xxvii, 834 pages : 24 cm

"Between Resistance and Martyrdom" is the first comprehensive historical study of the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses during the Holocaust era. Refusing to perform military service under Germany's Third Reich due to their fundamental belief in nonviolence, Jehovah's Witnesses caught the attention of the highest authorities in the justice system, the police, and the SS.Although persecuted and banned from practicing their beliefs by the Nazi regime in 1933, the Jehovah's Witnesses' unified resistance has been largely forgotten. Basing his work on a wide range of sources, including documents and archives previously unconsidered as well as critical analyses of Jehovah's Witness literature and survivor interviews, Detlef Garbe chronicles the Nazis' relentless persecution of this religious group before and during World War II.The English translation of this important work features photographs not published in the German edition. These striking images bring a sense of individual humanity to this story and help readers comprehend the reality of the events documented."Between Resistance and Martyrdom" is an indispensable work that will introduce an English-speaking audience to this important but lesser-known part of Holocaust history. -- Provided by publisher

"Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 753-792) and index

Introduction -- pt. 1. The International Bible Students Association -- The IBSA's beginnings, 1874-1918 -- Teachings of the denomination -- Development and expansion in the German Reich, 1918-33 -- pt. 2. Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, 1933-34 -- Efforts to adapt to national circumstances, 1933 -- The Watch Tower Society, 1933-35 -- Judicial conflict and freedom of religion -- pt. 3. Nonconformist behavior and state repression of Jehovah's Witnesses -- Intensification of the conflict -- Instruments of persecution -- Escalating persecution -- pt. 4. Self-assertion of Jehovah's Witnesses until 1939 -- Courageous conviction and covert measures -- Organized resistance activities -- Jurisdictional conflicts between the legal authorities and police -- pt. 5. Jehovah's Witnesses during the war years -- Reorganization of regional resistance -- Conscientious objection -- Prisoners with the "purple patch" -- Jehovah's Witnesses at the Neuengamme concentration camp -- pt. 6. Conclusion -- Intensity of persecution -- Case study : the ISBA in Hamburg -- Social refusal and resistance

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