Therese Schreiber

Therese Schreiber was born on 20 October 1889 in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm (a municipality in Bavaria, Germany).1DÖW, 20100/10676. Despite her Bavarian descent Therese Schreiber was designated as an Austrian female Bible Student, she probably obtained her Austrian citizenship after her move to Vienna. WTA Vienna, Schreiber, Therese, biography; WTA Vienna, notes by Gsell, Heidi, on Schreiber, Therese.

She and her mother moved to Vienna, where from 1925 on she occasionally kept in touch with the Bible Students. In 1927 Therese was baptised as a Bible Student. When groups of preachers were showing the ‘Photo-Drama of Creation’-film in Vienna, Therese took an active part in spreading the faith and took over the distribution of religious literature. She also actively proselytised in neighbouring Czechoslovakia. At the time of the military take-over of Austria by the Nazi regime, Therese was working as a salesgirl in a sport and toy shop. When she on the basis of her conscience objected to joining the D.A.F.,2German Labour Front. she was fired. Therese found herself a job as assistant and could therefore support and care for herself and her invalid mother, who suffered from a cardiac complaint.

Therese Schreiber was already  supporting the underground activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Austria in 1937, under the leadership of August Kraft. She used a stencil machine to duplicate the Watchtower literature which had been written by Kraft. Up until September 1939 the literature was produced in the cellar of a garden shed at Grinzingerallee 54. The owner of this piece of ground was a Jew who had emigrated in time. Therese Schreiber was arrested on 31 October 1939 when the Gestapo got hold of a distribution list for the Bible Students’ magazines, on which her name was written.

Therese Schreiber, foto’s van de Gestapo (1939). (Historisch archief Wachttorengenootschap Wenen/Oostenrijk)
Therese Schreiber, Gestapo photos (1939). (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Vienna, Austria)

She was detained in the Gestapo prison in Vienna until 1 March 1940. From there, without trial, she was transferred to the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück, block 5. The orders for Schutzhaft,3Protective custody dated 16 December 1939 speak of the work of the International Bible Students Association being a threat to the people and the state. After Therese had been kept in Ravensbrück for about a year in protective custody, she was brought to the Vienna Regional Criminal Court on 19 February 1941, where she remained until 2 July 1941. The reason for this delay was a sitting in which she was accused of producing illegal religious literature. By her own account, she was acquitted. However, the Gestapo did not release her, but transferred her back to Ravensbrück, where she arrived on 9 August 1941. In Ravensbrück Therese was given registration number 2937.4DÖW, 20100/10676 (Freiheitsbescheinigung [declaration of release] St. Lambrecht). Therese was assigned the work of an Anweisehäftling.5Supervisory prisoner.

Proces-verbaal van de Gestapo van Therese Schreiber uit 1939
The Gestapo report on Therese Schreiber in 1939. (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Vienna, Austria)

Therese still remembers the order given by the camp commandant6Leadership of the Ravensbrück concentration camp was taken over by Max Koegel in 1939/40, who formerly had been Direktor of the women’s concentration camp Lichtenburg. He remained in this function until the middle of 1942. Thereafter Fritz Suhren led the women’s concentration camp Ravensbrück until 1945 (see Füllberg-Stolberg 1994, p. 222). to renounce her faith in a written statement. She did not sign the statement. Therese was imprisoned in this largest camp for women for almost two years, until her transfer to the ‘SS labour camp’ at St. Lambrecht on 5 May 1943. At 54 years of age, Therese was the oldest of the small group of prisoners.

Her first assignment in this concentration camp was forestry work. The work was done together with the Spanish prisoners from the men’s camp. Afterwards she was put to work with the group working in the garden. It was Therese, along with the other older Bible Students who influenced the general mood among this homogeneous group of prisoners, that Gerdina Huisman referred to as being ‘wholesome’.7PA, interview Huisman, Gerdina, 15-10-2002.

After liberation from St. Lambrecht, Therese returned by a roundabout route to her home town Vienna. The first part of the journey back to Klagenfurt was arranged by the Spanish prisoners. They parted ways in Klagenfurt and the Jehovah’s Witnesses found shelter in a bomb-damaged school. When the Dutch and Belgian sisters-in-faith continued their homeward journey, Therese Schreiber and Hedwig Hummel tried to get back to Vienna. Their route took them past Weyern to Salzburg, where they bade farewell to the ten female Jehovah´s Witnesses from Germany. A Red Cross vehicle took them farther as far as Krems. Eventually both women reached Vienna by train, sitting on the shock absorbers of a railway carriage.

Therese Schreiber, vermoedelijk na de bevrijding (datum foto onbekend)
Therese Schreiber, probably after liberation (date unknown). (Historical Archives Watchtower Society Vienna, Austria)

Therese found her house in her home town undamaged. Upon arrival in Vienna she immediately became active for the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organisation and in time led a Bible study group in Vienna’s 10th district. Both she and Peiffer, another female Witness, produced Watchtower literature until their male fellow believers took over. Therese wanted to become eligible for an early pension because of having become incapacitated during the period of her imprisonment. Whether this ever came about is unsure, but probable, as Therese makes no further mention of having been employed. She continued preaching until she was more than 80 years old.

Therese Schreiber passed away in the sixties of the twentieth century in Vienna, never having married and always having done her best to spread the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses with great dedication.

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