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April 20, 1939 Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's Birthday party. The celebrations were initiated by Pope Pacelli (Pio XII) and became a tradition. Every April 20th, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin went to offer "the warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the German Diocese", and added that "fervent prayers that the Catholics in Germany are sending to heaven upon their altars" El 20 de abril de 1939, el arzobispo Orsenigo celebró el cumpleaños de Hitler. Las celebraciones, iniciadas por Pacelli (Pío XII) se convirtió en una tradición. Cada 20 de abril, el cardenal Bertram de Berlín fue para enviar "más calurosas felicitaciones al Fuhrer en nombre de los obispos y las diócesis en Alemania", y añadió con "fervientes oraciones que los católicos de Alemania están enviando al cielo en sus altares." El Führer en el Franken Hitler rarely missed an opportunity to visit war monuments, even when a photographer wasn't present. Adolf Hitler (centro) en el monumento a los muertos en la guerra en el Franken Alemania. Según Ray Cowdery, Hitler raramente se perdió la oportunidad de visitar monumentos de guerra, incluso cuando un fotógrafo no estaba presente Hitler greeting Muller the "Bishop of the Reich" and SChachleitner Abad Saluda a Muller el "Obispo del Reich" y Schachleitner Abad Hitler greets a catholic cardinal Hitler saluda a un cardenal católico Hitler exiting a Catholic church. He was never excommunicated Hitler saliendo de la iglesia , jamas fue excomulgado Nuremberg, fundacion del partido nazi Tenga en cuenta la "Iglesia de la Virgen" en el fondo como si representara la fundación del partido. Foto tomada en Nuremberg, Alemania (circa 1928). The Goering Wedding / La body Georing Sólo los cristianos realizar bodas cristianas, y los nazis no fueron una excepción.Hermann Goering se casó con Emmy Sonnemann, una famosa estrella de la ópera.Adolf Hitler se encuentra en la primera fila como "padrino" durante la ceremonia en la Catedral por Reichbishop Müller. Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican in a solemn ceremony on July 20, 1933. Nazi Vice Chancellor Franz Von Papen is sitting on the left, Pacelli in the middle and Buttmann Rudolf to the right. The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and his government before all Catholics, christianity and the world.Cardenal Secretario de Estado, Eugenio Pacelli (que más tarde convertiría en el Papa Pío XII) firma el Concordato entre la Alemania Nazi y el Vaticano en una ceremonia solemne en Roma el 20 de julio de 1933. Nazi Vice-Canciller Franz von Papen está sentado a la izquierda, Pacelli en el medio, y el Buttmann Rudolf está sentado a la derecha.El Concordato efectivamente legitimada Hitler y el gobierno nazi a los ojos del catolicismo, el cristianismo y el mundo. Nazi Flag on the Catholic Cathedral in Cologne - 1937 Una bandera nazi frente a la catedral de Colonia de 1937 Recent photo of the tourist destination Cologne Cathedral Capellán con una unidad de ametralladora La mayoría de las guerras justificadas por razones religiosas. Por supuesto, si un soldado se sentia inquieto por el sacrificio que otros hacian, siempre podían recurrir a un capellán que le explicaria pacientemente que el asesinato está permitido por Dios y sobre la moralidad de la guerra justa. A continuación, podría dar algunos ejemplos bíblicos de como Dios ordenó los asesinatos. Y entonces él podría decirles que Jesús los perdona y enviarlos al cielo si se llegase a morir. Catholic Bishops in a Heil Hitler salute Obispos Católicos dan el saludo nazi en honor a Hitler.Nota Joseph Goebbels (extrema derecha) y Wilhelm Frick (segundo desde la derecha) Franciscan monks with German soldiers Franciscanos con soldados alemanes El cardenal Bertram en el cortejo fúnebre para el obispo Bares, Berlín, 07 de marzo 1935 Como presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal alemana, el cardenal Bertram Breslauer juega un papel crucial en la formación de la actitud de los obispos alemanes en relación con el Estado Nacional Socialista. Roman Catholic Priests and the Nazi salute "Heil Hitler" Sacerdotes haciendo el saludo a Hitler en una reunión de jóvenes católicos en el estadio de Berlín-Neukölln, en agosto de 1933. Obispo del Reich Ludwig Muller, Berlín, 1934

Watchtower criticises other religious groups for colluding with Hitler, whilst Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned for their refusal to compromise their standards. What is not admitted is that Rutherford initially praised Hitler for his stance against Jews and the Anglo/American empire. One of the groups that Hitler sent to concentration camps were Jehovah's Witnesses. They were forced to endure unspeakable atrocities and many lost their lives. The individual actions of many Witnesses are commendable and the Watchtower holds up this part of their history in great esteem. What is not discussed is the hypocritical actions of Rutherford in the lead up to these events. Early in 1933, the Watchtower office in Berlin was closed and Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in many German states. This was due to the refusal of Jehovah's Witnesses to swear loyalty to the government or to serve in its armed forces. In an attempt to appease Hitler into lifting the ban, Rutherford instigated a Declaration of Facts and sent a Letter to Hitler discussing the Watchtower's support of the Nazi regime. Current Watchtower references provide a deceptive portrayal of these documents, through selective quoting. The Proclaimer's book mentions that Rutherford wrote a letter to Hitler under the context of "facing Nazi