They Stayed Spiritually Strong in Difficult Times

After World War II, much of Europe was a shambles. On the positive side, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others had been freed from Nazi concentration camps. Even so, life was not easy for them. Like many others, Jehovah’s people lacked food, clothing, housing, and other basics. Sister Karin Hartung says, “Because of the severe housing shortage, everyone had to accommodate relatives or sublet rooms of their apartment.” For a time, Sister Gertrud Poetzinger, who had been in concentration camps for seven and a half years, lived in a toolshed and slept on a chair.a

What was done to provide for the physical needs of the brothers in war-ravaged areas? And what lessons can we learn from those who lived through that difficult postwar period?

Caring for the Brothers’ Physical Needs

Jehovah’s organization acted quickly to provide assistance to God’s people in Europe. Nathan Knorr and Milton Henschel from world headquarters visited the Witnesses to assess their needs. During the months of November and December 1945, they went to England, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Brother Knorr reported, “Here we saw the devastation of the war on the continent for the first time.”

Brother Knorr did not receive permission to enter Germany at that time. However, Erich Frost, who oversaw the organization’s branch office in Germany, made his way out of the country to meet with him.b “Brother Knorr gave us practical advice and promised material help in the form of food and clothing,” reported Erich. “Soon, huge shipments of flour, fat, oatmeal, and other foods arrived in Germany. The brothers in foreign lands also sent large boxes of clothes, including suits, underwear, and shoes.” These supplies were received with tears of gratitude. Moreover, “this aid program was not a onetime effort,” says a report. “Relief shipments continued for two and a half years!”c

They Kept Their Spiritual Focus

As living conditions improved, the brothers kept their focus on spiritual matters. What helped them?

They maintained a good spiritual routine. (Ephesians 5:15, 16) The war limited the availability of Bible-study material and interrupted the regular spiritual routine of the Witnesses. After the war, however, Christian meetings and the preaching work began to return to normal. Jürgen Rundel, who lives in Austria, recalls: “The publication Informantd and our traveling overseers encouraged us to follow an active spiritual routine.” He adds: “We focused on Jehovah, Jesus, our personal Bible study, and the ministry. There were no distractions, such as television.”

Sister Ulrike Krolop says: “I remember how happy I felt when I studied a spiritual topic in depth. My husband set a good example. Whenever we received a new Watchtower magazine, he put everything else aside and studied it.” Karin, quoted earlier, recalls: “During the war, we saw how fast material possessions can be lost. But the spiritual food, though limited, continued to come. Jehovah rewarded his loyal servants.”

They got back into the ministry. (Matthew 28:19, 20) The war restricted the freedom of Jehovah’s people to engage in the preaching and teaching work. A brother named Friedhelm remembers that after the war “everyone went right back into the ministry.” Ulrike recalls: “The first Witness to share the Kingdom message with my husband’s family was still wearing his concentration camp uniform! Clearly, he started preaching right away.” Jürgen says, “After the war, just about everyone was full of zeal. Many young brothers and sisters took up full-time service.”

“Living conditions in the bombed cities were terrible,” says Ulrike. Many people were living in the ruins! How did the Witnesses find them? Ulrike, whose family came into the truth after the war, recalls: “We looked for the light of a lamp or the smoke from a stovepipe.”

They encouraged one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) During the war, many of Jehovah’s Witnesses were treated cruelly. After the war, however, they did not dwell on what they had suffered but encouraged one another. Indeed, the “tested quality” of their faith became a cause for great joy. (James 1:2, 3) Johannes, who now lives in the United States, comments: “Our circuit overseer, who had been in the concentration camps, related many encouraging accounts about Jehovah’s helping hand. These reports were very faith strengthening.”

When the war was over, the brothers maintained their close relationship with Jehovah by recalling “how he helped them in the camps and answered their prayers,” says Johannes. As mentioned, the liberated Witnesses also maintained good spiritual habits, including regular Bible reading, attendance at Christian meetings, and participation in field service. The liberated brothers and sisters “still looked thin and weak,” recalls Elisabeth, who attended the convention in Nuremberg in 1946. “Yet they were ‘aglow with the spirit’ as they told us their experiences.”—Romans 12:11.

They stayed close to fellow Christians. (Romans 1:11, 12) During the war, the Witnesses could not associate freely with one another because of the brutal persecution. Says Karin, “They visited each other only rarely so as not to betray fellow Christians.” Of course, all that changed when the war ended. “The brothers did everything together,” says Friedhelm. “The meetings and the ministry were always their top priority.”

In those early postwar days, “very few Witnesses had vehicles,” recalls Dietrich, an elder in Germany. “So we walked to the meetings. But we did so in groups. Regularly being together like this really strengthened our bond. We felt like a family.”

Lessons for Us

Today, many of Jehovah’s servants are enduring the hardships caused by natural disasters, disease, war, persecution, and the rising cost of living. (2 Timothy 3:1) Yet, we need not be overly anxious. Why? The example of our faithful brothers and sisters in Germany during the Nazi era assures us that our God will continue to support us during these difficult last days. So let us have the attitude of the apostle Paul, who wrote: “May [we] be of good courage and say: ‘Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”—Hebrews 13:6.