It's a common conceit among Christians that their religion was in opposition to the Nazi regime of Germany. The truth, however, is that most Christians either went along with the Nazis or actively supported them. Just about the only Christian group that opposed the Nazis - and paid for it - were the Jehovah's Witnesses. How many other Christians supported them?

In Hitler’s Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany, Nikolaus Wachsmann writes:

In 1933, individual German states outlawed the Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘enemies of the state’, with a national ban following in 1935. Their persecution could build on a tradition of prejudice and paranoia against Jehovah’s Witnesses on the völkish right. In the Third Reich, this persecution became state policy.

Having sworn the oath of loyalty to Jehovah, the believers refused to acknowledge the claim to total control of society by Hitler and the Nazi dictatorship. The believers, who included a large proportion of women, did not practise the Hitler salute, boycotted political demonstrations, organisations and elections and the men also refused to serve in the German army after general conscription was introduced in 1935.

Their response to harassment by SA thugs and the police was expressed in growing criticism of the Nazi regime and open resistance in the form of leaflet actions. This reached a climax after an international Jehovah’s Witness conference in Lucerne (Switzerland) in 1936, when a resolution critical of Nazi Germany was passed and was soon distributed inside Germany.

Jehovah’s Witnesses actually took a stand against the Nazis and Nazi polices. Jehovah’s Witnesses actually took their religious beliefs seriously enough to be willing to pay a high price for upholding them rather than go along with the Nazis. They were just about the only Christians in Nazi Germany to make such a choice; strangely, all the other Christian denominations accept the condemnations of the Jehovah’s Witnesses rather than express support of any sort.

There are plenty of reasons to disagree with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, not just their beliefs but also the actions and policies of their leadership. In general, though, they tend to be consistent in their beliefs and to match their actions with their beliefs. Among religious groups, they seem to be among the least likely to compromise their beliefs in order get along with the broader culture. Other Christians could probably learn a thing or two from the Jehovah’s Witness on this score, if they weren’t so self-righteous about their own religious superiority.

 

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