"He came to respect the Jehovah's Witnesses, tens of thousands of whom were imprisoned in his concentration camps as a result of their pacifist and anti-Nazi attitudes, because of their stubborn will to resist: 'If their fanaticism could be harnessed for Germany or a similar fanaticism be created in the nation as a whole in wartime, we would be stronger than we are today!' They also lived frugal lives and were hard-working and honest. For that reason he not only employed them in his own household and in those of friends and SS families," I but expressed the view that precisely these qualities should be propagated among the suppressed nations in the east, where in addition the Jehovah's Witnesses' pacifism was extremely welcome to the Germans! In July 1944, in a long letter, Himmler therefore ordered the then-head of the Reich Security Main Office. Dr Ernst Kaltenbrunner, to export the religion to the occupied eastern territories (which by this time were no longer occupied): 'In the case of all Turkish peoples the Buddhist faith is suitable but for other nations the teachings of the Bible Students [Jehovah's Witnesses] are the appropriate ones." - "Heinrich Himmler: A Life" By Peter Longerich, p. 267
Originally published in Russian at: http://www.k-istine.ru/sects/iegova_witness/iegova_witness_himmler-02.htm
We will get rid of the use of Communists by Jehovah's Witnesses
Letter from the Reichsführer SS Himmler, July 21, 1944.
Reichsfuehrer SS
RF / M
Field command post, July 21, 1944
Dear Kaltenbrunner!
Many events and problems have recently led to the emergence of subsequent considerations and the following ideas.
The problems are Jehovah's witnesses, the Cossack issue and the related Vlasov question, as well as the overall complex: how we want to rule Russia and maintain peace on its territory, when - which will undoubtedly happen in the next few years - we will again conquer large spaces and areas, owned.
1) In my opinion, Stalin and his follower, if he will be a Bolshevik, will not depart from the collective farm system. In the opinion of the Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture Bakke, Stalin, even if he wants to back off, will not be able to do this for purely material reasons: due to a shortage of tractors, plows, harrows and draft animals. If Stalin and Bolshevism do not want to back away from the collective farm system, each independent peasant will by nature be his enemy. Reconciliation between them will not happen.
2) Before the German East Wall, which we once build, we should, taking the examples of the military border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian example of sedentary Cossacks and soldiers, arrange the eastern frontier of defense by the forces of the new Cossacks. The landed estates, a completely independent existence and freedom will, according to our code, be granted to the Ukrainian and Russian population only at the Cossack border. Here there will be full-fledged peasant estates with the condition of carrying from 16 to 60 years of life of the soldiers' service at the border, against attacks from the East. The fact of owning land, as well as constantly and continuously shedding blood on both sides, will breed enmity for years and decades without the chances of subsequent reconciliation.
3) In the rear area, which will become a land for German settlers, we want to introduce land partnerships with small private estates, as we have done recently in Ukraine, as well as purely German settlements.The most active and active elements will be constantly self-destroying, as they will be dragged to the border, where we use them for the soldiers' service on our side.
However, in order to achieve a peaceful and unarmed coexistence from the people in the rear, we must go further. Any idea of introducing National Socialism there is insane. But people should have a religion or worldview. To maintain and revitalize the Orthodox Church is incorrect, since it will become a place for the organization of the national movement. It is at least as wrong to let the Catholic Church go there, and there's nothing to say about it.
4) We must support any form or kind of religion or sect that would have a pacifying effect. For all the Turkic peoples, the introduction of the Buddhist teaching comes to mind here, for everyone else - the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses.
As you should know, Jehovah's Witnesses have the following extremely useful qualities for us:
Except for military service and work for military purposes, i.е. use for, as they say "destructive" activities, Jehovah's Witnesses are extremely opposed to the Jews, against the Catholic Church and the Pope. They are incredibly sensible, do not drink or smoke, are extremely diligent and very honest, keep the word, are excellent cattle-breeders and peasants, are not fixated on wealth and prosperity, since it hinders eternal life. In general, these are all - ideal qualities. It can be concluded that the core of convinced, idealistic witnesses of Jehovah possesses enviable good qualities like Mennonites.
5) For this reason, I would like Jehovah's Witnesses in our camps to be checked by special commissions to see if they are real Jehovah's witnesses. In order that those who just handed themselves for a Jehovah's Witness just before the arrest or already in the camp for practical reasons were excluded. Thus, we will get rid of the use of Jehovah's Witnesses by Communists and the dubious so-called Jehovah's Witnesses, whom I here and there met in farmsteads, for example, in Friedolfing (Upper Bavaria). There is, further, the possibility of using real
Jehovah's Witnesses in concentration camps at all responsible posts related to monetary or other material matters, and especially good handling. Thanks to this, we will take the first step to engage the German Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia in the future and obtain emissaries who, by spreading the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses, will pacify the Russian people.
Yours, H. Himmler
BA NS19 / 1627,
translation by Igor Petrov
Translator's note. Himmler uses the term Bibelforscher - "Bible researchers", which is somewhat wider than the "Jehovah's Witnesses", but it is the latter
