Where We Both Play The Victim And Blame Him

Nice little factoid to bring up around JW's if you don't want them bothering you again: JW's were anti-semitic. Yes, at one time, we hated Jews. Now, this may not seem very surprising, as most fundies hate Jews, because "they killed Christ" (no mention of those pesky Romans who were just "fulfilling prophecy"). But we do one better. Because we like to publish things, we publicize our anti-semitism. Just so Hitler knows where we stand. From our 1934 yearbook (yes, we have a year in review book):

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 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 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.

So, to paraphrase: We never took no money from no stinkin' Joos!! Anyone who sez that has Satan speaking through them!!

How they would know whether a Jewish person gave them money is beyond me. But just in case it was a little unclear, they went on to be more precise (from the same yearbook):

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.

So again, to paraphrase: We Heart Hitler.

But he didn't Heart us. By the end of the war, around 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses were in concetration camps. Linky-poo. Between a quarter and half of them died. They had the chance to renounce their beliefs and be free of the concentration camps. But they believed that they had the right to worship as they wanted to, regardless of government interference. They just didn't believe, apparently, that the Jews had the same right. They are quite proud today that they are in the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. for standing up for their faith. They're not at all ashamed that they contributed to Nazi sentiments.

The cover up in the latter part of the 20th century by the Brooklyn Lawyers was quite funny, in a sick, sad sort of way. The 1974 Yearbook blamed one man:

Brother Mütze from Dresden, who had worked closely with Brother Balzereit up until that time, accused him later of having weakened the original text. It was not the first time that Brother Balzereit had watered down the clear and unmistakable language of the Society's publications so as to avoid difficulties with governmental agencies.

Damn you, Brother Balzereit. How could you manage to print that nonsense in thousands and thousands of copies all by yourself? Satan must've helped you. In 1998, however, we had to walk back on ourselves again:

Had the branch office manager, Paul Balzereit, weakened the text of the document? No, for a comparison of the German and the English texts shows that this is not the case. Evidently, an impression to the contrary was based on the subjective observations of some who were not directly involved in the preparation of the "Declaration."

Apparently some bone-headed JW's were going around saying that one man was responsible for this malicious printing based on some misconception they had from some book. Oh, it was one of our books? Eeps. Oh, hell, wait a minute. Does that mean we actually meant to say that? From that same 1998 renunciation:

[regarding the 1934 statement about no "money contributed to our work by Jews" and "commercial Jews of the British-American empire…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 had been misunderstood and has given cause for any offense.

So did we just say we were sorry you got mad, not sorry for what we had done? I guess it's only "clear" if you have special Kool-Aid glasses on...

-- Virgil