ClaimAuthority and accountabilityverified1990sOrganisation's explanation

Autorität und Rechenschaft · Claim record

Die jüngste veröffentlichte Stellungnahme der Organisation zur Erklärung ist eine Anmerkung der Redaktion in Erwachet! vom 8. September 1999: „nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today“.

Claim ID claim-authority-de33-org-current-positionConcerns 8. September 1999Erklärung der Organisation

Die Aussage und ihre Belege

Erklärung der Organisation · 8. September 1999 Geprüft

Die jüngste veröffentlichte Stellungnahme der Organisation zur Erklärung ist eine Anmerkung der Redaktion in Erwachet! vom 8. September 1999: „nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today“. Source: Awake!, 8. September 1999Source: Awake!, 8. Juli 1998

Die Position der Organisation oder ihre spätere Erklärung: In dem Artikel von 1998, auf den sich die Anmerkung stützt, heißt es, der Vorwurf, Zeugen Jehovas hätten sich beim Hitler-Regime einschmeicheln wollen oder dessen Rassenideologie gebilligt, sei „absolutely false“, im Kongresssaal seien keine Hakenkreuze gezeigt worden, und der Kongress habe mit dem Lied „Zion's Glorious Hope“ und nicht mit der Nationalhymne begonnen.

Belege anzeigen (2 Quellen)
Primärveröffentlichung von Jehovas Zeugen Geprüft

Awake!, “From Our Readers”

8. September 1999 · p.30 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“The reader refers to statements in the “Declaration of Facts,” a resolution adopted in 1933 at a convention in Berlin, Germany. (See “Jehovah’s Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril,” in the July 8, 1998, issue of “Awake!”) As the article noted, nothing said in the 1933 declaration was intended to express or condone hostility toward Jews, and we regret it if some statements give that impression today. If anyone back in the 1930’s interpreted the “Declaration of Facts” to mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses were anti-Semitic, this misimpression could easily have been corrected by observing the courageous and compassionate acts of individual Witnesses in behalf of Jews. Moreover, Watch Tower Society publications were among the first to expose and express outrage at the treatment of Jews in Europe.”

The whole of the editorial reply, signed “—ED.”, printed under the standing heading “From Our Readers” and the sub-heading “Not Anti-Semitic”, answering a reader who had written: “Thank you for not hiding things that you regret having said. Although I would like to have read an apology for this statement, your this-was-the-context explanation was adequate.”

Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, From Our Readers

Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe. Full page opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the reply read and quoted in full; page taken from the pageNum marker. The reply is the magazine’s editorial answer, signed “—ED.”, and is given here complete so that nothing in it is left out.

Notes. A full-text search of the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 found no later publication that revisits the Declaration, so this 1999 note is the organisation's most recent published statement on it.

Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung. src-de33-g99-from-our-readers

Primärveröffentlichung von Jehovas Zeugen Geprüft

Awake!, “Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril”

8. Juli 1998 · pp.13-14 · Awake! correspondent in Germany · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“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 organisation’s published answer to criticism of the Declaration, signed “BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY”. The article says that Rutherford, “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”, and that allegations that the Witnesses tried to curry favour with the regime or endorsed its racial ideology “are absolutely false”.

Hinweis zu Herkunft und Überprüfung for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—Courageous in the Face of Nazi Peril

Hinweis zur Vertrauensangabe. Full article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full; the passage quoted begins on p. 13 and finishes on p. 14, the pages taken from the pageNum markers. The article itself runs pp. 10-14.

Notes. The article carries a footnote saying that space does not allow full documentation but that “a list of complete references is available upon request from the publishers”.

Abgerufen. 19. September 2026 · Quellenkennung. src-de33-g98-nazi-peril

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