oppression", in which the Watchtower Society is made to sound as if they were firmly against the Nazi regime. It is quite surprising to find the opposite is true, which can be identified when reading the content of Rutherford's 1933 letter to Hitler and the Declaration of Facts. Letter to Hitler Russell, founder of the Watchtower, was a Zionist and sympathetic to Jews as part of modern day fulfilment of Bible prophecy. Rutherford initially continued such support, but changed by the 1930's to a bigoted, anti-Semitic stance. During the time of Rutherford, Witnesses became known as a religion of hate, due to the Watchtower's tirade of insults against other Churches and governments. The Catholic Church come under the greatest condemnation and bought this to the attention of the Nazi government, petitioning against the Watchtower Society. In 1933, the Nazi government banned the Watchtower's German operations. In an effort to overturn the ban, Rutherford sent a Letter and a Declaration to Hitler, in which he praises Hitler for his anti-Anglo/American campaign and his stance against the Jews.  A copy of the letter in German. Following is part of an English translation of the Letter to Hitler. The letter mentions Hitler's "just principles," quoting from section 24 of Das Program der NSDAP (The Nazi's Platform of the National Socialist German Workers Party). Rutherford further compromised Watchtower principles but offering that, "We want to continue to live up to the prohibition imposed upon us," that is, they would stop preaching in Germany, provided the ban was lifted that would allow them to "meet for prayer and church service". Click Letter to Hitler  for a translation of the full letter in PDF format. The Yearbook 1974 briefly refers to this letter, along with the Declaration of Facts. In light of the contents of the official letter and Declaration sent to Hitler, the Watchtower's 2011 comment mocking other Churches is nothing short of hypocritical. Declaration of Facts Rutherford and Knorr organized a public convention in Berlin on 25th June, 1933 to release a "Declaration of Facts," being pronouncing at the German convention, and distributed in letter format. This outlined Watchtower's support of the German governments stance against Jews. The convention hall was decked with swastikas and the program was opened with Song 64, a song from the Bible Student's songbook that had the some melody by Hayden as the German national anthem. Konrad Franke, Germany's Bethel branch overseer later stated his disturbance at seeing the scene for the convention and Rutherford's declaration. The Declaration of Facts was reprinted in the Yearbook 1934. It went on in part to state: Click here  for an English translation of the full Declaration of Facts in PDF format. Rutherford's Letter and Declaration were an effort to appease Hitler, but to no avail - too little, too late. With Rutherford's efforts at appeasing Hitler into lifting the Watchtower ban not achieving its aims, Rutherford instead started to antagonise Hitler through his publications. These cablegrams read: Rutherford send another letter to Hitler, this time threatening Hitler with the punishment of God if the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses was not lifted. Yet, this was not the sentiment of the Declaration of Facts, which tried to portray sharing similar ideologies with the Nazis, such as when stating; In 1943 the Swiss Watchtower Branch sent another Declaration of Facts requesting leniency for Witnesses. This dishonestly stated: The information covered above is discussed in greater detail by M. James Penton in Jehovah's Witnesses, Anti-semitism and the Third Reich; The Watch Tower Society's Attempted Compromise with Nazism. See also Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Third Reich (M. James Penton, Toronto: University of Toronto Press 2004). A seeming response to Penton's article was provided by the Awake! in 1998. I leave it up to the reader to assess whether the Watchtower correctly presents the intention of the Rutherford and his documents to Hitler. Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation Fund The Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation (Swiss Banks) CV-96-4849 is a fund to compensate people suffering from the Holocaust. As stated at swissbankclaims.com/index.asp (3 Mar 2006); In a letter dated 7th December 1999, Watchtower applied for compensation, payable to a nonprofit corporation called Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-era Survivors Fund, Inc., which was incorporated 27th October 2000. An Elder's Letter, dated February 1, 2001 referred to the Jehovah's Witness Holocaust-Era Survivors Fund Inc, explaining that the fund was being set up to assist gather money for Jehovah's Witnesses that were eligible for the payment. Whilst this appears at face value to be commendable, Watchtower was also requesting money for itself. www.swissbankclaims.com (as of 28th September 2009) contains the 1999 letter from Watchtower to the fund, or Click Here for a PDF copy of the Watchtower application letter. Included is a request to receive a portion of the funds on the following basis. It is disturbing that Watchtower requested money that could have been distributed to living victims, for what would by nothing more than self promotion of their organisation. It appears that Watchtower did not receive any money from the fund. A statement of distribution as of 31 December 2015 stated: Individual Jehovah's witnesses did receive compensation, as part of the tens of thousands classified as "non-Jewish victims (Roma, Jehovah's Witness, disabled and homosexual)." Further Reading Wikipedia - Declaration of Facts