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The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has the world's largest collection of artifacts and films documenting the history of the Holocaust. Opening in 1993, it has since been host to over 12 million visitors who have been educated on this serious topic here in Washington D.C. The displays, films, and other documentation give true testimony to the experience of human suffering and of the inhumanity of man, as well as recounting stories of integrity and self-sacrifice of Jews who suffered in the camps and many others.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has the world's largest collection of artifacts and films documenting the history of the Holocaust. Opening in 1993, it has since been host to over 12 million visitors who have been educated on this serious topic here in Washington D.C. The displays, films, and other documentation give true testimony to the experience of human suffering and of the inhumanity of man, as well as recounting stories of integrity and self-sacrifice of Jews who suffered in the camps and many others.

Jehovah's Witnesses were also among those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis and their SS, not because of their ethnic background, but because of their religious ideology, and what they practiced.

A special program some time ago concerning Jehovah's Witnesses and their story was held, demonstrating the resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses to the Third Reich and how they "placed their faith in God above the demands of the Nazi state. They considered the leadership cult of Hitler as a secular form of worship," as related by Dr. Lawrence Baron, a professor of modern German and Jewish history at San Diego State University. Having taken a stand to refuse to Heil Hitler and and because of their firm adherence to the Biblical command to refrain from killing others and to love their neighbor as themselves, as Jesus had commanded, they found themselves at odds with the thinking that was then prevailing in Germany. Because of their firm adherence to Bible principles, they refused military service, and this resulted in persecution. In the Netherlands, around 450 Jehovah's Witnesses had been arrested and 120 died because of persecution in that country. There are 170 video interviews and 200 written life stories of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands at the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

When some Witnesses signed the declaration of support for the Nazis and rencounement of faith, out of confusion or a desire to "fool" the Nazis and get back to their ministry, the Dutch branch office in June of 1942 encouraged the Witnesses to treat those who had signed the declaration with mercy, realizing that it was difficult to know how to handle these matters in the best way. Despite years of persectuion, the Witnesses in Holland continued to preach, and grew from approximately 500 in 1940 to about 2,000 when the Nazi campaign was brought to an end in 1945.

The courage and faithfulness of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands has given a wonderful testimony of loyalty and integrity until today. Information on Jehovah's Witnesses and the Holocaust can be found on the U.S. Holocaust Museum pages, under the title Jehovah's Witnesses. Public information on Jehovah's Witnesses, (official source) including their beliefs commonly asked questions, educational videos, Jehovah's Witnesses and the subject of bloodless medicine, can be found at the Jehovah's Witnesses Public Information site.

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