Religious activities
Practicing their faith was of the highest priority for the Witnesses, also during their imprisonment. At every opportunity they held their Bible discussions. Because the female Bible Students were usually without guards when within the camp, they regularly managed to find time to practice their beliefs. For instance, they were able to say a prayer before meals. The religious community also managed to put as much of the content of their religious beliefs as they could remember down in writing.1PA, interview Huisman, Gerdina, 15-10-2002. Allegedly by making copies on typewriters in the offices, the German sisters in the faith succeeded in making copies of Watchtower literature. Toos Berkers hid a Bible in her straw mattress, along with the brochure De vijfde kolonne.2The Fifth Column3PA, interview Berkers, Toos, 16-10-2002. Because the other Dutch interviewees cannot remember this fact, these religious writings may have been confused with those smuggled into Ravensbrück. The fact that Toos Berkers remembers having been given the Bible by the baker of St. Lambrecht, however, is inconsistent with this. It appears to be certain that Biblical writings circulated in both concentration camps.
‘We often used to sing in Austria’, stated Froukje Volp.4WTA Emmen, interview Volp, Froukje, 31-08-1995. She meant religious hymns, the so-called Kingdom songs, that were sung at St. Lambrecht concentration camp. Gerdina Huisman learned in the camp all songs she had not previously known, because the women of various nationalities would praise God in this way in their mother tongue. These songs were later forbidden by the camp management.5PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002.
Although it was difficult for the Witnesses who had been imprisoned for years to find out the memorial date of Christ’s death without a calendar,6Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate the ‘Memorial’ on 14 Nisan after sundown, in accordance with the calculation of the Jewish calendar used in the first century. The month of Nisan began at sundown, as soon as the crescent after the new moon closest to the equinox was visible in Jerusalem. the women managed to keep the ‘Memorial’. They also managed to obtain the symbolic gifts, the bread and the wine, through outside contacts.7PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002; WTA Emmen, interview Volp, Froukje, 31-08-1995.
The female Bible Students often had Bible discussions in the camp. Still, they felt they had too little ‘spiritual food’. The older sisters in the faith were often consulted by the younger ones regarding Bible interpretation.8PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses had as far as possible made use of the group’s homogeneity to support and encourage each other by means of Bible discussions. Other religious activities, like attempts to convert the kitchen staff, were also undertaken. Without success, however. It is a fact that the female Bible Students imprisoned at St. Lambrecht gave a witness of their faith according to their religion and within the scope of their restricted possibilities.
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