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Authors: Terese Pencak Schwartz
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from an early age to be Nazi supporters.
Jehovah Witnesses - For Their Religious Beliefs - They Stood Firm
Every European country, even Germany, had those who did not believe in the Nazi ideology and who were willing to die for their beliefs. Perhaps no other group stood so firmly in their beliefs as the Jehovah Witnesses. Hitler felt particularly threatened by this strong group of Christians because they, from the very beginning, refused to recognize any God other than Jehovah. When asked to sign documents of loyalty to the Nazi ideology, they refused.
Thousands of Jehovah Witnesses were imprisoned as "dangerous" traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich, refused to join the German workers union, to serve in the military or even raise their arms in the Heil Hitler salute.
Witnesses were among and earliest victims sent to concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Ravensbruck. The Watchtower History Archive of Jehovah s Witnesses in Germany has registered over 4200 Witnesses of different nationalities who were locked up in a concentration camp. They were often considered 'voluntary prisoners', because the moment they recanted their views, they could be freed.
Those that were put into concentration camps, suffered in other ways. Forced to wear purple armbands, many lost their jobs and their pensions. Children of Jehovah's Witnesses were ridiculed by teachers, expelled by principals and bullied by their classmates. Some children were even forcefully removed from their homes and sent them to orphanages or private homes to be brought up as "good Germans".
Rom Gypsies - Executed for Their Race
Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies were chosen for total annihilation just because of their race. Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race that he believed needed to be completely annihilated. Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies also were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. The Germans believed both the Jews and the Gypsies were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore worthless. Half a million Gypsies, almost the entire Eastern European Gypsy population, was wiped out by the Nazis.
But, the Gypsies who survived were ignored as Holocaust survivors and not even allowed to receive war reparations. The Romani community has struggled to get any recognition as victims for their persecution and near-annihilation. To this day they continue to fight for commemoration. In late 2007, Romanian President, Traian Basecsu, apologized publicly for his nation's role during the Holocaust and ordered that the Porajmos (the name used by the Romani community for their Holocaust of World War II) to be taught in schools.
Today, there are at least two permanent museums, the Museum of Romani Culture in Czech Republic and the Ethnographic Museum in Poland which have exhibits memorializing the Gypsies for their losses.
Afro-Europeans - Sterilization and Humiliation
Prior to World War I, there were very few dark-skinned people of African descent in Germany. But during World War I, black African soldiers were brought in by the French during the Allied occupation. Most of the Germans, who were very race conscious, despised the dark-skinned "invasion". Some of these black soldiers married white German women that bore children referred to as "Rhineland Bastards" or the "Black Disgrace". In Mein Kampf, Hitler said he would eliminate all the children born of African-German descent because he considered them an "insult" to the German nation.
"The mulatto children came about through rape or the white mother was a whore," Hitler wrote. "In both cases, there is not the slightest moral duty regarding these offspring of a foreign race."
The Nazis set up a secret group, Commission Number 3, to organize the sterilization of these "Rhineland Bastards" to keep intact the purity of the Aryan race. In 1937, all local authorities
Jehovah Witnesses - For Their Religious Beliefs - They Stood Firm
Every European country, even Germany, had those who did not believe in the Nazi ideology and who were willing to die for their beliefs. Perhaps no other group stood so firmly in their beliefs as the Jehovah Witnesses. Hitler felt particularly threatened by this strong group of Christians because they, from the very beginning, refused to recognize any God other than Jehovah. When asked to sign documents of loyalty to the Nazi ideology, they refused.
Thousands of Jehovah Witnesses were imprisoned as "dangerous" traitors because they refused to take a pledge of loyalty to the Third Reich, refused to join the German workers union, to serve in the military or even raise their arms in the Heil Hitler salute.
Witnesses were among and earliest victims sent to concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Ravensbruck. The Watchtower History Archive of Jehovah s Witnesses in Germany has registered over 4200 Witnesses of different nationalities who were locked up in a concentration camp. They were often considered 'voluntary prisoners', because the moment they recanted their views, they could be freed.
Those that were put into concentration camps, suffered in other ways. Forced to wear purple armbands, many lost their jobs and their pensions. Children of Jehovah's Witnesses were ridiculed by teachers, expelled by principals and bullied by their classmates. Some children were even forcefully removed from their homes and sent them to orphanages or private homes to be brought up as "good Germans".
Rom Gypsies - Executed for Their Race
Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies were chosen for total annihilation just because of their race. Even though Jews are defined by religion, Hitler saw the Jewish people as a race that he believed needed to be completely annihilated. Like the Jews, the Rom Gypsies also were a nomadic people that were persecuted throughout history. The Germans believed both the Jews and the Gypsies were racially inferior and degenerate and therefore worthless. Half a million Gypsies, almost the entire Eastern European Gypsy population, was wiped out by the Nazis.
But, the Gypsies who survived were ignored as Holocaust survivors and not even allowed to receive war reparations. The Romani community has struggled to get any recognition as victims for their persecution and near-annihilation. To this day they continue to fight for commemoration. In late 2007, Romanian President, Traian Basecsu, apologized publicly for his nation's role during the Holocaust and ordered that the Porajmos (the name used by the Romani community for their Holocaust of World War II) to be taught in schools.
Today, there are at least two permanent museums, the Museum of Romani Culture in Czech Republic and the Ethnographic Museum in Poland which have exhibits memorializing the Gypsies for their losses.
Afro-Europeans - Sterilization and Humiliation
Prior to World War I, there were very few dark-skinned people of African descent in Germany. But during World War I, black African soldiers were brought in by the French during the Allied occupation. Most of the Germans, who were very race conscious, despised the dark-skinned "invasion". Some of these black soldiers married white German women that bore children referred to as "Rhineland Bastards" or the "Black Disgrace". In Mein Kampf, Hitler said he would eliminate all the children born of African-German descent because he considered them an "insult" to the German nation.
"The mulatto children came about through rape or the white mother was a whore," Hitler wrote. "In both cases, there is not the slightest moral duty regarding these offspring of a foreign race."
The Nazis set up a secret group, Commission Number 3, to organize the sterilization of these "Rhineland Bastards" to keep intact the purity of the Aryan race. In 1937, all local authorities
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