• Faith Under Trial in Nazi Europe
    Awake!—2003 | February 8

    • My Brother, Willi

      Willi, four years older than I was, had not communicated with Mother and me since we had left France over nine years earlier. Though Mother had instructed him in the Bible in his youth, he was deluded into believing that Hitler’s political program was the key to a glorious future. In May 1940, a French court sentenced Willi to two years’ imprisonment for his illegal activities as a Nazi. But he was soon released, when German troops invaded France. On that occasion he sent us a card from Paris. We were happy to know that he was alive yet shocked to learn what he had become!

      During the war Willi was able to visit us often because of his good standing with the SS (Schutzstaffel, Hitler’s elite guard). He was dazzled by Hitler’s military successes. Almost every attempt on my part to call his attention to our Bible-based hope ended with his saying: “Rubbish! Look at Hitler’s blitzkrieg. The Germans will soon be the lords of the world!”

      During one of Willi’s home leaves, in February 1942, I presented him with the book Enemies, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses. To my great surprise, he read it in one sitting. It began to dawn on him that Hitler’s regime was doomed to failure. He had been supporting an inhuman system and was determined to right his wrong without delay.

      Willi’s Stand for Bible Truth

      When Willi visited us the following month, he was a changed man. He said: “Anton, I’ve taken the wrong course!”

      “Willi,” I said, “this realization comes a bit too late.”

      “No,” he answered, “it’s not too late! The Bible says that ‘you should do what you have to do as long as you are alive,’ and, thank God, I’m still alive!”​—Ecclesiastes 9:10.

      “And what exactly do you intend to do?” I asked.

      “Well, I don’t intend to continue serving as a soldier,” he replied. “I’m going to break with the Nazis and see what happens.”

      He immediately set off for Zagreb, Yugoslavia, to visit our sister, Pepi, once more. After attending banned meetings of the Witnesses there for a while, he was secretly baptized. At last, the prodigal son had returned!​—Luke 15:11-24.

      To escape the Nazis in France, Willi attempted to cross the border into Switzerland. However, he was apprehended by the German military police. He was court-martialed in Berlin, and on July 27, 1942, he was sentenced to death for desertion. I was allowed to visit him in the Berlin-Tegel Military Prison. I was led to a small chamber, and before long Willi entered, chained to a guard. Seeing him in that state brought tears to my eyes. We were not allowed to embrace and had only 20 minutes to bid each other farewell.

      Willi noticed my tears and said: “Anton, why are you crying? You should be happy! I am so thankful to Jehovah for helping me to find the truth again! If I were to die for Hitler, I would have no hope. But dying for Jehovah means that I am sure to be resurrected and that we shall meet again!”

      In his farewell letter to us, Willi wrote: “Our dear God, whom I serve, gives me everything I need and will certainly stand by me to the end, so that I can endure and come off victorious. I repeat, be assured that I have no regrets and that I have remained steadfast in the Lord!”

      Willi was executed in Brandenburg Penitentiary, near Berlin, the following day, September 2, 1942. He was 27 years old. His example testifies to the truth of the words at Philippians 4:13: “For all things I have the strength by virtue of him who imparts power to me.”