At a 1933 assembly a
"Declaration of Facts" was
pronounced and released in letter format. This also showed the Watchtower's support of the German governments stance
against Jews.
The Declaration of Facts was reprinted in the Yearbook 1934.
It went on in part to state:

"It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther
from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews.
We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon
Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically
deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good. This of itself should be
sufficient proof to show that we receive no support from Jews
and that therefore the charges against us are maliciously false
and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy. The greatest and the most oppressive
empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire . By that is meant the British Empire, of
which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of theBritish-American empire that
have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the
peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the
cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business.
This fact is so manifest in
America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York
which says: The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.
The present government of Germany has declared
emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to
the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nations. Such is exactly our
position.
Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles , and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus
will bring about the full
realization of these principles
and will give to the people peace
and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart.
A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals
held and promulgated by the present national government are
set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications and show that Jehovah God will see to it that
these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who
love righteousness.
Let us remind the government and the people of Germany, that
it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable
burdens. That the League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of Germany." Yearbook 1934
pp.134-138 (English Edition)

so wat is our point in essence, please go get a life for our self it seems to me u are very jobless

samoney: so wat is our point in essence

relax, am not through with the thread, queitly follow it.

Yearbook 1934 page 132-133.

Jobless person. Can the people viciously persecuted to the point of many deaths also surport the persecutor. My advice for you op : go get a life.

Dumb, myopic, bias, illogical, not factual and useless propaganda post.

Yearbook 1934, page 134-135

pragmatistm: Jobless person. Can the people viciously persecuted to the point of many deaths also surport the persecutor. My advice for you op : go get a life.

Dumb, myopic, bias, illogical, not factual and useless propaganda post.

Lol, calm down calmly follow the thread b4 jumping into conclusion. For answers to the bolded, refer to this thread.


www.nairaland.com/1815757/watchtower-scandal-rutherfords-letter-hitler

Rutherford's Letter and
Declaration were an effort to appease Hitler, but to no avail -too little, too late. With Rutherford's efforts at appeasing Hitler not achieving its
aims, Rutherford instead started to antagonise Hitler through his
publications.

“On October 7, 1934, the ...speaker announced that
congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses world wide were
meeting today in order to send cablegrams to Hitler, all at the same time, asking him to refrain
from persecuting Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany.”

After praying to Jehovah, each group
sent the following cablegram:

“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.”” Yearbook 1975
p.174

By the time World War 2 started in 1939, Hitler had good reason to be opposed to Jehovah's
Witnesses. It was specifically the later aggression of Rutherford
towards Hitler that led to the strong stance Hitler took against Jehovah's Witnesses once the
war started. The result was that Jehovah's Witnesses suffered
unspeakable atrocities in Nazi concentration camps. Many individuals displayed tremendous
courage and conviction, and it is tragic that this unnecessary suffering was a result of the
words and actions of Rutherford.

Watchtower Justification

An Awake! in 1995 makes it appear that Nazi opposition was
because Witnesses did not support Nazi ideologies, concluding;

"The Nazis did not intend to tolerate any refusal to support their ideology." Awake! 1995
Aug 22 p.7

Yet, this was not the sentiment of the Declaration of Facts, which tried to portray sharing similar
ideologies with the Nazis, such as when stating;

"The present government having declared adherence to the
aforementioned high ideals, we are persuaded that the rulers do
not desire to knowingly resist the progressive witness work to the name of Jehovah God and his kingdom which we are now carrying forward."

In 1943 the Swiss Watchtower Branch sent another Declaration
of Facts requesting leniency for Witnesses. This dishonestly
stated:

"We expressly state, that our association neither commands nor recommends, nor in any
other way suggests, acting against military orders. Questions
of that sort are dealt with neither by our congregations nor in the
Society's published literature...We have at no time presumed and at no time shall do so, to
view the performance of military duty, as laid down by your statutes, as an offence against
the principles and aspirations of the association of Jehovah's
Witnesses."

