Hedwig Hummel-Weninger

Hedwig Hummel was born in Vienna on 8 April 1903. Her parents were the cabinetmaker Michael Weninger and his wife, Theresia.1DÖW, 20000/H740; WStLA, SHV 6350/47; WTA Vienna, data collection, Hummel, Hedwig.

In Vienna, Hedwig attended primary school and secondary school and after that she became a dressmaker. Three years later she took a stenography course and found work in a Viennese firm, where she worked as a secretary for around nine years. In 1928 she married the foreman Franz Hummel, who was five years older than herself.

Hedwig Hummel’s initial contact with the Bible Students came about when she attended public talks given by Johann Löffler in 1934. She became a member of the religious association and discussed the Bible with several Bible Students in Vienna. While visiting the Löffler family, she was arrested by the Viennese Gestapo on 20 October 1941.

Having been taken into custody at the District Court for Criminal Cases, on 9 December 1941 she signed a statement renouncing her faith in the following words:

‘I was given the opportunity to speak to my husband. As the result of his explanation I now understand that my actions were fallacious and that the doctrine of the Bible Students must be considered inimical towards the state. As I am not an enemy of the state and would like to work for the community in the future, I reject the doctrine and the ideas of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I certify that in the future I will not engage in any work whatsoever for the organisation. If necessary, I am prepared to accept work manufacturing weapons or ammunition. I have come to recognise that the Bible Students interpret the divine law “Thou shalt not kill” in this way, only in order to undermine the military power of the German people.’2WStLA, interrogation protocol, Hummel, Hedwig, 09-12-1941.

Hedwig Hummel in 1941 (foto van de Gestapo) (Historisch archief Wachttorengenootschap Wenen/Oostenrijk)
Hedwig Hummel in 1941 (Gestapo photograph). (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Vienna, Austria)
Proces-verbaal van de Gestapo van Hedwig Hummel uit 1944
Official Gestapo report: Hedwig Hummel in 1941. (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Vienna, Austria)

Whether Hedwig was released from detention on account of this, is questionable, because, two months later, on 11 February 1942, she was arrested by the District Court for Criminal Cases and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment on the grounds of Wehrkraftzersetzung.3Demoralization of the war effort. The Nazis made it a capital offence; DÖW, 14257. Hedwig was transferred to the detention centre in Aichach on 6 March 1942. There is no record of when she was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Comments in the historical archives of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Vienna show that Hedwig Hummel arrived in Ravensbrück on 20 April 1943, where she was given registration number 21.739.4WTA Vienna, data collection, Hummel, Hedwig; DÖW, declaration by the council of St. Lambrecht from 09-05-1945.

Along with the small group of prisoners, Hedwig was transferred to St. Lambrecht at the beginning of May 1943. There is no record of the detail she was assigned to.

After being liberated from the concentration camp in May 1945, Hedwig Hummel returned to Vienna along with the other Austrian Jehovah’s Witness, Therese Schreiber.

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