witnesses Stand Firm Against Nazi Assault,\u201d in which he played a major role as producer, premiered at the Ravensbr\u00fcck Memorial. Since then, more than 2.5 million copies in 40 languages have been distributed worldwide; in Germany alone, more than 800,000 people saw the film or the accompanying exhibition. The film had transformed history \u201cfrom statistics into human stories\u201d\u2014and had planted a tiny seed that, Pellechia said, had now grown into a \u201cmagnificent tree of remembrance.\u201d Video from 00:35:57<\/a> (Talk in English)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long road to the memorial<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Professor Wolfgang Benz spoke under the title \u201cVerweigerte Erinnerung\u201d about the difficult path toward a commemorative marker. Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses\u2014around 25,000 believers at the time\u2014were the only religious community that, as a whole and consistently, resisted National Socialism because of their faith. They refused the Hitler salute, the oath and military service, helped persecuted Jews\u2014as did the Berlin couple Franz and Emma Gumz, who hid Inge Deutschkron\u2014and were banned, convicted and deported to concentration camps as a result. Their exclusion continued after 1945: In the GDR, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses were banned again in 1950. Benz spoke openly about the resistance encountered on the road to the memorial\u2014from proposals to relegate it to the outskirts of the city to heritage conservation objections to the location. His conclusion: \u201cCommemorating the persecution and courageous resistance of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses with a marker in a public space was long overdue.\u201d Video from 00:52:27<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uwe Neum\u00e4rker placed the new memorial in the context of the work of the Stiftung Denkmal, which since the Bundestag resolution of 1999 has been committed to the dignified remembrance of all victims of National Socialism\u2014\u201cthere must be no first- or second-class victims.\u201d He recalled the Bundestag session on June 22, 2023, when representatives of the foundations watched the resolution being adopted from the visitors\u2019 gallery, and thanked all its political supporters. He highlighted one special feature: It is the first commemorative marker (Gedenkzeichen<\/em>) in the Foundation\u2019s portfolio that the Bundestag has officially designated a \u201cMahnmal<\/em>\u201d\u2014a memorial intended both to commemorate and to warn. Video from 01:10:03<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tree made of twelve tonnes of bronze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In conversation with Mario Bergmann, Uwe Klages, board member Uwe Langhals and German-Italian sculptor Matthias Leeck described how the memorial came into being. With humor, Langhals described the \u201cperiod of lateral passes\u201d through Berlin\u2019s administrative offices, until it became clear: It would not be possible without a Bundestag resolution. Leeck explained his design: The four-and-a-half-meter-high sculpture, made of twelve tonnes of solid bronze, fits into an empty space in the park like a tree\u2014ten more trees will be planted in the fall. Worked into its surface is a \u201clayering of memory\u201d made up of historical photographs of persecuted Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and his own photographs from present-day memorial sites. Even the sculpture\u2019s outline tells a story: The composer Guido Mallardi condensed Erich Frost\u2019s song \u201cFest und entschlossen\u201d into a single sound, whose frequency curve is reflected in abstract form in the sculpture\u2019s shape. Video from 01:20:59<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historic site: the Goldfischteich in the Tiergarten<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why does the memorial stand in that exact location? In conversation with Micha Kours, historian Angela Nerlich spoke about her seven years of research: An interrogation transcript from 1936 and the related written judgment expressly identify the Goldfischteich in Berlin\u2019s Tiergarten as the resistance group\u2019s meeting place\u2014there, at the deck-chair rental business run by a fellow believer, leaflets were handed over and meetings were arranged. Her research even brought to light a previously unknown thirteenth Goldfischteich activist: Franz Kassing, who managed the illegal production of phonograph records and a secret store of literature. For Nerlich, the tree sculpture reflects the activists\u2019 inner character: firmly rooted, striving upward, on a footprint of just one square meter\u2014\u201cThey simply stand upright.\u201d Video from 01:36:28<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verena Kours offered a very personal perspective. She is the granddaughter of Goldfischteich activist Otto Kours, who died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in January 1940. She spoke on behalf of the descendants and later generations. Around 22 members of the activists\u2019 families were in the room\u2014many had met only through the memorial project. More than 15,500 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses were persecuted, more than 4,500 were sent to concentration camps, and more than 1,800 died. \u201cWe must never forget what can happen when people look away,\u201d Kours said. For the relatives, the memorial meant \u201cthat the burden is now a little lighter. It is shared and made known.\u201d Video from 01:46:20<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persecution is not a thing of the past<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The interview with Dennis and Irina Christensen from Denmark made clear that freedom of conscience cannot be taken for granted even today. Dennis Christensen was imprisoned in Russia from 2017 to 2022\u2014solely because of his faith as one of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. He drew strength from \u201cfaith, hope and love\u201d\u2014and from a letter by Simone Arnold-Liebster, whose book \u201cFacing the Lion<\/a>\u201d had a profound influence on him. At present, at least 278 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses worldwide are imprisoned because of their faith, 161 of them in Russia. Video from 01:54:09<\/a> (Interview in English)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quiet highlight: Ninety-year-old Johannes Haufe, himself persecuted in the GDR, described how he prays by name each day for those imprisoned today. Video from 02:08:25<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remembrance as a responsibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Peter Stocker of the Austrian association Lila Winkel, whose family, the Wohlfahrt family, had 22 members who were persecuted, argued that remembrance should be motivated not by duty but by responsibility: When family histories are told, \u201cthe victims are given faces; stories come alive.\u201d Video from 02:11:09<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude, historian Falk Bersch reviewed the state of the culture of remembrance: More than 580 commemorative markers in Germany today commemorate Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses\u2014Stolpersteine, street names, steles and plaques; the first two Stolpersteine ever legally laid, in 1997, were dedicated to two Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. The new website biographien-verfolgter-zeugen-jehovas.de<\/a> makes these places discoverable as a digital memorial site\u2014developed by a large team of volunteers, including six youth project groups with more than 50 young people from eastern and western Germany. Video from 02:19:09<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Jerome Weiss\u2019s piece \u201cUngebrochen durch die Nacht,\u201d the chamber orchestra Terra Nova brought to a close an afternoon whose message Angela Nerlich perhaps expressed most succinctly: \u201cNo human being has the right to obey injustice.\u201d Video from 02:29:10<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the following day, June 24, 2026, the memorial on Stra\u00dfe des 17. Juni, near the Goldfischteich in the Gro\u00dfer Tiergarten, was formally handed over to the public. Our report: Memorial for Persecuted Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses Formally Dedicated<\/a>. A documentation volume on the event\u2014with a foreword by Claudia Roth\u2014will be published at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video recording and further links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n