The information covered above is discussed in greater detail by M.
James Penton in Jehovah's
Witnesses, Anti-semitism and the Third Reich; The Watch Tower Society's Attempted Compromise
with Nazism. See also Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Third Reich (M.James Penton, Toronto:
University of Toronto Press 2004).
A seeming response to Penton's article was provided by the
Awake! in 1998. I leave it up to the reader to assess whether the Watchtower correctly presents
the intention of the Rutherford and his documents to Hitler.

"Concerned about the rising tensions in Germany, Joseph F.
Rutherford, then president of the
Watch Tower Society, together with the Germany branch office
manager, Paul Balzereit, decided to mount a campaign to inform
Chancellor Hitler, government officials, and the public that Jehovah's Witnesses posed no
threat to the German people and the State. Rutherford evidently
believed that Hitler was unaware of the attacks against Jehovah's
Witnesses or that he had been misinformed by religious elements regarding the
Witnesses.
Therefore, the Magdeburg office arranged a convention to make
use of the German citizens' right of petition. On short notice,
Jehovah's Witnesses from all over Germany were invited to the Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen in
Berlin on June 25, 1933. About 5,000 delegates were expected.
Despite the hostile atmosphere, more than 7,000 courageously
attended. The delegates adopted a resolution entitled "Declaration
of Facts." This document
protested the restrictions that had been put on the work of the Witnesses. It made a clear statement of their position and
denied charges of seditious links with political causes of any sort. [b]It stated:

"We are wrongfully charged before the ruling powers of this
government. … We do
respectfully ask the rulers of the nation and the people to give a
fair and impartial consideration
to the statement of facts here made."

"We have no fight with any persons or religious teachers, but we must call attention to the fact that it is generally those who claim to represent God and Christ Jesus who are in fact our persecutors and who misrepresent us before the governments."
…[/b]Some now hold that the 1933 Berlin convention and the "Declaration of Facts" were attempts on the part of prominent Witnesses to show
support for the Nazi government and its hatred of the Jews. But
their assertions are not true. They are based on
misinformation and on
misinterpretation of the facts.
…
By means of the "Declaration,"
the Witnesses strongly denied accusations of financial involvement or political ties with
Jews. Thus, the document stated:
"It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther
from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews."

Having mentioned money, the "Declaration" went on to denounce unfair practices of big
business. It said: "It has been the commercial Jews of the British-
American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business
as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many
nations."

This statement clearly did not refer to the Jewish people in general, and it is regrettable if it
has been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.
…
The "Declaration" also reminded the government of its own
promises. The Witnesses upheld certain high ideals, and these
happened to be publicly
espoused also by the German government. Among these were
family values and religious freedom.
In this regard, the "Declaration" added: "A careful examination of
our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set
forth in and endorsed and
strongly emphasized in our publications, and show that Jehovah God will see to it that
these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who
love righteousness."
Thus, the Witnesses never
expressed support for the Nazi Party. …"


Awake! 1998 Jul 8. As appeared at watchtower.org/e/19980708/article_01.htm (16 May 2012)

Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation Fund

The Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation (Swiss Banks) CV-96-4849 is a fund to compensate people suffering
from the Holocaust. As stated at swissbankclaims.com/index.asp (3 Mar 2006);

"This is the official information website for the Holocaust Victim
Assets Litigation against Swiss Banks and other Swiss Entities.
You may have important rights under a proposed $1.25 billion (U.S.) Settlement of a class action lawsuit against private Swiss Banks and other Swiss Entities
for their alleged conduct related to World War II and the Holocaust."

In 1999, the Watchtower Society applied for compensation
payable to itself. As of September 28th, 2009
www.swissbankclaims.com contains the letter from the Watchtower Society. Included is a
request to receive a portion of the funds on the following basis;

"Some Witnesses died
prematurely and left no heirs to make a claim to the Swiss Bank
Settlement Fund. However, the legacy of spiritual resistance that
they left behind is of great value in the education of future
generations about the
importance of standing up for the dignity and value of human
life. Representing these
individuals, the Watch Tower would be pleased devote any allocated moneys solely to the
interests of Holocaust education and the remembrance of the
prisoners who bore the purple triangle, according as the court might stipulate."

The End.

Questions and contributions are welcomed.