BANS

1 Flourishing congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Bible Students) in Germany before 1933. Because of their intense preaching activity, they were well known among the populace.

Bible Students standing outside of the Germany branch office in Magdeburg, holding posters with the text: “We believe in the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.”

2 As early as 1933, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ refusal to participate in elections and to give the Hitler salute, as well as their religious activities in spite of governmental bans, resulted in the first repressive measures for the Witnesses and even detention in concentration camps.

Jehovah’s Witnesses facing an angry and threatening mob. They are being forced to carry a sign that reads: “We are traitors, we did not vote.”

A letter and a telegram. The letter is addressed to the German government, protesting the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The telegram is from Des Moines, Iowa, to the Hitler government in Berlin, Germany.

3 On October 7, 1934, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany and in 50 other countries sent about 20,000 letters and telegrams to the German government protesting the persecution. The telegrams from abroad read as follows: “Hitler government, Berlin, Germany. Your ill-treatment of Jehovah’s witnesses shocks all good people of earth and dishonors God’s name. Refrain from further persecuting Jehovah’s witnesses; otherwise God will destroy you and your national party. Signed, JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES [city or community].”