Verfolgung und Unterdrückung der Zeugen Jehovas in der Tschechoslowakei
Very little has been published on this theme so far. But we can see two separate periods of repression: first under the Nazis from 1938-1945 for the Sudetenland areas and from 1939 onwards for the rest of the country, including the repressive policies practiced by the Hungarian Fascist authorities i...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | German |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
2004
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| In: |
Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
Year: 2004, Volume: 17, Issue: 1, Pages: 171-221 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Very little has been published on this theme so far. But we can see two separate periods of repression: first under the Nazis from 1938-1945 for the Sudetenland areas and from 1939 onwards for the rest of the country, including the repressive policies practiced by the Hungarian Fascist authorities in south Slovakia and Ruthenia. Altogether we know of 450 Czech and Slovak Jehovah's Witnesses who were persecuted: at least 345 were arrested, of whom 155 were sent to concentration camps; 77 are known to have died there. Second, there was the period of Communist repression from 1949 to 1990. To be sure, in between these two periods there was a short interval of quiet, until the communist seizure of power in 1948 was followed by the outright prohibition of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1949. But even then, the Witnesses were under state surveillance. After 1949 there were various waves of persecution launched against the Witnesses including house searches, organized demonstrations by Party mobs, long terms of imprisonment, and forced labour. Between 1956 and 1990 various attempts were made to seek legalization of the Witnesses as a tolerated religious organization, but these failed. However, after 1968 and the so-called "Prague Spring", certain relaxations were achieved. But only on 11 November 1992 were the Jehovah's Witnesses able to have the official registration of their group in Slovakia and on 1 September 1993 in the Czech Republic. This brought to an end the era of 40 years of Communist persecution, which affected all the 12,000 Jehovah's Witnesses at one time or another. Particularly hard hit were the approximately 600 sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, of whom about 250 were condemned because they refused all forms of military conscription. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-808X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
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