She Achieved More Than She Expected

“I KNEW my history teacher did not like Jehovah’s Witnesses, although I had no idea why,” says 17-year-old Rebekka from Germany. Thus, when the teacher asked for volunteers to give a talk in front of the class, Rebekka hesitated. Nevertheless, she summoned the courage to ask him for permission to give a talk about the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses under the Nazi regime during World War II. The teacher was pleased with the suggestion.

The class enjoyed Rebekka’s presentation, and they accepted a total of 44 magazines and booklets on the subject. Afterward, Rebekka presented her research material to the teacher, including a number of books and videos written or produced by non-Witnesses. One video reported on the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in East Germany during the Cold War. This particularly interested the teacher, as he was unfamiliar with the topic.

Rebekka then discovered why her teacher did not like Jehovah’s Witnesses. He explained that he had attended school with one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The young man had said little about his faith or about life as a Witness. Hence, the teacher concluded that Witnesses are strange people and decided that he wanted nothing to do with them. But Rebekka’s presentation changed things. “I now get along with the teacher much better,” she says. “I also learned that we as youths ought to talk more freely to others about our faith.”

But that was not the end of the story. The teacher told his colleagues about Rebekka’s excellent talk. Some days later the ethics teacher asked Rebekka to give another talk, not just in front of a class but on a very special occasion​—the school’s annual remembrance of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz at the end of World War II. About 360 pupils were in attendance, along with about ten teachers. At the end of the talk, those present accepted 50 booklets, and the school asked for 150 additional copies for later distribution.

Much more was achieved than Rebekka expected. A good witness about her faith was given not only to her class but also to the whole school. And her teacher overcame his earlier doubts about the Witnesses.

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Heinrich Fundis was beheaded by the Nazis. Hundreds of other Witnesses were executed as well

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Many of Jehovah’s Witnesses were offered freedom if they would sign this document renouncing their faith

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Courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Children such as Berthold Mewes were taken from their parents

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This video chronicles the courageous account of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nazi Germany

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A purple triangle was sewn on prison uniforms to identify Jehovah’s Witnesses