Religion In Nazi Germany - Alpha History

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jehovah’s Witnesses were another religious group persecuted by the Nazis. Germany was home to around 15,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1933. Their religious beliefs prevented practising Witnesses from swearing allegiance to a government or secular power; they also refused to submit to military conscription or perform the Nazi one-armed salute.

In April 1933, Nazi paramilitary groups shut down several Jehovah’s Witness offices and buildings. By the middle of 1933, the Jehovah’s Witness religion had been formally banned in most parts of Germany. Individual Witnesses were sacked from jobs in the public and private sector; others were refused access to state welfare or pensions. They could restore these rights by renouncing their religion and pledging allegiance to the Nazi state, though few did.

The Gestapo began compiling a register of all Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1936. By 1938, several thousand had been arrested and transported to concentration camps. Inside the camps, they were identified by a triangular purple patch on their uniform. About 10,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in camps between 1938 and 1945. Around one-quarter of this number were either murdered or succumbed to starvation or disease.

1. Nazi attitudes toward religion were complex. While most of the Nazis were Christian or supported Christian values, they were strongly opposed to the political influence of churches, which threatened the Nazi program.

2. Hitler was not an atheist. He was raised as a Catholic and his writings and speeches often contained references to God, Christianity and religion, highlighting and praising their role in German society.

3. German Protestant churches were divided about Nazism. A strong faction in German Protestantism pushed for a Nazified ‘state religion’, while other Protestant leaders opposed the integration of religion and politics.

4. The Nazis signed a concordat with the Catholic church in July 1933, however it was a political ploy to minimise the church’s political influence. The Catholic church was allowed to continue in Nazi Germany but the terms of the concordat were often violated.

5. The Nazis also intimidated and marginalised Germany’s 15,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to swear loyalty to Hitler or undertake military service. Large numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in concentration camps, where around one quarter died.

Citation information Title: ‘Religion in Nazi Germany’ Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey Publisher: Alpha History URL: https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/religion-in-nazi-germany/ Date published: November 14, 2017 Date updated: December 15, 2024 Date accessed: February 14, 2026 Copyright: The content on this page is © Alpha History. It may not be republished without our express permission. For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use.